Waffen SS in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia

Waffen SS in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia

Jan Vajskebr - Petr Kaňák

In recent years, our book market has been flooded with a number of foreign publications of varying quality devoted to the military component of the Nazi SS organization - the Waffen SS. It is therefore more than striking that this topic has been more or less neglected in relation to the history of occupied Czechoslovakia. Most of the attention has been drawn to other parts of the German security forces - the Gestapo and the Sicherheitsdienst (or the army Abwehr), which is, among others, the most important. This is a consequence of the earlier focus of Czech historiography on the resistance movement. The Waffen SS (or their predecessors, the SS-VerfOgungstruppen and SS-Totenkopfverbande)1 had already taken part in the occupation of encircled Czechoslovakia and were active in the Protectorate throughout its existence. In this article, the authors do not aim to provide an exhaustive history of the SS in the Protectorate, which is the purpose of the of the book they are preparing, but to outline the main tendencies in the development of the SS troops and the essence of their activities in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

Before turning to the topic itself, it is necessary to recall the SS's contribution to the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia.
2 The SS were actively involved in covert operations to destabilise the power of the Czechoslovak state in the borderlands. Together with the SA, they supported the so-called Freikorps Sudetenland in the second half of September 1938, to which they provided equipment and armaments. SS-OberfOhrer Gottlob Berger, later head of the SS Head Office (SS-Hauptamt), was appointed liaison officer at the Sudetenland rebels' headquarters in Dondorf near Bayreuth. The involvement of the SS in sabotage operations was planned by Heydrich in the style used exactly one year later on the eve of the attack on Poland. SS members were to participate in provoking border incidents that would provide a pretext for an attack on Czechoslovakia.
3 Although this intention was not fully realised, SS troops nevertheless entered Czechoslovak territory on Hitler's orders before the Munich Agreement was signed, and from about 25 September two battalions, namely I and II, operated. Sturmbann SS-Totenkopf-Standarte "Oberbayern", in the vicinity of the town of Aš.
4 Other units of the SS-VerfOgungstruppen (SS-VT) and the SS-Totenkopfverbande (SS-TV) were prepared under the OKH (Oberkommando des Heeres) for combat against the Czechoslovakia and, as in the "Anschluss" of Austria in March 1938, eventually co-founded the occupation forces.

These were the regiments "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler", "Deutschland", "Germania", a separate battalion SS-Batai/lon N and parts of the regiments SS-TV "Oberbayern", "ThGringen" and "Brandenburg "5, Half a year later the SS took part in the 3rd SS occupation of Germany. The SS took part in the occupation of the rest of the Czech territory. The first SS-VT unit to enter our territory was a part of the "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler", which carried out the occupation of the Ostrava industrial area motivated by strategic interest in advance.

In the mainstream of the occupation armies, 15. On March 1939, other SS units also appeared in the Leibnization movement, such as parts of the SS-Totenkopf-Standarte "Brandenburg" and "Oberbayern" and the SS Totenkopfverbande / Konzentrationslagereinheiten (TV/KL) training course from Oranienburg.
6 After stabilization and the transfer of the occupation administration to the civilian authorities, most of the military forces were withdrawn from the Protectorate. This was also the case for the SS-TV and SS-VT. The units that remained, however, were given an exclusive status, since they and the other repressive forces were not subject tothe authority of the Reich Protector's office and were directly controlled by the central "Reich" authorities. Moreover, the decree of 1 September 1939 allowed the Reichsführer SS Himmler to intervene in the Protectorate "in the interests of maintaining security and order,? Until the autumn of 1939, the core of the SS barracks in the territory of occupied Bohemia was the so-called Wachregiment Prag. In this role, the SS-VT regiments "Germania", "Der FGhrer" and, after returning from the Polish campaign, Hitler's personal guard ("Leibstandarte SS Adolf HitleOLSSAH) were rotated at roughly two-month intervals.
A similar function in Brno was performed by I. Sturmbann SS-T-St. "Oberbayern". The headquarters of the above-mentioned units were mainly buildings of the disbanded Czechoslovak army, which their new users renamed according to their taste. The barracks in Ruzyně was named after the Reich SS leader Heinrich Himmler and the former cadet barracks near Prague Castle after Adolf Hitler himself.
8 Their main task, apart from presenting the strength of German power, was mainly to protect the seat of the Reich Protector and some other important institutions of the occupation administration. That they took up their task with vigour is evidenced by complaints about the conduct of members of the IlLeibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, which were piling up on the desk of the Reich Protector's office, counterbalanced mightily, however, by letters of devotion from the Germans of Prague.
9 By the end of the summer of 1939, Bohemia and Moravia had once again come to the attention of Berlin, as it had become an important platform for the further territorial expansion of Nazi Germany. Of the SS-VT combat units, the SS motorized regiment "Germania" was stationed there, incorporated into the 14th Army's formation. At the height of the preparations for the attack on Poland, the SS in the Protectorate were also tasked with protecting important railway lines.
From 18. to 26. On August 18th and 26th, the SS protected only 20 km of the railway lines, as the German army alone protected most of them, but in the following critical week they took over the protection of all sections together with the police, with the SS taking over about 250 km. lG The presence of SS units on Protectorate soil necessitated the creation of a local command structure. This was initially very simple and its form was only just taking shape in connection with the general development of the SS barracks.

