The 18th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division "Horst Wessel" ( was formed in 1944 around a cadre from the

1st SS Infantry Brigade The 1st SS Infantry Brigade () was a unit of the German Waffen SS formed from former concentration camp guards for service in the Soviet Union behind the main front line during the Second World War. They conducted Nazi security warfare in the re ...

. It was used for "rear-security" duties until it was sent to the Eastern front, with the exception of one regiment that fought the

Slovak National Uprising Slovak National Uprising ( Slovak: ''Slovenské národné povstanie'', abbreviated SNP; alternatively also ''Povstanie roku 1944'', English: ''The Uprising of 1944'') was organised by the Slovak resistance during the Second World War, directed ag ...

in August 1944. During this period, the 1st Battalion of the Sturmbrigade Frankreich fought with the division as the 4th Battalion of SS Rgt. 40 commanded by Sturmbannführer Schaeffer in Galicia.'Les volontaires français dans l'armée allemande', Christophe Leguerandais The division later fought as a single unit in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

and in

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

where it was destroyed. The Division was named after SA member

Horst Wessel Horst Ludwig Georg Erich Wessel (9 October 1907 – 23 February 1930) was a member of the Sturmabteilung (SA), the paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party, who became a propaganda symbol in Nazi Germany following his murder in 1930 by two members ...

, known for being the author of the lyrics to the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

anthem, the ''

Horst-Wessel-Lied The "" (), also known by its incipit "" ('The Flag Raised High'), was the anthem of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) from 1930 to 1945. From 1933 to 1945, the Nazis made it the co-national anthem of Germany, along with the first stanza of the "". The "" ...

'', and glorified by the Nazi regime as a martyr of the party's early years.

Commanders

*''Brigadeführer'' Wilhelm Trabandt (25 January 1944 – 3 January 1945) *''Gruppenführer''

Josef Fitzthum Josef Fitzthum (14 September 1896 – 10 January 1945) was a high-ranking Austrian member of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) and Special Representative of the ''Reichsführer-SS'' in Albania during World War II. A commander of the Waffen-SS, he was k ...

(3 January 1945 – 10 January 1945) *''Standartenführer'' Georg Bochmann (10 January 1945 – March 1945) *''Standartenführer'' Heinrich Petersen (15 March 1945 – 8 May 1945)

Battles

*Hungary (January 1944 – July 1944) *Eastern front, central sector (July 1944 – October 1944) *Poland & Czechoslovakia (October 1944 – May 1945)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:18th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Horst Wessel Horst Wessel Panzergrenadier divisions of the Waffen-SS Military units and formations established in 1944 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945

Commanders

Battles

See also

References

Notes

Bibliography