The 4th SS Polizei Panzergrenadier Division (4. SS-Polizei-Panzergrenadier-Division) or SS Division Polizei was one of the thirty-eight

divisions Division may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication * Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting of 10,000 t ...

fielded as part of the

Waffen-SS The (; ) was the military branch, combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscr ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Formation

The division was formed in October 1939, when thousands of members of the ''

Ordnungspolizei The ''Ordnungspolizei'' (''Orpo'', , meaning "Order Police") were the uniformed police force in Nazi Germany from 1936 to 1945. The Orpo was absorbed into the Nazi monopoly of power after regional police jurisdiction was removed in favour of t ...

'' (Orpo) were drafted to fill the ranks of the new SS division. These men were not enrolled in the SS and remained policemen, retaining their Orpo rank structure and insignia. They did not have to meet the racial and physical requirements imposed for the SS. Himmler's purpose in forming the division was to get around the recruitment caps the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

had succeeded in placing on the SS, it also provided a means for his policemen to satisfy their military obligation and avoid army conscription. The first commander was ''Generalleutnant der Polizei'' (Major-General) Karl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch, a career police commander who had been a general staff officer during World War I; simultaneous with his appointment he was also commissioned as an SS-''

Gruppenführer __NOTOC__ ''Gruppenführer'' (, ) was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party (NSDAP), first created in 1925 as a senior rank of the SA. Since then, the term ''Gruppenführer'' is also used for leaders of groups/teams of the police, fire d ...

''. The division was equipped largely with captured Czech materiel and underwent military training in the

Black Forest The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is th ...

combined with periods on

internal security Internal security is the act of keeping peace within the borders of a sovereign state or other Self-governance, self-governing territories, generally by upholding the national law and defending against internal security threats. This task and rol ...

duties in Poland.Williamson, The Waffen-SS, p. 38

France 1940

The division, at this time an infantry formation with horse-drawn transport, was held in reserve with

Army Group C Army Group C () was an army group of the German Wehrmacht during World War II. In its first deployment between 1939 and 1941, its main assignment was the defense of the Franco-German border during the Phony War and the Western Campaign, after whi ...

in the

Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...

during the

Battle of France The Battle of France (; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign (), the French Campaign (, ) and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembour ...

until 9 June when it first saw combat during the crossing of the Aisne river and the

Ardennes The Ardennes ( ; ; ; ; ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, extending into Germany and France. Geological ...

Canal. The division was engaged in heavy fighting and after securing its objectives, moved to the Argonne Forest, where it came into contact with the French and fought a number of actions with their rear guard. In late June 1940, the division was pulled out of combat and transferred to the reserve of

Army Group North Army Group North () was the name of three separate army groups of the Wehrmacht during World War II. Its rear area operations were organized by the Army Group North Rear Area. The first Army Group North was deployed during the invasion of Pol ...

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

. In January 1941, administrative responsibility for the division passed from the police to the '' SS-Führungshauptamt'' (SS operations office), the materiel and training headquarters for the Waffen-SS; its personnel however, remained policemen, not members of the SS.

Eastern Front

During the invasion of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

(

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

), the division was initially part of the reserve within

. In August 1941, the division saw action near Luga. During heavy fighting for the Luga bridgehead the division lost over 2,000 soldiers including the commander,

Arthur Mülverstadt Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Ital ...

. After a series of failed attacks in swampy and wooded terrain, the division, along with army formations, fought its way into the northern part of Luga, encircling and destroying the Soviet defenders. In January 1942, the division was moved to the

Volkhov River The Volkhov ( ; ; ) is a river in Novgorodsky District, Novgorodsky and Chudovsky Districts of Novgorod Oblast and Kirishsky District, Kirishsky and Volkhovsky Districts of Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia. The Volkhov River, Volkhov, whi ...

sector, and on 24 February it was transferred to the

; its personnel changing their police insignia to that of the SS. The formation was involved in heavy fighting between January and March which resulted in the destruction of the Soviet

2nd Shock Army The 2nd Shock Army (), sometimes translated to English as 2nd Assault Army, was a field army of the Soviet Union during the Second World War. This type of formation was created in accordance with prewar doctrine that called for Shock Armies to ''o ...

during the

Battle of Lyuban The Battle of Lyuban, Lyuban offensive operation or Battle of the Volkhov (7 January 1942 – 30 April 1942) (Russian: Любанская наступательная операция; German: Schlacht am Wolchow) was a Soviet offensive operatio ...