The first command level was the garrison service in Prague (VTStondortdíenstste/le), headed by the most senior commander in the SS garrison (Stondotréilteste). Communication with the civil administration was ensured by the presence of the Adjutant of the "Prag" Guard Regiment in the office of the Reich Protector.
11 The supreme territorial commander of the SS and Himmler's direct representative was the so-called senior SS and police chief. This position was held from 26 April 1939 by SSBrigodefiihrer K. H. Frank. He was in charge of the command and coordination of all SS branches in the territory of the Protectorate, i.e. from the general (A/lgemeine-SS) to the militarily organised. 12 Soon, however, it became apparent that the primitive command system was not sufficient and the need for its improvement became apparent.
The established organization of the Wehrmacht served as a model. On 12 December 1939, the SS-TV garrison command in Prague (Stondortkommondontur der VT-SS/ later SS-Stondortkommondontur Prog) issued its first order. It was headed by a garrison commander (SS-Stondortkommondont), with SS-Stot. Ballauf, who remained in the post for another year and a half.13 The headquarters was first housed in Školská Street, then in the grounds of the Adolf Hitler Barracks, and was finally relocated to the building occupied by the law school. Until the establishment of the Woffen SS commander, the SS garrison commander was the officer in charge of the senior SS and police for the barracks SS and liaison officer to the Wehrmacht's plenipotentiary to the Reich Protector (Wehrmochtsbevo/lmiichtígte).
In addition to the actual management of the SS garrison headquarters, his responsibilities included. organizing the tactical training of the SS reserve officer corps, maintaining the officialofficial contacts with the German minority and official supervision of the SS garrison administration in Prague (SS-Stondortverwo/tung Prog). The latter was responsible, in addition to budgeting and handling general administrative and personnel matters, allocating accommodation and managing the construction of new buildings, and was also responsible for the equipment depot. The same role in Moravia was played by the most senior commander (SS-Stondortii/teste) of the SS garrison in Brno, who was subordinate to the SS garrison commander in Prague. This role was always fulfilled by one of the commanders of the units stationed in Brno. The equivalent of the SS garrison administration in Prague was the Brno administration.

