18th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Horst Wessel

The 18th SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Division "Horst Wessel" (German: 18. SS-Freiwilligen Panzergrenadier-Division "Horst Wessel")[1] was formed in 1944 around a cadre from the 1st SS Infantry Brigade and included mainly ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche) from Hungary. The 1st battalion of about 1000 men was attached to SS Division Horst Wessel and sent to Galicia.

18th SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Division Horst Wessel
Active1944–1945
Country Nazi Germany
Branch Waffen SS
TypePanzergrenadier
SizeDivision

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 in August 1944. It later fought as a single unit in Hungary and later in Czechoslovakia where it was destroyed.

The Division was named after SA member Horst Wessel, known for being the author of the lyrics to the Nazi Party anthem, the Horst-Wessel-Lied, 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 (3 January 1945 – 10 January 1945)
  • Standartenführer Georg Bochmann (10 January 1945 – March 1945)
  • Standartenführer Heinrich Petersen (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
  1. Official designation in German language as to „Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv“ in Freiburg im Breisgau, stores of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS.
  • Tessin, Georg (1970). Die Landstreitkräfte 15—30. Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939—1945. 4. Frankfurt/Main: E.S. Mittler. pp. 108–109.

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