500/600 SS FJ Abteilung in the East

[moranimal]

Hello Gentlemen,

Does anyone have a brief history of the 500/600 SS FJ Abt from the summer of 1944 to the end in May 1945? I know little about the unit during that time, other than a picture posted by Prosper, that they seemed to be pinned with GD in the defense of Memel. If someone could just provide a brief overview, that would be great. Thatnks in advance.

[Prosper Keating]

OK, here's an overview.

After the battle of Drvar in May 1944, the survivors of SS-FJ-Btl 500 remained in the Drvar and Petrovac areas on partisan mopping-up operations with elements of the Prinz Eugen Division before withdrawal to the Slovenian town of Ljubljana for a short R&R break.

By this time, the battalion’s strength was down to 292 men, comprising the 200 still standing after Drvar plus the few members of the Field Reserve Company who didn’t go to Drvar and some Drvar veterans who had recovered from their wounds.

On June 29th 1944, SS-FJ Btl 500 was sent by train to Gotenhafen to prepare for a jump on the Finnish island of Aaland in the Baltic, following the Finnish armistice with the Soviets. The jump was cancelled and the battalion was moved by train to the Narva Front.

There, the SS paras were placed under the command of SS General Felix Steiner, commanding III SS-Panzerkorps/Armeegruppe Nord. SS-FJ Btl 500 operated as a very efficient fire brigade, halting Soviet advances in several places on the Narva.

On July 10th 1944, the surviving SS paratroopers emplaned in Wesenberg in Estonia and flew to Kaunas in Lithuania where they were attached to a Grossdeutschland kampfgruppe under Army Group Middle tasked with the relief of German forces trapped in Vilnius.

Through August 1944, SS-FJ Btl 500 served in its fire brigade rôle with Army Group Middle, Notable engagements included the recapture of Raseinen and the battles in Pasuviai and Dobilje.

At the end of August, the SS paras were given a few days of rest in Poland before moving to Zeichenau in East Prussia from where they were flown to Deutsche-Wagram near Vienna and placed at the disposal of Otto Skorzeny.

Skorzeny was in charge of the imminent German occupation of Budapest and removal from power of the Hungarian Regent Admiral Horthy, whose loyalty to Germany was seriously doubted by Hitler.

To the horror of the CO of SS-FJ Btl 500, Siegfried Milius, Skorzeny intended that the SS paras jump on the Citadel in the centre of the city to capture Horthy. Fortunately for the paras, there was insufficient jump kit available at such short notice and it was cancelled.

In the event, the SS paratroopers strolled into the centre of Budapest, suffering no casualties. Withdrawn after a few days, the battalion was moved to Neustrelitz in Northern Germany and redesignated SS-FJ Btl 600.

SS-FJ Btl 600 was now officially under the command of Skorzeny as part of his SS-Jagdverbände. However, there were hardly any members so recruits were found in nearby army and navy depots and bases.

HQ Coy OC Walter Scheu recruited several hundred men himself alone by going to various barracks and convincing anyone who could walk of the benefits of a life in the airborne with what one veteran remembers as the talent of Dr Goebbels.

Seasoned officers and NCOs were also recruited from other Waffen-SS units. The 500’s Field Reserve and Training Company became 4./SS-FJ-Btl 600, in the rôle of Heavy Weapons Coy or, as we called it in the British Army, Support Company.

By the middle of November, the SS Parachute Battalion was in good shape again. Of course, the majority would never be para-trained as the parachute schools had all closed down by then. But there was a real sense of belonging to an élite amongst the men of the 600.

Late in November, two companies of SS-FJ-Btl 600 were detached and sent to Grafenwohr to train with Skorzeny’s Panzerbrigade 150, tasked with causing mayhem behind American lines in the forthcoming Ardennes offensive in December 1944.

Following their return to Neustrelitz early in January, the battalion continued its training programme. Late in January, about fifty of the remaining para-trained men were put on standby for a jump on the encircled town of Wroclaw but this was cancelled.

On January 29th 1945, SS-FJ-Btl 600 was moved to Schwedt on the River Oder east of Berlin as part of a battlegroup under Skorzeny’s command. Skorzeny established a bridgehead there which was held largely by SS-FJ-Btl 600 until March 2nd. The fighting was intensive and losses were very heavy.

On March 5th 1945, SS-FJ-Btl 600 was sent into the Zehden bridgehead on the Oder as a fire brigade attached to the 610 Special Purposes Infantry Division, a division in name only. SS-FJ-Btl 600 formed a battle group with SS-Jagdverband Mitte.

