Soldiers Like Other Soldiers? The Waffen SS Quiz

Answer: the Wehrmacht thought they lacked real martial skills

Wehrmacht soldiers called the Waffen SS men 'asphalt soldiers' as a slight; it implied they were only good for parades on asphalt and lacked any real skill as soldiers.

Answer: class and traditions

The major reason traditional German officers disliked Waffen SS officers were class and tradition. Prussian style German officers tended to be better educated and well versed in military theory and tactics. Whereas SS officers generally lacked both of these attributes. They were also considered 'lower class'.

In fact, the SS included a number of highly educated men. For example, SS-Gruppenführer Otto Rasch, the original commanding officer of one of the 'Einsatzgruppen' (mobile killing units) on the Soviet Front had two doctorates! The mobile killing units played a key part in carrying out the Holocaust on Soviet territory behind German lines.

Answer: their uniform

Early in the war, the Waffen SS were the only formations that wore a camouflage smock and helmet cover over the field grey uniform.

Answer: Danish and Norwegian

The 5th SS Panzer Division (Viking) was made up of Danes and Norwegians. This formation served on the Eastern Front until the end of the war.

Answer: Soviet Union

The Waffen SS committed the majority of its war crimes on the Eastern Front fighting against the Soviet Union. This included the large-scale shooting of prisoners of war as well as civilians.

Answer: they drafted them

As the war went on and more manpower was needed, they simply drafted Volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans) from Axis allied and some of the occupied countries. These also included many foreign volunteers who were not ethnically German.

The SS acquired a kind of 'Foreign Legion' partly because the Wehrmacht only accepted German citizens.

Answer: Himmler

Officially it was Himmler himself who encouraged them to act without restraint and to use whatever brutality necessary. This probably wasn't necessary because they were infamous for their atrocious behaviour and contained many criminals. Dirlewanger (1895-1945) himself was, among other things, a serial rapist.

Answer: a few hours

The 12th SS Panzer arrived at the front on the 7th of June 1944. That very same day they were involved in the massacre of Canadian prisoners at Ardennes Abbey. Note: although they were untried youth, their officers and NCOs were veterans drawn from the Leibstandarte; veterans of the Eastern Front where executing prisoners was commonplace. Nevertheless, some of the officers and NCOs did try to restrain these raw recruits.

Answer: it was staffed by foreign officers

The 11th SS Nordland was staffed completely by non-Germanic officers and NCOs. This was a practice not used in the previous foreign SS formations. The formation served the entire war on the Eastern Front and was destroyed in the battle for Berlin.

Answer: both Christians and Muslims served in the division

Christians - Volksdeutsche and Croats - as well as Muslims from Bosnia and Herzgovina served together in the division. The unit was formed to fight Tito's partisans in Yugoslavia.