The outbreak of the Second World War brought about considerable changes in the organisation of the military SS and started its unprecedented expansion. In the war against Poland, the SS-Verfiigungstruppen engaged in combat operations, while the SS-Totenkopfverbiinde advanced in the rear of the army and forcibly pacified the conquered territory. The SS deployment was judged successful and gave impetus to their further development. Thus, in the autumn of 1939, two marked phenomena became apparent, namely the formation of SS units at division level, which had been rejected by Hitler up to that time in view of the negative attitude of the OKW towards the SS, and, in particular, the growth of the SS-Totenkopf-Stondorten (SS-T-St.).
By the summer of 1940, 11 more were added to the existing five, bringing the total number of members to approximately 33,000. These units were tasked with securing captured territory, guard duty, and resupplying the SS-VT. Personnel were drawn from concentration camp guard units, reservists from the A/lgemeinon-SS who were called up to the SS-TV on the basis of the Emergency Service Ordinance of October 1938, and from volunteers. An important aspect was the fact that the SS-Totenkopf-Stondorten were not subject to Wehrmacht command when deployed and became the exclusive means of Himmler's personal power. They soon began to be used for extermination and police actions in Poland and later in the occupied territories "in the East". The shortage of armaments, caused by the Wehrmacht's unwillingness to provide its SS rivals with standard armaments, was solved by the allocation of Czechoslovak looted weapons. On 11 November 1939, two new regiments were established in occupied Bohemia - the 6th SS-T-St. in Prague and the Z SS-T-St. in Brno. Not long afterwards, the originally Viennese 4th SS-T-St. "Ostmark//" was transferred here. After the deployment of the 6th and 7th SS-T-St. to Norway at the end of April 1940 and the transfer of the 4th SS-T-St. to the Netherlands, they were replaced by the newly arrived 9th and 16th SS-T-St.
Their strength could no longer be underestimated; for example, by mid-1940 they had nearly 3,300 combat-capable men stationed directly in the Czech and Moravian capitals. One of the first SS divisions, the so-called Verfiigungsdívísíon, formed from SS-VT units, was also formed in the Brdy training area in October and November 1939.
18 The most important duty of the SS-T-St. in the Protectorate remained, apart from training conscripts, guarding the buildings of the occupation authorities and the repressive apparatus. This routine duty was, however, occasionally "varied" by other tasks. One of these was a share in supervising the security of industrial plants.

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Waffen SS in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia

The originally deployed Algemeine-SS forces, forming a makeshift factory guard for the armaments and munitions factories, were K. H. Frank was recalled in 1939, which caused a sharp dispute with the Wehrmacht plenipotentiary Gen. Friderici. The latter argued that the unilateral action of the SS command was a threat to arms production in the Protectorate. After repeated warnings from the German Army about the lack of its own forces, Frank's orders led to the deployment of at least part of the 7th SS-T-St. to guard the mineral oil refinery in Ostrava-Privoz.
19 Prague 6. 55T-St. was in turn tasked with forming escort detachments to guard transports of armaments from the Protectoratearms factories (Skodawerke, Brilnner Waffenfabrik, Explosia and others) to Germany, which otherwise became a frequent target of sabotage.
20 The deep resentment of the SS-Brigf. K. H. Frank, however, was aroused by the deployment of the 6th SS-T.(mob.)-St. to escort internees from the Albrecht I action to the Dachau concentration camp.
The reason for this was not, of course, his opposition to preventive arrests, but simple vanity, for the commander of the security police and the SD SS-Oberf. Stahlecker had used this unit without Frank's knowledge.
21 The deployment of the SS-VT and SS-TV as a repressive force against the Czech resistance did not take long. It occurred in the context of the mass anti-German demonstrations in the autumn of 1939. The "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" was put on alert during the celebrations of the anniversary of the establishment of the independent Czechoslovak state, parts of which served as the "Prague Guard Regiment" at this time. It was not only counted on as a deterrent force and a backup in case of armed clashes, but during 28 October it repeatedly intervened against demonstrators. In an even more significant way, the SS, together with the security and riot police, participated in the reprisals after the funeral of Jan Opletal. On 17 November, members of the SS forcibly cleared out the buildings of the universities in Prague, behaving very aggressively towards the students who were caught. The replacement SS ambulance company then occupied the surgical clinic and the newly arrived Polizei-Regiment the building of the New Technique in Dejvice. The 6th SS-T-St. and the replacement battalion of the SSVT regiment 'Der FGhret' were prepared as a backup. Other fates of the affected students are sufficiently known. The execution of 9 student functionaries was carried out by members of the 6th SS-T-St. in the Ruzyně barracks, and a substantial part of those arrested were later sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. The seized buildings remained in the hands of the SS until the end of the war and were used as headquarters, quarters, or for other purposes.
22 Although Waffen SS numbers in the Protectorate continued to represent only a fraction of the forces of the ground troops and the Luftwaffe, they proved to be an important factor in securing Nazi interests. Unlike the Wehrmacht, they were directly involved in the persecution of resistance fighters and civilians.