Unfortunately for the SS paras, the explosive charges on the bridge,. which were supposed to have been disarmed, went off accidentally, leaving SS-FJ-Btl 600 on the eastern bank facing the Soviets with their backs to the wide and freezing river.

SS-FJ-Btl 600 held their positions until the night of March 27th/28th when an Arnhem-style escape and evasion took place with the SS paras swimming the river. Many drowned. Many were killed by massed Soviet artillery and small arms fire.

Having suffered appalling losses, SS-FJ-Btl 600 remained in the Oderberg area for rest and refitting. The 610 Infantry Division commander General Lendl decorated many of the SS paratroopers.

During this short respite, the battalion was brought back to something resembling effective strength. By the start of the Soviet spring offensive on April 16th, SS-FJ-Btl 600 was able to field almost 850 men.

I shan’t go into detail here about the various kampfgruppe formed in those final weeks with SS paratroopers and SS commandos from the jagdverbände. Suffice to say here that SS-FJ-Btl 600 participated in a number of courageous rearguard actions.

Their last major action was a night battle in and around Neubrandenburg on April 28th before General von Manteuffel gave the order for a general retreat away from the Soviets towards American lines.

SS-FJ-Btl 600 struck out for the German 12th Army lines near their old garrison town of Neustrelitz but were cut off by a Soviet thrust at Neuruppin, some thirty miles southwest of their goal.

The four companies of SS-FJ-Btl 600 still numbered between eighty and a hundred men apiece. On April 30th, two Soviet armoured corps and two cavarly divisions fell on Neuruppin. SS-FJ-Btl 600 held them off with small arms and panzerfausts for an entire day.

Veterans’ descriptions of the Cossack cavalry charges evoke a nightmare scenario. By nightfall, after repulsing nine Soviet attacks, just 180 SS paras were left from the 400-plus who had entered Neuruppin.

The CO gave the order to split up into small groups and evade the encircling Soviet units under cover of night. SS-FJ-Btl 600 retreated westwards through Waren and Parchim with the intention of surrendering to the Americans.

On May 2nd 1945, 180 survivors of SS-FJ-Btl 600 surrendered to the Americans in Hagenow. Luckily for them, the Americans didn’t hand them over to the Soviets as was the standard procedure in the case of SS units that had fought on the Eastern Front.

So…that’s your overview. Of an estimated 3500 men - at most - who passed through the ranks of the SS Parachute Battalion during its eighteen month existence, just 180 survived.

Of course, a few men left the battalion for various reasons but the fact remains that the unit was all but wiped out three times in just a year and a half.

As a footnote, after the withdrawal of the battalion from the Schwedt Bridgehead, forty para-trained members were sent off to SS-Jagdverbände HQ at Friedenthal to be formed into a special parachute assault platoon for defensive operations in Berlin.This detachment was never heard of again but there is a well known photograph of a dead SS officer in the streets of Berlin with an FJ helmet lying next to his body. Perhaps the Soviets posed the shot. Perhaps he was part of this detachment.

PK

[jeremiahcable]

Picture

Prosper,
That was a great overview of the SS Paras. Can you post the picture you mentioned of the dead SS officer in Berlin?

Jeremiah

[moranimal]

Thank you Prosper!

And welcome back from vacation. (I just came back from one myself.) However, sad to see your change of status. Hopefully you'll be back soon. Wouldn't be the same without you.

[Prosper Keating]

Prosper,
That was a great overview of the SS Paras. Can you post the picture you mentioned of the dead SS officer in Berlin?

Jeremiah

I don't have a digital version of it at the moment and I'm about to leave on a trip. But it's quite a well known shot taken in the streets of the Berlin by a Red Army photographer. Beside the man's body is an FJ helmet. Someone else must have a digital version. I know that our Slovenian friend Kojco posted it in one of his threads showing images from the National Museum in Ljubjana.

PK

[Angel Farré]

I don't have a digital version of it at the moment and I'm about to leave on a trip. But it's quite a well known shot taken in the streets of the Berlin by a Red Army photographer. Beside the man's body is an FJ helmet. Someone else must have a digital version. I know that our Slovenian friend Kojco posted it in one of his threads showing images from the National Museum in Ljubjana.

PK

I posted this picture in an early thread, can't remember its name, and shows an Untersturmführer deade with a FJ helmet and an FG 42 close to him, the photo caption identifies him as a member of the Nordland, but it's highly difficult that a member of this unit had a FJ helmet and an special weapon as was the FG 42.

Angel

[Óscar G]

Hello everyone:
You´ll find the pic here:
http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...on+Roon+Berlin

Hope this helps. Óscar