Blood Melting Edelweiss - 21st Skanderburg Armed Mountain Division, 23rd Kama Mountain Division, 24th Mountain Division of the German Mountain Soldier SS
21st SS Scander Fort Armed Mountain Division
Successive commanders
Captain of the SS flag
August Schmidthuber (1944–1945)
Commander of the SS 2nd Commando Group
Graff (1945)
Main preparation units
50th SS Armed Mountain Chasseur Regiment
51st SS Armed Mountain Chasseur Regiment
Apart from the above two regiments, information on other units of the division is unknown. The division also never reached full capacity.
Established in 1944 by Albanian Muslim volunteers, the ministry has suffered from a shortage of soldiers. By the end of 1944, the division had only recruited about 6,000 eligible volunteers. In addition, the lack of equipment has repeatedly delayed the formation of the Ministry.
Despite the severe lack of personnel , the division was engaged in the battle against the guerrillas, but did not achieve any outstanding results. At the end of 1944, about 3,000 surplus members of the Navy were added to the division. After an increase in the proportion of German personnel, the division took part in the operations of the retreat from the Balkans. By this time, Albania's Muslim members were deserting more and more than 3,500 people had fled. These were disbanded when the remaining Albanians were also hopelessly retained. In this way, the so-called Albanian Volunteer Mountain Division actually became a unit composed of German naval personnel.
Shortly thereafter , as the division was no longer suitable for existence as a separate combat unit , the remaining personnel were incorporated into Prince Eugen's division. Despite the division's short existence and lack of outstanding achievements, the relevant departments still designed the corresponding insignia for them, including collars, armbands and armbands.
23rd Kama Mountain Division of the Waffen SS
Successive commanders
Captain of the SS flag
Helmut Reitel
Main preparation units
55th SS Armed Mountain Chasseur Regiment
56th SS Armed Mountain Chasseur Regiment
The division was established in mid-1944 with officers mainly from ethnic Germans of the imperial era in Hungary, with a small number of reliable officers from the Holy Sword Division also being included. The rest is made up mainly of Muslim volunteers. The ministry never reached full capacity, peaking at less than 9,000.
As the Red Army approached, most of the division's Muslim volunteers were dispersed back home. Other German personnel were incorporated into the 31st SS Volunteer Grenadier Division, while Muslim volunteers who wished to remain were transferred to the Holy Sword Division. By October 1944, the division had been removed from the Waffen SS order of battle and had been transferred to another Dutch volunteer division. Its remnants were eventually annihilated in the Battle of Berlin in May 1945.
24th Mountain Division of the Waffen SS
Successive commanders
Commander of the SS 2nd Commando Group
Bell Schneider
Commander of the SS 2nd Commando Group
Werner Hahn
Commander of the SS Assault Group 1st Class
Carl Márquez
Main preparation units
59th SS Armed Mountain Chasseur Regiment
60th SS Armed Mountain Chasseur Regiment
24th Mountain Artillery Regiment
The division was founded in the summer of 1942, and Himmler ordered the creation of a mountain corps company to accommodate operations in the rocky mountains on the border between Italy and Yugoslavia. The company soon grew to battalion size, with many of its members coming from locals who knew the terrain.
This battalion of "Custer Chasseurs" was used for counter-guerrilla warfare, mainly against Italian communist partisans in the Treste region of northeastern Italy.
In July 1944, the battalion was ordered to be expanded into a division in Udine, consisting mainly of ethnic Germans from South Tyrol and local Italian volunteers. However, there was a shortage of personnel during the expansion, and by the end of 1944 the leadership decided to organize the unit into a brigade-level unit, but it still faced the problem of lack of personnel.
By the end of the war, the SS 59th Mountain Chasseur Regiment had to deal not only with the powerful British 8th Army but also with an attack from Italian partisans. Despite the heavy losses, the Ministry showed a firm will and performed well. The remnants of its forces were merged with the first part of Prince Eugen's division , and then absorbed members from the SS Officer School in Klagenfurt to form a battle group, under the command of SS brigade commander Heinz Hammel.
When the German group in Italy surrendered, members of the division in the same area also hastily avoided the Italian partisans and surrendered to the British. Hamel led his battle group to continue fighting and cover the German forces withdrawn from Yugoslavia , saving many German troops from falling into the hands of Tito's partisans.
The Waffen SS casters finally surrendered to British forces on 9 May 1945.