They are well placed to do this - they have effective deployment in strategic locations and, compared to the riot police, better training and equipment.
The participation of the SS motorized regiments in the so-called Western Campaign made the value of the SS troops much more visible, which had an immediate impact on their further development. In the summer of 1940, the organizational structure of the top SS organs changed radically.
The SS Main Command Office (SS-Filhrungshauptamt) was created as the hitherto missing independent supreme command link of the combat units.forms, which had hitherto been managed by the inspectorates of the Verfilgungstruppen, Totenkopfverbéínde and concentration camps within the SS Main Office (SS-HA).23 This left the recruitment of conscripts as its main task. There was also a reorganisation of the subordinate parts of the SS. It was in 1940 that the gradual transformation of the SS-Totenkopf-Standarten into infantry regiments (SS-Infanterie-Regimenter) began, while their function as standby units in the rear was taken over by replacement divisional or specialized units. The unifying name Waffen began to be adopted for SS-VT and SSTV combat units from spring 1940.

During the summer and autumn, all SS-Totenkopf-Standarten were gradually withdrawn or abolished. Some of their men then became the basis for the newly formed SS guard battalions "Bohmen und Mahren" and "Prag", which were formed on 28 July 1940 and 20 November 1940 in Brno and Prague respectively. At the same time, the replacement bodies of the individual regiments of the SS divisions ("Totenkopf", "Deutschland") were transferred here.
25 Formally, this led to a division into guard (Wach) and replacement (Ersatz) units. In reality, however, the two functions were intertwined - the guard battalions continued to be devoted to combat training of conscripts, while the replacement units were involved in punitive measures. The primary mission of the guard battalions was to guard the objects of German occupation and police institutions. They provided, among other things. Prague Castle, the Czernin Palace, the castles in Dobříš and Panenské Břežany, the Gestapo and SD buildings, the police prisons in Terezín and Kounice and finally their own facilities. As a rule, one company each went on duty in Prague and Brno, with another company kept on standby in the barracks in case of riots. Their contribution to the persecution of Czech patriots was considerable. The guards treated the prisoners roughly and frequent cases of ill-treatment are recorded. The Emergency Troops, in turn, were given the chance to "distinguish themselves" in raids on resistance fighters and in escorting those arrested to prisons and concentration camps.
26.Replacement units, later renamed training and replacement units (Ausbi/dung u. Ersatz), were also initially stationed only in Prague and Brno. Only later did they spread to other garrison towns such as Jihlava and Pelhřimov.
For the performance of their tasks, they had only small training grounds in Motol in Prague (SS-TruppenObungsplatz Motol) and on the Králov field (Konugsfeld) in Brno, which could only be used for infantry training. Training of higher units or training with heavier weapons was carried out at the former training grounds of the Czechoslovak army in Brdy (Kammwald), Milovice (Mílowítz) and Vyškov (Wíschau), which served the needs of the German armed forces during the Second World War.

The Wehrmacht's plenipotentiary to the Reich Protector kept at least formal supervision over the level of training in the Waffen SS units.
27 This provisionality changed radically in March 1942, when a new SS training area (SS-TruppenObungsplatz "Beneschau", from October 1943 "Bohmen") was established between the Vltava, Sázava and Beneschau. Its establishment was preceded by several months of preparations, and the development accelerated after the establishment of the commander of the military training area at the end of 1941. This was another territorial gain for the SS in the occupied territory, as the Drbica (later Heídelager) training area had been built for the SS in Poland in 1940. The trend to build training grounds in occupied territories was not accidental, as similar efforts in the "Reich" were met with financial difficulties and resistance from the Wehrmacht. The construction of the polygon was carried out in five main phases, during which displacements were carried out in Benesov, Sedlčany and NeveklovThe majority of the original population of more than 30,000 people was displaced, and continued essentially until the defeat of Germany. It meant a considerable encroachment on Czech territory, as the training ground acquired legal extraterritoriality.
A small part of the indigenous population was forced to perform agricultural work for the needs of the administration of the military area. The expansion also used the labour of people interned in the concentration camp branches.camps and labour training camps, of which there was a large concentration by Protectorate standards.28 (The workplaces were gradually filled with schools (Schulen) of various types of weapons. The first school to be established was the Artillery School, followed by the so-called "Artillery Schools". The first schools were the tank grenadier (Panzergrenadier) and engineer (Pionier) schools, later also the tank fighter (lagdpanzer) and assault gun (Sturmgeschiltz) schools. The highlight of Nazi military education in the Protectorate was the opening of the SS Officers' School (Junkerschule) in Prague on 20 June 1941.

