In Germany during World War II, there was such a notorious force, they were invincible warriors on the battlefield, but outside the battlefield were demons who slaughtered prisoners of war and killed civilians. The SS unit had a creepy nickname, the Skeleton Division.
During World War II, Germany was able to quickly sweep Poland and France, thanks to their powerful mechanized forces, three of which were among the best of all powerful armored divisions. They were the "Imperial Division" known as the SS Second SS Panzer Division, the Fifth SS Panzer Division's "Viking Division", and the most ferocious and violent Third SS Panzer Division "Skeleton Division".
The skeleton division was in the Soviet-German battlefield, which made all the Soviets feel frightened. In the Battle of Demyansk, with 120,000 people breaking through the Soviet encirclement of 1.5 million people, facing more than 10 times the strength of the Soviets, the skeleton division tore a breakthrough with the spirit of fearlessness. Therefore, the Soviet Union circulated a saying: when encountering a skeleton division, there is no more than 10 times the strength of the troops do not fight.
In fact, the Skeleton Division was only a generic term, which included auxiliary police, armed SS and special forces stationed in various German cities at that time, and these people were later formed as the Third SS Panzer Division. Their predecessor was the Skeleton Corps, and the flag was a skeleton, so people called it the "Skeleton Division".
As the predecessor of the Skeleton Division, the Skeleton Corps has always been doing disgraceful tasks, such as slaughtering Jews, torturing Hitler's enemies, and so on. Therefore, this group of people was contaminated with a breath of anger, which was perfectly released on the battlefield. Although the Skeleton Division did not qualify for the Polish campaign, it played a good role in the invasion of France.
In 1941, the Skeleton Division was expanded from 20,000 to 40,000 men, and was simultaneously incorporated into Army Group North, ready to invade the Soviet Union at any time. From September 1941 to April 1942, the Skeleton Division experienced an unforgettable battle, they participated in the defense of Demyansk, and spent countless crazy nights with the Soviets at the cost of 1/2 of their entire staff.
A corporal of the Skeleton Division wrote about the battle in his memoirs, when the German and Soviet armies were in a state of anxiety, and bullets were often exhausted. The commander of the Skeleton Division would take his soldiers and take advantage of the night to touch the Soviet trenches and engage the Soviets in close hand-to-hand combat. The bullets were gone with daggers, the daggers were not bitten with teeth, and in this way they broke through the siege of 1.5 million Soviets.
In 1943, the Skeleton Division from the Northern Front came to Army Group South non-stop and participated in the winter offensive against the Soviet Army, and in the Second Battle of Kharkov, the Skeleton Division participated in the Southern Counterattack Force and made great achievements. Unfortunately, by this time the situation of the war had slowly changed, the Soviet army began to gain the upper hand, and by 1944, the German Eastern Front was almost a mess.
The Skeleton Division played an important role at this time, in the Warsaw area they blocked the advance of the Soviet army and suppressed the uprising at that time, and the Soviet army was forced to withdraw to the other side of the Vistula River. Without the Skeleton Division, it is believed that before 1945, Soviet soldiers would have been able to plant the scythe flag in the Reichstag in Berlin.
But even if the Skeleton Division was so good at fighting, it was still unable to save Germany, and after the Siege of Budapest, the Soviet Army gathered powerful troops and resources and directly pushed all the way, and the Skeleton Division could only carry out defensive warfare and retreated all the way to Vienna. And on May 9, 1945, he gave up hopes completely and surrendered to the American army.
The U.S. army refused the surrender of this notorious force and handed them over to the Soviets. The Soviets' treatment of the Skeleton Division was not humane, but it can be known that almost all the top brass of the Skeleton Division died in Soviet prisons. Because according to Soviet law, those who slaughter prisoners of war and civilians in war are put to death.
The top level of the Skeleton Division had almost all issued these two orders. Only some low-level soldiers with undeserved conscience did not do the slaughter of civilians and prisoners of war, so they were able to save their lives. On May 28, 1952, with the hanging of Baker, the last commander of the Skeleton Division, the famous Armored Division of World War II disappeared from history.
As a national force, the Skeleton Division is definitely worthy of recognition, they are not afraid of death, they are unstable in the rear, they can still complete the counterattack in the face of strong enemies, and they can give up their lives for the sake of the country. But morally, the Skeleton Division's brutal killing of prisoners of war civilians was heinous, especially the commander-in-chief of the Skeleton Division, Theodore Ike, was an out-and-out devil, so it was reasonable that this force would die.