. The remainder of the year was spent on the

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

front.

1943

In February 1943, the division saw action south of

Lake Ladoga Lake Ladoga is a freshwater lake located in the Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia, in the vicinity of Saint Petersburg. It is the largest lake located entirely in Europe, the second largest lake in Russia after Lake ...

and was forced to retreat to a new defensive line at

Kolpino Kolpino () is a administrative divisions of Saint Petersburg, municipal city in Kolpinsky District of the federal cities of Russia, federal city of Saint Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Russia, located on the Izhora River (tributary of th ...

where it was successful in holding the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

, despite suffering heavy casualties. It was at this point that units of the division were transferred to the west to retrain and upgrade to a

Panzergrenadier (), abbreviated as ''PzG'' (WWII) or ''PzGren'' (modern), meaning ''Armoured fighting vehicle, "Armour"-ed fighting vehicle "Grenadier"'', is the German language, German term for the military doctrine of mechanized infantry units in armoured fo ...

division; leaving a small ''

Kampfgruppe In military history, the German term (pl. ; abbrev. KG, or KGr in usage during World War II, literally "fighting group" or " battlegroup") can refer to a combat formation of any kind, but most usually to that employed by the of Nazi Germa ...

'' (battlegroup) in the east and a Dutch Volunteer Legion, the ''Niederland'', to make up the numbers.Williamson, The Waffen-SS, p. 39 The ''Kampfgruppe'' was disbanded in May 1943, when the division became operational. The division was sent to Greece where it engaged in

Nazi security warfare Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequen ...

in the northern part of the country.

1944 and Distomo massacre

The division remained in Greece until August 1944 before being recalled to face the advancing Red Army at

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

. It again suffered heavy losses. While in Greece, the division committed

war crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

s and atrocities against the civilian population while undertaking anti-partisan operations. In particular they were responsible for the Kleisoura massacre and the Distomo massacre; the latter being one of the worst atrocities committed by the Waffen-SS during World War II. On June 10, 1944, for over two hours, troops of the division under the command of Fritz Lautenbach went door to door and massacred Greek civilians in retaliation for a Greek Resistance attack upon the unit. A total of 214 men, women and children were killed in Distomo, a small village near Delphi."Greeks lose Nazi massacre claim." 26 June 2003 BBC
According to survivors, SS men "bayoneted babies in their cribs, stabbed pregnant women, and beheaded the village priest." Elements of this division committed atrocities in the mountains of central Greece ("Ρούμελη") during May and June 1944 that resulted in the destruction of Sperchiada and the massacre of 28 civilians in Ipati. The division later participated in Operation Kreuzotter (5–31 August 1944), an attempt to eradicate Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) bases from the same mountains. The operation was a military failure, but resulted in the killing of 170 civilians and the partial or complete destruction of dozens of villages and cities. The division was moved to

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

in September 1944, and was stationed outside Belgrade to defend the Danube on the Belgrade-Timisoara-Arad line against Soviet advances in Transylvania. After the capture of

Debrecen Debrecen ( ; ; ; ) is Hungary's cities of Hungary, second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain Regions of Hungary, region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the large ...

by the 2nd Ukrainian Front, the division was forced to withdraw to

Senta Senta ( sr-cyrl, Сента, ; Hungarian language, Hungarian: ''Zenta'', ; Romanian language, Romanian: ''Zenta'') is a town and municipality located in Vojvodina, Serbia. It is situated on the bank of the Tisza, Tisa river in the geographical ...

and Sannicolau Mare on 6 October 1944, and eventually destroying the Tisza bridge crossings and withdrawing to

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...

, on 9 October. After Soviet successes on the Tisza's east bank, 4th SS was ordered to cover Soviet movements against the west bank of the Tisza and hold

Szolnok Szolnok (; also known by #Name and etymology, alternative names) is the county seat of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county in central Hungary. A city with county rights, it is located on the banks of the Tisza river, in the heart of the Great Hungarian ...

, which fell to the Soviets at the start of the Budapest Offensive on 4 November. Committing to a fighting retreat north, 4th SS pulled west of

Jászberény Jászberény is a city and market centre in Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county in Hungary. Location Jászberény is located in central Hungary, on the Zagyva River, a tributary of the Tisza River. It is about from Budapest. History The oldes ...

on 12 November, only for the city to fall on 14 November, retreating further to

Hatvan Hatvan ( German: ''Hottwan)'' is a town in Heves County, Hungary. Hatvan is the Hungarian word for "sixty". It is the county's third most populous town following Eger and Gyöngyös. Etymology Hatvan is the Hungarian word for "sixty". It is a com ...