29 One of the privileges Himmler won for his SS was an independent judiciary. Its backbone was the SS and Police Courts (SS- und Polizeigericht), which dealt with criminal offences committed by members of the various SS forces. A branch (Zweiggericht) was first established in the Protectorate, which was upgraded to the SS and Police Court VIII in Prague (SS und Polizeigerucht VI/I Prag) on 15 August 1940. It was headed from the position of senior SS and police chief by K. H. Frank.
30 The jurisdiction of this court was continually expanded as Himmler's position strengthened, and during the course of the war the SS and Police Court's jurisdiction gradually included the regular police (Orpo) and its subordinate units (e.g. Technische Nothilfe, LuftschutzpolizeJ), to which thousands of Czechs were forcibly deployed during the occupation.
31 It is important to note that the aforementioned court was in place from 15. 7. 1942, the court was granted extensive powers in cases of disputes between Czech civilians and members of the repressive forces.32 The existence of the court was connected with the place of execution of the sentence. Initially, the buildings in the barracks of Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler were used for this purpose, and later the SS and police remand prison on Loretánské náměstí was established.
33 For SS members sentenced to lighter sentences, a so-called probationary detachment (Bewahrungsabteilung) was established at the end of October 1941 in the SS replacement battalion "Deutschland".
In June 1942, it was subordinated to the commander of the guard battalion "Prag" and a year later it was moved to Chlum on the Benesov training ground.
34 The development of the SS in 1939-1941 was rapid, but its development after the invasion of the USSR can be described as explosive.
Even before the campaign to the east began, the combat, guard and rearguard units were declared Waffen SS by Himmler's decree on 22 April 1941.
35 The deployment on the eastern front brought heavy losses to the SS troops because of the reckless manner of fighting, inadequate training, and lack of experience.36 The shortage of officers and non-commissioned officers was particularly serious, and replenishing them was much more difficult than in the Wehrmacht because of the specific method of recruiting new forces.
Due to conscription legislation, the possibilities of recruiting German nationals into the Waffen SS were severely limited. Although the SS leadership was able to push for the gradual recognition of service in the military forces as fulfilling conscription, the replenishment of units was carried out exclusively on the basis ofon a voluntary basis from quotas of conscripts for the ground forces, subject to formal approval by the ground forces' replenishment authorities.

It soon became increasingly clear that the existing voluntary principle of SS construction was not sufficient. Therefore, illegal conscription and the exceeding of the conscription quotas given by the Wehrmacht came into play. As early as 1940, the "recruitment" of foreigners into the ranks of the SS began, first from the Netherlands, Belgium and the Scandinavian countries. Another solution was the recruitment of ethnic Germans ('Volksdeutsche') who had long been settled in the countries of Central, Southern and Eastern Europe and who were not subject to conscription in Germany. The influx of Volksdeutsche into the SS did not escape the Protectorate, where at the end of 1944 they constituted up to 35% of the new arrivals in some training battalions.
38 Since the numbers of volunteers from the ranks of the "Reich Germans" were insufficient to meet the demands of the expanding Waffen-SS from the turn of 1941 and 1942, it was after Himmler's personalHimmler's personal intervention, it was decided to focus recruitment on minors, and it was possible to push the OKW to lower the legal age for voluntary entry into the armed forces to 16 1/2. After an intensive recruitment campaign in the Nazi youth and labor organizations (Hitler Youth, Reichsarbeitsdienst), thousands of young, already properly indoctrinated Germans began to flow into the SS.
39 A special training unit was soon established for these youngest members of the SS. Prague was chosen as its headquarters, where the SS-Gruf was ordered. Juittner on 20 April 1942, the SS Training Battalion (SS-Ausbi/dungs-Batail/on Prag) was established on 1 May 1942, which was later expanded into a regiment (SS-Ausbi/dungs-Regiment Prag).40 The building of the closed New Technique in Dejvice was used as a barracks and later also the school Na zeleni lišce. The unit was responsible for training up to 3,000 underage conscripts, most of whom came straight from the Hitler Youth.
However, the average number was around 1700 men. The age of the unit members was 95% seventeen years old. The first 1100 recruits arrived in three waves during May 1942. The majority were Reich Germans, but smaller numbers of Volksdeutsche and volunteers from Germanic states also appeared.
The training was organized in Motol and later in Prosečnic in the Benesov training area and lasted an unusual 6 months at that time. During the course of the training, the adolescent "SS" were to undergo not only intensive combat training, but also educational training. After the establishment of the tank grenadier school, the battalion had to leave the premises on 1 February 1943, with the entire regiment gradually concentrating in Prague. In less than three months, on 22. 4. 1943, by order of the SS-FHA, it was renamed the SS Special Use Training Battalion (SS-Ausbi/dung Batail/on zur bersonderen Verwendung) and moved to the SS Heidelager (formerly Dobica) training area, where it was disbanded in the autumn of the same year.

