The Himmler's SS (37 page)

The Feldzeichen and Sturmbannfahne of the SS-VT on display at Nürnberg, September 1937. All the standard-bearers wear gorgets and bandoliers.

Command flags, or Kommandoflaggen, in the shape of rigid pennants on flag poles, were carried as unit markers at large parades or, in smaller versions, were flown from the front nearside mudwing of staff cars. They were square, rectangular or triangular in form depending upon designation, and were made of black and white waterproof cloth with rustproof silver thread. Command flags were usually covered in a transparent celluloid casing during inclement weather. Each SS Oberabschnitt was required to keep on hand one official vehicle flag and one command pennant for the Reichsführer-SS, for use in the event of a ‘flying visit' by Himmler. Other Kommandoflaggen included those for the heads of SS Hauptämter, SS Oberabschnitte and Abschnitte com-manders, the leaders of Standarten, Reiterstandarten, Sturmbanne, SS stores and inspectorates, and senior members of the FM organisation.

In 1934, Himmler noted: ‘A sworn oath is not enough. It is essential that every SS man be committed to the very roots of his being'. The symbolism and regalia of the Allgemeine-SS went a long way to achieving that end, instilling a feeling of superiority and ‘belonging' in every member of the Black Order.

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When Hitler assumed the Chancellorship on 30 January 1933, he felt that he could not rely entirely on the traditional Reichswehr and police guards appointed by the state to protect him. Consequently, he quickly issued instructions for the formation of a new full-time armed SS unit whose sole function would be to escort him at all times, whether in Berlin or on his official journeys throughout Germany. The task of forming the unit was entrusted to ‘Sepp' Dietrich, who by that time had risen to the rank of SS-Gruppenführer through his position as one of Hitler's closest personal friends.

By 17 March 1933, Dietrich had handpicked 120 loyal SS volunteers, including a few former members of the Stosstrupp Adolf Hitler, to become the nucleus of a new headquarters guard called the SS Stabswache Berlin. They were armed with rifles and initially quartered in the Alexander Barracks on Friedrichstrasse, not far from Hitler's official residence, the Reich Chancellery. In May, the Stabswache was enlarged and reformed as the SS Sonderkommando Zossen, with three training companies which had their instructors drawn from the army and police rather than the Allgemeine-SS. In addition to guard duties, this ‘Special Force' could now also be used for armed police and anti-terrorist tasks. The following month, three new companies were recruited as the SS Sonderkommando Jüterbog, and at the NSDAP party rally in September 1933 both detachments were merged into a single formation and renamed the ‘Adolf Hitler Standarte'. On 9 November, in front of the Munich Feldherrnhalle, the Standarte took a personal oath of loyalty to its Führer and was renamed the Leibstandarte-SS ‘Adolf Hitler', or LAH, which may best be translated as the ‘Adolf Hitler' Life Guards, invoking memories of the famed Imperial Royal Bodyguard Regiments. There could now be no doubt that these men, unlike the soldiers of the Reichswehr, were Hitler's personal troops.

As an SS unit, the Leibstandarte theoretically came under Himmler's overall control. However, in practice, Hitler considered himself to be the ultimate director of its actions. That fact, combined with Dietrich's friendship with Hitler, which the guard commander exploited to the full, ensured that the Leibstandarte enjoyed a fair measure of independence within the SS organisation. Indeed, the prewar Leibstandarte, which was on the national budget rather than that of the NSDAP, ultimately became in Himmler's own words ‘a complete law unto itself'. Dietrich frequently argued with the Reichsführer, whom he addressed as an equal, a luxury enjoyed by very few SS officers.

At the end of 1933, the LAH moved into quarters at Berlin-Lichterfelde from where squads of troops were sent to the Reich Chancellery on a rota basis to provide a smart, impressive and effective bodyguard for the Führer. They were given their own, then very distinctive, insignia of un-numbered SS runes on the right collar patch and a cuff title bearing the name ‘Adolf Hitler'. The Leibstandarte came to be in exclusive prominence around Hitler, its men serving not only as his guards but also as his adjutants, drivers, servants and waiters. Their ceremonial activities ultimately became almost legendary, and their performance on the drill square and at Nazi rallies, where they consistently held the place of honour at the end of the parade, was second to none.

Fanfare trumpeters of the Leibstandarte at the opening ceremony of the Berlin Horse Show in 1934. The banners were produced between September and November 1933, when the unit was called the ‘Adolf Hitler Standarte'. It is noteworthy that the man in the foreground has attached the banner to his trumpet the wrong way round, making the death's head appear to face backwards rather than forwards.