; falling to the Soviet forces on 25 November. 4th SS dug in further north of Hatvan. They had however, taken heavy casualties, with only 800 men and 13 functional armoured assault guns available for defensive operations, and starting 5 December, a very strong Soviet advance pierced 6 kilometres deep behind the German lines north of the village of Szucsi, allowing the 2nd Ukrainian Front to enter the Cserhát mountain range by 15 December. Facing extreme casualties on the

Bátonyterenye Bátonyterenye is a town in Nógrád County, Hungary, under the Mátra mountain range, beside of the Zagyva river. As of 2022 census, it has a population of 11,296 (see Demographics). The town located beside of the (Nr. 81) Hatvan–Fiľakovo ra ...

line, much of the division withdrawn to the then Slovak-Hungarian border at

Čebovce Čebovce () is a village in the Veľký Krtíš District of the Banská Bystrica Region of southern Slovakia. History This Hungarian village was first mentioned in 1240 (as ''Chab''). Prior to the First Mongol invasion of Hungary, Mongol invasion ...

; arriving between 27–28 December, with the units suffering the worst casualty rates withdrawing to

Banská Bystrica Banská Bystrica (, also known by other #Etymology, alternative names) is a city in central Slovakia, located on the Hron River in a long and wide valley encircled by the mountain chains of the Low Tatras, the Greater Fatra, Veľká Fatra, and t ...

. Only 450 men and 3 heavy guns were available at Čebovce, which facing three Soviet rifle divisions became the scene of heavy fighting; where the village changed hands many times. After the loss of the village's highlands on 31 December, 4th SS was fully withdrawn to Slovakia, and eventually back to Germany, with any remaining forces fighting with

1st Panzer Army The 1st Panzer Army () was a German tank army that was a large armoured formation of the Wehrmacht during World War II. When originally formed on 1 March 1940, the predecessor of the 1st Panzer Army was named Panzer Group Kleist (''Panzergruppe ...

1945

The depleted division was moved to a front line north in Pomerania. Hitler assigned it to Army Detachment Steiner for the relief of Berlin. They were supposed to be part of the northern pincer that would meet the IV Panzer Army coming from the south and envelop the 1st Ukrainian Front before destroying it. Steiner explained to General

Gotthard Heinrici Gotthard Fedor August Heinrici (; 25 December 1886 – 10 December 1971) was a German general during World War II. Heinrici is considered to have been the premier defensive expert of the ''Wehrmacht''. His final command was Army Group Vistula, fo ...

that he did not have the divisions to perform this action and the troops lacked the heavy weapons needed, so the attack did not take place as Hitler had planned. Moved to Danzig, the SS-''Polizei'' Division was encircled by the Red Army and was shipped across the Hela Peninsula to Swinemünde. After a brief rest, what remained of the division fought its way across the

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

river, in order to surrender to the Americans near

Wittenberge Wittenberge (; ) is a town of eighteen thousand people on the middle Elbe in the district of Prignitz, Brandenburg, Germany. Geography Wittenberge is situated at the right (north-eastern) bank of the middle Elbe at its confluence with the Step ...

Lenzen Lenzen (Elbe) is a small town in the district of Prignitz, in Brandenburg, northern Germany. The town lies to the north of the Löcknitz River, not far from where the Löcknitz flows into the Elbe. It is part of the '' Amt'' Lenzen-Elbtalaue. Ov ...

Commanders

* Karl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch (15 November 1939 – 1 September 1940) * Konrad Ritzer (1 September 1940 – 8 September 1940) * Karl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch (8 September 1940 – 10 November 1940) *

(10 November 1940 – 10 August 1941) * Emil Höring (16 August 1941 – 18 August 1941) * Walter Krüger (18 August 1941 – 15 December 1941) * Alfred Wünnenberg (15 December 1941 – 14 May 1942) * Alfred Borchert (15 May 1942 – 18 July 1942) - for Alfred Wünnenberg * Alfred Wünnenberg (19 July 1942 – 10 June 1943) * Fritz Schmedes (10 June 1943 – 5 July 1943) * Otto Binge (5 July 1943 – 18 August 1943) * Fritz Freitag (18 August 1943 – 20 October 1943) * Friedrich-Wilhelm Bock (20 October 1943 – 19 April 1944) * Jürgen Wagner (19 April 1944–? May 1944) * Friedrich-Wilhelm Bock (? May 1944–7 May 1944) * Hebert Ernst Vahl (7 May 1944 – 22 July 1944) * Karl Schümers (22 July 1944 – 16 August 1944) * Helmut Dörner (16 August 1944 – 22 August 1944) * Fritz Schmedes (22 August 1944 – 27 November 1944) * Walter Harzer (27 November 1944 – 1 March 1945) * Fritz Göhler (1 March 1945–? March 1945) * Walter Harzer (? March 1945–8 May 1945)