The departure of the Prag Training Regiment did not, of course, mean the discontinuation of the training of juvenile SS members in the Protectorate.
At the turn of August and September 1943 there were thus 2,723 SS under the age of 18, which represented 14% of the total number (19,389 persons) of Waffen SS members in the Protectorate. All in all, it was at this time that the massive influx of German youth into the ranks of the SS began with the formation of the 12th SS Division "Hitlerjugend" and the addition of other units.
The launch of Operation Barbarossa opened the door for the Waffen-SS to add volunteers from the Slavic, Baltic and AsianAlthough their origins seemed curious to say the least, given the radical nature of Nazi ideology. The initial disinterest of the SS top brass changed after the disastrous defeat at Stalingrad. Yet even then, the acceptance of "Eastern" volunteers did not meet with universal approval.
One of the sworn opponents was K. H. Frank, who was particularly opposed to the Slavs. Referring to Hitler's decree (23 July 1944) banning the stay of the so-called "Germans", he said that the so-called "Germans" were not allowed to stay in the country. "He reacted furiously to the presence of any non-Germanic peoples on his territory, not excluding members of the SS. He justified his position mainly by the danger of possible contacts with the Czech population, given their linguistic and cultural proximity. His efforts were, despite all the efforts of the SS-FHA to place foreign SS in this territory, successful for a long time. For example, as early as 1943 he writes to Himmler requesting the withdrawal of Serbian and Italian SS volunteers, and a year later the Croats and the Luftwaffe Women's Auxiliary Corps from the East (Ost-Kampfhelferinnen) are a thorn in his side. As late as September 1944, he succeeded in getting a Cossack SS regiment from the Benesov training camp withdrawn. As the end of the war approached, however, his ideas were increasingly confronted with reality. Moreover, in the case of the Wehrmacht, his arm was too short and Frank had to accept the presence of barracked "Eastern" members of the ground troops.
In mid-1944, 315 Eastern European volunteers (the so-called Hiwis) were in army units in Bohemia and Moravia.

41 The gradual change in recruitment policy was not to avoid the Czechs either. By order of 18 January 1943, the Waffen SS Recruiting Office (Ergéinzungsamt d. Waffen SS) established a branch (AuBenstelle Bohmen u. Mahren) of the Waffen SS Recruiting Office XVII "Donau" (Ergéinzungstelle) for the Protectorate. Its commander was SS-Ostuf. Stormer and was located in the Czernin Palace in Prague. However, the Nazis themselves had to admit that the whole operation ended in a fiasco for them. In the whole of 1943, contrary to great expectations, only 7 officers and 168 non-commissioned officers and men signed up. The Czechs therefore did not substantially join the tens of thousands of volunteers from all over Europe who fought with the rune symbol on the fronts of the Second World War.
42 Another consequence of the fierce fighting on the Eastern Front was the establishment of SS hospitals. The reason for this was to avoid treating wounded SS soldiers in Wehrmacht infirmaries because of the difficulty of catching them and returning them to their units. The conditions in the Protectorate were particularly favourable for this purpose
as it was far enough away from the front and Allied air bases and the threat of attacks from the resistance movement was minimal.

