SS Heimwehr Danzig
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- Опубліковано 4 жов 2019
- Nazi German newsreels at the end of August 1939 in the build up to war show the SS Heimwehr Danzig and according to this propaganda film here it is preparing to defend the city against the Poles. Ironically enough, this unit did not start life as the Heimwehr Danzig but was created by Heinrich Himmler in October 1938 and recruits initially came from the Adlersheim district of Berlin. At that time it was the III Batalion 4. Company of the SS-Totenkopfstandarte Ostmark. In charge was SS-Obersturmbannführer Hans-Friedemann Goetze.
In January 1939 the Nazi controlled Senate of the Free City of Danzig voted to supplement its defence forces and launched a recruiting campaign which attracted some 3,000 men, approximately 500 of whom were accepted. They were to later form the nucleus of the ss Heimwehr Danzig. In June 1939, the III Batalion of the aforementioned 4. Company of the SS-Totenkopfstandarte Ostmark was smuggled into the Free State from Koenigsburg and Elbling with the men in civilian clothes. The unit got the name SS Heimwehr Danzig in July 1939 and became part of the SS-Totenkopfstandarte Ostmark with units stationed in Bischofsbergkaserne barracks and a school in Danzig. After receiving anti tank and anti aircraft unit reinforcements from Germany it reached full strength of around 1,550 soldiers on 18 August 1939 when it openly paraded in the Free City saluted by Gauleiter Albert Forster as can be seen in this weekly newsreel originally first broadcast on 23 August 1939.
On 1 September 1939 in the aggression against Poland, most of the unit was sent south to Tczew in the attempt to capture the Vistula bridges. However units also attacked the Polish Post Office in the Free City. The defenders of the Polish Post Office, armed only with armed with pistols, rifles, light machine guns and grenades held out for 15 hours even though the attackers were able to call on ADGZ armoured cars as well as 75mm and 105mm artillery.
Some men participated in the attack on the Westerplatte where four were killed. The unit arrived too late in Tczew to take part in the fighting with contradictory orders being sent, recalling them to the centre of Danzig in order to take part in the attack on the Post Office. It held a victory march in the now Nazi German occupied Danzig on 3 September 1939. Later it took part in the battle for Gdynia before moving in a southerly direction.
It participated in a number of crimes, the most serious being on 8 September 1939 when between 33 and 130 people living in the village of Książki were murdered.
The unit was disbanded on 29 September 1939 and the following day it was incorporated into the 3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf, forming the cadre of its artillery regiment. The commanding officer Goetze was killed in action aged 42 near Le Paradis in France on 27 May 1940, the death of whom was followed by the murder of British POWs.
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Great video Al very informative, they were such a well equipped and disciplined Army they had no need to commit so many war crime's along the way.
Thanks Alan! It took me around three days to do this - the motorhome videos I knock out much quicker!
The guys in post office suspected trouble
Danzig, a german town with 97% german Population in the 1930th belongt to Germany.
The "Mourir pour Danzig?" was the correct question of the french people.
No it was not part of Germany. The Treaty of Versailles made that quite clear.
@@HistoryonUA-cam The treaty/dictation of Versailles was the nothing than a busshit. It was the reason of the 2. Worldwar.
@@raimundschlagheck3060 No it was not. The reason for the second world war was because Nazi Germany and USSR attacked Poland.
The reason for ww2 was the British guarantee of Polish independence. A guarantee that was not applied against the Soviet Union in 1939 or 1945
@@JesterEric As far as the guarantee is concerned, that is absolutely correct Christopher, however to say that it was the reason for the war is probably a matter of semantics. It is the reason why the UK and France came into the war.
Hey man, a collector I watch sometimes possessed an armband that resembles the flag of the SS Heimwehr Danzig, but with a red totenkopf ua-cam.com/video/xBRz_Apw7rI/v-deo.html
Do you know what insignia the division wore? If it has any ties?
Hello.
That’s a fantasy item, not genuine and not based on anything real.
The Heimwehr Danzig troops were issued two cuff bands with the words ‘ SS Heimwehr Danzig ‘ worn on the left cuff. One for the grey uniform and one for the future for the black uniform but this never happened.
In 35 years of SS memorabilia collecting I have never seen an armband constructed like that one. Though the materials used might be authentic, I don't think the armband saw service. It might be a rejected prototype.
Good doc!
Thanks Sheri!
Another very interesting video. There is no end to the history of the crimes of the Third Reich. I'm grateful there are objective, honest, and dedicated historians like yourself who take the time to simply relate the undeniable facts about what happened. Fighting against the deniers and the revisionists is a never-ending battle.
Thanks Joe. I have given up fighting the Holocaust denier liars - it is pointless. To them it is like a religion they have to believe in even though all the evidence points to the opposite!
It seems very curious at four minutes how most of the population are welcoming the so-called invading army - is there a reason for that ? They seem to be treating them as liberators.
Who were they liberating them from?
Danzig belongs to Germany not Poland, read some real history books, if you say 10%of state of Massachusetts is Canadian then its belong to Canada? So you find some old film and make your own view of history.
It is in Poland! Look it up on a map.
@@HistoryonUA-cam Today it is. We all can read maps I assume.
The time you are referring to shows this:
Between 1920 and 1939, it was called "Freie Stadt Danzig" (or the Free City of Danzig), of which the independence was to be assured by the League of Nations under British and Polish protection. While Britain was stoically inactive. Poland took measures to sway the town under their rule as part of the Polish corridor.
A census in 1923 shows a population of 827827 Germans, 6788 Polish and Kashubian, 99 Russian and Ukrainian, and 99 others.
While under changing rule between Poles and Germans/Prussians throughout the centuries, it is in my eyes unethical defending own violations against international by someone else doing the same. I am no revisionist, nor do I justify means by one side or the other. So please read your history books without prejudice.
Today, it is a Polish city.
It seems that being part of a SS Totenkopf division was enough to be swayed quickly into committing war crimes. This division was particularly cruel and merciless.
What I am trying to understand are the steps that led to this.
What about the Danzig/Broomberg Massacres by Poland, etc.?
Largely Nazi propaganda - and events that would not have happened had Hitler not invaded.
@@HistoryonUA-cam your a German hater. Thousands of Ethnic Germans were murdered by Poles in the Summer of 1939. As for Danzig, it was 96% German. It rightly belonged to Germany!
@@HistoryonUA-cam Nah, it was real. The invasion of Poland had not happened, hadn't Poland invaded Germany three times from 1919 to 1921 in Silesia and illegally sent troops to Danzig in 1922, and denied the return of the Danzig corridor to Germany. And this is only the surface. I could go on.
@@testtor2714 Obviously you have been reading Nazi propaganda as your source material. You could go on .... with more nonsense you made up.
I know this is gonna sound bad, but I'd have given anything to be around during that time, all those good looking German soldiers, I'd have spread them for those soldiers.
JESUS never existed