What was the Waffen SS exactly?

Question

Do they belong to a man called Waffen or..

Answer 1

Waffen SS
Waffen = 'Armed', and Schutzstaffel= 'Protective Squadron'

So the 'Armed Protective Squadron' of the 3rd Reich.

The difference by the beginning of WW2 between the S.S. and the Waffen S.S. was the first was a political arm of the Reich and the second were soldiers comprised of the 'best of the best'.

Waffen S.S. units typically got the newest equipment, the best recruits, and the most supplies of any other unit. This was because they did not have to 'ask' for this from the German General Staff.

Starting in the early part of the war, they were supposed to be smaller 'tactical units' to punch holes in the enemies defenses. By the second year of the war however they were Hitler's most dependable units. By 1944, Waffen S.S. units had grown to Corps level, and were comprised of several of the very best Divisions the German Army had.

The 1st S.S. Panzer Division "Liebstandarte Adolf Hitler" was one of two Waffen S.S. units that stopped Operation Market Garden dead in its tracks. The 12th S.S. Panzer Division "HitlerJugend" and the 17th S.S. PanzerGrenadiers stopped the Canadian/ British breakout from Normandy for months after Allied forces thought it possible.

During the long years of fighting the Russians, the Waffen S.S. got used to the fact that the Russians had placed a bounty on the head of every Waffen S.S. soldier their soldiers killed. By 1943, Waffen S.S. troops stopped taking prisoners since none of them were going to be allowed to live either.

This is no way excuses some units such as Joachim Dietrich's 6th Panzer from executing American prisoners during the Battle of the Bulge. It does however explain WHY they did it in the first place. The Soviets as they marched across Germany kept doing that to every German they found.... by 1945, Soviet troops executed Waffen S.S., German Army, and German civilians without regard.

Answer 2

The Nazis Party's special 'army' force or combat arm that Himmler dreamed would one day replace the regular Werhmact Army. The SS had the Gestapo, SD, concentration camp guards and home police force. The Waffen SS were also under the SS but were the elite field army, at least the "classic" and elite divisions of the SS included: LSSAH, Das Reich, Totenkopf, Wiking, the Hohenstaufen and Frundsberg, and the Hitlerjugend. There were 38 divisions in the Waffen SS. Unlike the Werhmact, the Waffen SS was convicted at the Nuremburg Trials as a criminal organization.

Answer 3

The Waffen SS were the elite troops that were established to protect the core of the NAZI party. I don't know exactly what Waffen means but I believe it has something to do with armoury or weapons. The Waffen SS were a little like royal guards or Iraq's Republican guards. They were split into small groups of fighters who would undertake difficult military missions.

Incidentally, a number of the Waffen SS leaders ended up in other military forces including France. I have read in some sources that a few of these men ended their days in Vietnam where their arrogance help to lead to the disaster in Dien Bien Phu.

Answer 4

I could cut and paste an answer here that would hog up a bunch of space, but I won't do that. I can tell you, though, that the link I will give you below to the information Wikipedia has on the Waffen SS is very comprehensive. It even comes with pictures. :)

Answer 5

The Waffen SS have been the militia arm of the SS, which began off because of the fact the paramilitary wing of the Nazi occasion. Waffen SS infantrymen in assessment to those interior the Heer (familiar military) have been initially recruited in keeping with political ideology and racial purity. They have been prepared and geared up seperately from the Heer yet regularly operated decrease than Heer administration in try against. because of the fact the conflict greater the Waffen SS prepared many non-Aryan gadgets of distant places volunteers.

Answer 6

literally, Waffen = weapons. SS stood for Schutz Staffeln which means "protection squadrons". They were formed as Hitler's body guard (Armed Protection Squadrons)