The history of SS medical units in the Protectorate began in 1939, when the SS-VT replacement medical battalion was transferred to Prague.
It was later replaced by the SS Medical School (SanitéitSchuJe SS-VT-Prag), which took over the former building of the CTU on Charles Square. The first SS infirmary was set up just a month after the start of Operation Barbarossa in nearby Podolí.
The medical staff numbered between 150 and 200 men, of which 25-30 were doctors. In 1943 and 1944, it averaged between 800 and 1,400 patients. Due to the constant influx of wounded, the capacity of the Podolí infirmary was no longer sufficient in 1944, and the SS hospitals were established in Německý (Havlíčkův) Brod and Kyjov.43 In order to maintain military habits, special companies (GenesendenKompanie) were created for the convalescents in the permanent units, in which they were sorted into platoons according to the severity of their injuries or the degree of their convalescence. Companies were set up in existing units, e.g. the SS replacement battalion "Deutschland" went from 2,000 men to 500 convalescents in January 1942.44 However, as the SS units grew, so did the divergence in quality. Only some of them could be considered valuable units; many failed at the front or were only useful for anti-partisan warfare, security, or extermination operations.
The oldest and most experienced part of the SS, made up mostly of Germans.very from 1942 onwards, the transformation from motorised infantry divisions to tank divisions, followed by others in 1943-1944. These SS units gained a huge reputation with Adolf Hitler and became in his eyes the mainstay of the war effort of the "Third Reich". With his approval, SS panzer divisions were preferentially equipped with the latest technology, a dramatic change from the years 1939/40, when the SS depended on the release of armaments from the Wehrmacht. In addition, Hitler stopped taking into account the opinion of the OKW and allowed the creation of SS units at the level of corps and armies. The years 1942 and 1943 thus saw a change in the overall importance of the Waffen SS to the conduct of the war, with the Waffen SS accounting for up to 25% of German tank and 30% of mechanized infantry divisions by the end of the war.
45 This increase can be well observed in the territory of the Protectorate.
While in 1941 the number of "SS men" serving there was around six thousand, by mid-1944 it was close to 32,000.
In a similar manner, the number of units and service stations grew from the original 12 to 14 to over fifty.
46 Among the higher SS units, the following were added. 1 SS Panzer Division "LSSAH", 2 SS Panzer Division "Das Reich", 1 O SS Panzer Division "Frundsberg", 12 SS Panzer Division "Hitlerjugend", 17. SS Panzer Grenadier Division, the staffs of other divisions and specialists of individual weapons (especially tank fighters and assault guns and artillery).
47 The increased demands on SS coordination in the Protectorate necessitated a more perfect territorial organization. In December 1941 the position of Waffen SS commander (Befehlshaber der Waffen SS im Protektorat, from March 1942 BdW-SS Bohmen u. Méihren) was newly established as the equivalent of the commanders of the security (BdS) and riot (BdO) police. Territorially, the headquarters was subordinate to the higher head of the SS and police and served as his headquarters for the management of the Waffen SS. From an organizational point of view, it was subordinate to the Main Command Authority (SS-FHA), which decided on changes in unit deployments, personnel transfers, etc. The SS garrison headquarters in Prague was abolished in February 1944, and its competencies and some of its personnel were incorporated into the Waffen SS Bohmen headquarters.
Mahren.
48 From 1 April 1944, the territorial jurisdiction of the higher SS and police chief K. H. Frank, when the "Reich County Sudetenland" was added to the existing subordinate unit.
However, the ever-increasing dominion of the SS placed considerable demands on its protection. However, the acute need for combat-ready men for the front caused considerable fluctuations in the numbers of the guard units, so further reinforcements were out of the question. On the contrary, in July 1943 the SS guard battalion "Bohmen u. Mahren" was abolished. The consequence was a reduction in guarding activities, or the transfer of some duties to the shoulders of the protective police (the residence in DobříBreslau and Panenské Břežany), which at this time was incorporated by the newly appointed Minister of the Interior Heinrich Himmler directly into the Schutzstaffel.
49 The poor situation on the battlefields was also reflected in the system of personnel assignments. Men unfit for field service for medical reasons (Garnisonsverwendungsféihig - HeimatjGvH.), while the youngest years were assigned to the replacement training units (Kriegsverwendungsféihig / Kv).
50 In contrast, the repressive potential of the Waffen SS became strongly manifested during the 1st and 2nd State of Emergency. Immediately after its declaration, SS units were put on standby to subsequently participate in raids and transports of prisoners to concentration camps. Members of the Waffen SS were also responsible for most of the Czech patriots executed. In Prague, executions were carried out in the Ruzyně barracks and at the Kobylisy shooting range by the replacement battalion of the SS regiment "Deutschland" and the guardSS battalion "Prag", while the execution squads in Brno's Kounice dormitories were built by the SS guard battalion "B6hmen und Mahren".