Order of battle

;Area of operations * Germany (September 1939–May 1940) * Luxembourg, Belgium & France (May 1940 – June 1941) * Eastern front, northern sector (June 1941–May 1943) * Czechoslovakia and Poland (May 1943–January 1944) * Greece (January 1944–September 1944) * Yugoslavia and Romania (September 1944–October 1944) * Hungary (October 1944–December 1944) * Czechoslovakia and Eastern Germany (December 1944–May 1945) ;1939 * ''Polizei-Schützen-Regiment 1'' * ''Polizei-Schützen-Regiment 2'' * ''Polizei-Schützen-Regiment 3'' * ''Polizei-Panzerjäger'' (

anti-tank Anti-tank warfare refers to the military strategies, tactics, and weapon systems designed to counter and destroy enemy armored vehicles, particularly tanks. It originated during World War I following the first deployment of tanks in 1916, and ...

) Battalion * ''Polizei-Pionier'' (Engineer) Battalion * ''Radfahr'' (Bicycle) Company * ''Artillerie Regiment 300'' * ''Nachrichten'' (Signals) Battalion 300 * ''Versorgungstruppen 300'' (Supply Unit) ;1943 * SS-''

Regiment 7'' * SS-''Panzergrenadier Regiment 8'' * SS-''Artillerie Regiment 4'' * SS-''

Panzer {{CatAutoTOC, numerals=no Words and phrases Germanic words and phrases Words and phrases by language la:Categoria:Verba Theodisca ...

'' Battalion 4 * SS-'' Sturmgeschütz'' (Assault gun) Battalion 4 * SS-''

Panzerjäger ''Panzerjäger'' (German: literally "armor hunter", more broadly "anti-tank") is a term used for an anti-tank vehicle (self-propelled anti-tank gun), as well as anti-tank units. The term was first used in the Wehrmacht (German armed forces, 19 ...

'' (Anti-tank) Battalion 4 * SS-''

Flak Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-bas ...

'' (Anti-aircraft) Battalion 4 * SS-''

Nachrichten ''Nachrichten'' ('News') was a Volga German communist newspaper, published between 1918 and 1941.Geschichte der Wolgadeutschen"НАХРИХТЕН"/ref> ''Nachrichten'' was the organ of the Communist Party in the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Soci ...

'' (Signals) Battalion 4 * SS-''Panzer-Aufklärungs'' (Armoured Reconnaissance) Battalion 4 * SS-'' Pionier'' (Engineer) Battalion 4 * SS-''DiNA Divisions-Nachschub-Abteilung'' (Divisional Supply Battalion) 4 * SS-''Panzer-Instandsetzungs'' (Maintenance) Battalion 4 * SS-''Wirtschafts'' Battalion 4 - (no direct translation, but it concerns the administration of captured equipment, property and so on) * SS-''Sanitäts'' (Medical) Battalion 4 * SS-''Polizei-Veterinär-Kompanie'' 4 * SS-''Kriegsberichter'' (War Reporter) Platoon 4 * SS-''

Feldgendarmerie The term ''Feldgendarmerie'' (; ) refers to military police units of the armies of the Kingdom of Saxony (from 1810), the German Empire and Nazi Germany up to the end of World War II in Europe. Early history (1810-1918) From 1810 to 1812 King ...

'' (Military Police) Troop 4 * SS-''Ersatz'' (Replacement) Battalion 4

Manpower strength

* June 1941 = 17,347 * December 1942 = 13,399 * December 1943 = 16,081 * June 1944 = 16,139 * December 1944 = 9,000

References

Citations

Bibliography

* *Williamson, Gordon. (2003). ''The Waffen-SS'', Osprey Publishing, {{Authority control 1939 establishments in Germany Infantry divisions of the Waffen-SS Panzergrenadier divisions of the Waffen-SS Military units and formations established in 1939 Ordnungspolizei SS and Police units Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 War crimes of the Waffen-SS