By 6 March 1934, the Leibstandarte comprised 986 men, of whom 45 were not members of the Nazi party, having been recruited directly from the military or police. The unit also included a number of non-Germans, such as thirty Austrian Nazis whose political beliefs had obliged them to leave their homeland for Germany. On 24 May, Himmler agreed to Dietrich's request that the LAH should use army, rather than SS, terminology to describe its constituent components. Thus ‘Bataillon' and ‘Kompanie' began to replace ‘Sturmbann' and ‘Sturm'. On 30 June 1934, the Leibstandarte helped to quell the Röhm putsch and was largely responsible for the killing of many of Hitler's enemies in the ‘Night of the Long Knives'. Most of those arrested were taken to the Lichterfelde Barracks which became a clearing house for unwanted people and corpses. It is not known precisely how many ‘enemies of the state' were shot by the Leibstandarte firing squads, but it is thought that some forty executioners were involved. The shooting finally ended on 2 July, and the Leibstandarte's first action was over. It had carried out Hitler's orders to the letter. The Führer promoted Dietrich to SS-Obergruppenführer and also upgraded by one rank all members of the Leibstandarte who had played an active part in the Röhm affair. The ‘Night of the Long Knives' saw a dramatic change take place, not only between the SA and the SS, but between the Allgemeine-SS and the armed SS detachments. One of the first outward signs of this shift was the changing of the guard outside Gestapo HQ, where the SA-Feldjägerkorps and Allgemeine-SS sentries were replaced by men of the LAH. Similar changes took place at other important locations across the Reich.

Leibstandarte sentries at the courtyard entrance to the new Reich Chancellery, November 1938. The LAH, being a guards regiment, spent much of its prewar time on ceremonial duties for which distinctive white leather equipment comprising waist belt, cross-strap, ammunition pouches, bayonet frog, pistol holster and pack straps, was introduced in stages from 1936. The police wore similar white leathers on parade.

Early in October 1934, it was decided that the Leibstandarte should be motorised, a rare honour in days when most of the Reichswehr was still horse-drawn. By the beginning of 1935, the strength of the LAH had risen to 2,551 men, and it became a regiment in fact as well as in name, divided into:

1 × staff

3 × motorised infantry battalions

1 × motorcycle company

1 × mortar company

1 × signals platoon

1 × armoured car platoon

1 × regimental band

It was a relatively short step from being equipped and trained for anti-terrorist police duties to being organised for military activities and the Leibstandarte was soon wearing field-grey. Given its largely ceremonial background, it is surprising just how quickly the LAH developed into a first-class military unit and how far it assimilated itself within the rest of the armed SS. On 1 March 1935 the 5th Company, under SS-Hauptsturmführer Wilhelm Mohnke, marched into Saarbrücken on the return of the Saarland to Germany. Three years later, the Leibstandarte took a prominent part in the annexation of Austria. It moved through Linz, where it provided a guard of honour for Hitler, and on to Vienna, taking part in the triumphal celebrations there. The Austrian operation saw the LAH covering no less than 600 miles in some 48 hours in full co-operation with the army, a high military ability which earned the favourable recognition of no less a commander than General Guderian. In October 1938, the Leibstandarte participated in the occupation of the Sudetenland, and again the whole event proceeded smoothly.

All elements of the Leibstandarte, except for the ceremonial Guard Battalion and a replacement unit, were to take part in the opening stages of the Second World War. As the first armed SS unit, the LAH was destined to hold a proud place as the oldest and smartest formation in the Waffen-SS, and was to earn itself a formidable fighting record at the front.

At the same time as the infant Leibstandarte was being formed to protect Hitler, other small groups of armed SS men were set up all over Germany as a means of bolstering the new régime in the event of civil unrest or counter-revolution. As a general rule, each SS Abschnitt recruited its own Kasernierte Hundertschaft of 100 or so barracked troops, and several of these were amalgamated in key areas to become company-or even battalion-sized Politische Bereitschaften, or PBs, Political Reserve Squads. The entire country was eventually covered by a network of PBs, some of which played a significant part in the ‘Night of the Long Knives'. On 24 September 1934, Hitler announced that the Politische Bereitschaften were to be brought together and expanded into a new force to be called the SS-Verfügungstruppe or SS-VT, political troops at the special disposal of the Nazi régime. The SS-VT would be formed on the basis of three Standarten modelled on army infantry regiments, each to comprise three battalions, a motorcycle company and a mortar company. In addition, an SS-VT signals battalion would act in a supporting role. The new formation was to be under the command of the Reichsführer-SS for internal security duties, except in time of war when it would be at the disposal of the army.