51 Probably the most famous action of the Waffen SS in the Protectorate was the raid of 18 June 1942 against paratroopers hidden in the Church of St Cyril and Methodius. In addition to the "Gestapo", approximately 750 men from the SS guard battalion "prag" stood against 7 Czechoslovak soldiers, formingand the replacement SS battalion "Deutschland", which was besieging the church building. The shock troops were made up of members of both units.52 Numerous paratroop drops from the east and west, the assassination of one of the highestNazi Germany and the unexpectedly difficult capture of St. Cyril and Methodius, caused concern among the representatives of the occupation regime. These events became a catalyst in the development of contingency plans and regulations to deal with the airborne troops and any "internal disturbances they might provoke. The aim of these measures was to create sufficient reserves using local, mostly training units. Initially, the Waffen SS had a relatively modest role in these. The reason for this was the considerable reluctance of SS officers at all levels to submit to army command. The disputes eventually had to be settled by an agreement between the Wehrmacht plenipotentiary, the senior SS and police commanders, and the Waffen SS commander, which brought about a division of responsibilities. Thereafter, preparations proceeded much more rapidly, and by February 1943 it was possible to allocate from the units stationed in the Protectorate13 largely motorized SS companies, armed with automatic weapons and flamethrowers and supported by batteries of light howitzers.
There was also a division of the contingency force into mobile reserve and reinforced guards, which became the model for other contingency plans.

53 A new quality to Nazi contingency measures was brought about by the promulgation of the slogan "Scharnhorst/ in May 1944. The most combat-ready parts of the SS training and guard units stationed in the Protectorate fell under it, while the slogan "Lutzow" applied for a time to temporarily stationed field units.54 These were not insignificant numbers. While in October 1944 their grouping included over 15,000 SS men (excluding the Schill battle group operating in Slovakia), by the end of the year it already numbered over 30,000.
Internally, it was further divided into SS security forces (Sicherungskréifte), whose task was to protect objects, and mobile forces (the so-called Kompfgruppenbrigode), which were directly at the disposal of the SS-Ogruf. Frank. However, in the event of a declaration of a state of military emergency, the command was assumed by the commander of the conscription district, which in the Protectorate was the plenipotentiary of the Wehrmacht. In spite of some shortcomings, especially the considerable disparity in terms of training and equipment, it was a very strong formation.
55 The Allied landing in Normandy 6. June and the massive Soviet offensive 14 days later, the Third Reich found itself on a deep strategic defensive. Developments on the fronts, however, were still too far away for the Protectorate. It was, however, struck by a shock on the internal front, namely the attempt by an opposition group to resolve Germany's dire situation by assassinating Hitler and then seizing power in a military coup. The plan used the Reserve Army's mobilization slogan "WalkOre".
It was headed in Prague by Wehrmacht plenipotentiary Gen.
Schaal. The assassination was carried out on July 20, 1944, and in the confusion that followed, Schaal attempted to arrest leading Nazi dignitaries. K. H. Frank, who had left his office in the Czernin Palace for fear of arrest, was given refuge by the SS Woffen under the command of SS-Brigf. Carl Burghaus von POckler.
However, the possibility of a coup was decisively ended by the announcement of the failure of the assassination and the subsequent brutal suppression of the opposition.
Count von Pockler, on the other hand, was promoted for his exemplary conduct during the crisis days. In the ensuing repression, the importance of the SS was considerably strengthened in comparison to the "treacherous" Wehrmacht, as the command of the reserve forces (Ersotzheer) was placed in Himmler's hands. At the same time, the replenishment offices of the ground troops and the SS were unified, which solved the long-standing problems of replenishing conscripts.