The 8th SS Cavalry Division "Florian Geyer" was a German

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 ...

cavalry division 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 ...

. It was formed in 1942 from a cadre of the

SS Cavalry Brigade The SS Cavalry Brigade (''SS-Kavallerie-Brigade'') was a cavalry brigade unit of the German Waffen-SS during World War II that specialized in artillery observer, cavalry reconnaissance, close combat, crowd control and riot control, counterinsurge ...

which was involved in the ''

Bandenbekämpfung In Military history of Germany, German military history, (), also referred to as Nazi security warfare during World War II, refers to the concept and military doctrine of Counterinsurgency, countering Resistance movement, resistance or insurrec ...

'' ("bandit-fighting") operations behind the front line and was responsible for the killing of tens of thousands of the civilian population.

Hannes Heer Hans Georg Heer (known as ''Hannes'') (born 16 March 1941) is a German historian, chiefly known for the ''Wehrmachtsausstellung'' (German: "Wehrmacht Exhibition") in the 1990s. While controversial at that time, the exhibition is nowadays widely c ...

, War of Extermination, p.136 It continued "pacification" operations in the occupied Soviet Union, leading to further atrocities.

Formation

The training and replacement battalion of the division was involved in suppressing the 1943

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the 1943 act of Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II to oppose Nazi Germany's final effort to transport the remaining ghetto population to the gas chambers of the ...

. In March 1944, it was named after

Florian Geyer Florian Geyer von Giebelstadt (also spelled ''Geier''; 1490 – 10 June 1525) was a German nobleman, diplomat, and knight. He became widely known for leading peasants during the German Peasants' War. Early life Florian Geyer was born around ...

(1490–1525), the Franconian nobleman who led the Black Company during the

German Peasants' War The German Peasants' War, Great Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt () was a widespread popular revolt in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It was Europe's largest and most widespread popular uprising befor ...

. Veterans from the division formed the core of the 22nd SS Volunteer Cavalry Division Maria Theresia, following the latter's creation on 29April 1944.

Operational history

The newly created division was soon sent back to the Eastern Front and was stationed in the

Rzhev Rzhev ( rus, Ржев, p=ˈrʐɛf) is a town in Tver Oblast, Russia, located southwest of Staritsa and from Tver, on the highway and railway connecting Moscow and Riga. It is the uppermost town situated on the Volga River. Population: Hist ...

and Orel sectors in central Russia until the spring of 1943, in the

Army Group Centre Rear Area Army Group Centre Rear Area () was one of the three Army Group Rear Area Commands, established during the 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union. Initially commanded by General Max von Schenckendorff, it was an area of military jurisdiction behi ...

. As the Ninth Army planned the evacuation from the Rzhev salient in

Operation Büffel Operation Büffel ("Buffalo") was a series of local retreats conducted by the German Army Group Centre on the Eastern Front during the period 1–22 March 1943. This movement eliminated the Rzhev Salient and shortened the front by , releasing t ...

in March 1943, the division took part in large-scale

("bandit-fighting") actions in the weeks before the operation, alongside elements of four Wehrmacht divisions and other SS and police units. An estimated 3,000 Russians were killed, the great majority of whom were unarmed: only 277 rifles, 41 pistols, 61 machine guns and 17 mortars were recovered. As part of the withdrawal, Ninth Army's commander

Walter Model Otto Moritz Walter Model (; 24 January 1891 – 21 April 1945) was a German during World War II. Although he was a hard-driving, aggressive panzer commander early in the war, Model became best known as a practitioner of defensive warfare. H ...

personally ordered the deportation of all male civilians, wells poisoned, and at least two dozen villages razed in a scorched earth policy to hinder the Red Army's follow up in the area. The division was then moved to the area around

Bobruisk Babruysk (, ) or Bobruysk (, ; , ) is a city in Mogilev Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Babruysk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. It is situated on the Berezina River. Babruysk o ...

, on internal security and Bandenbekämpfung duties until September 1943. In September the division was moved to the Southern front and took part in the German retreat to the

Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...

river.Mitcham, German Order of Battle, Volume 3. p 150 The division was then sent to

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

in October 1943, where the

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 ...

and

Sturmgeschütz (abbreviated StuG) meaning "assault gun" was a series of armored fighting vehicles used by both German ''Wehrmacht'' and ''Waffen-SS'' formations during the Second World War (1939–1945). The main StuGs were the StuG III and StuG IV bas ...

battalions were combined and the Reconnaissance Battalion became a Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion. Following this reorganization the division was posted to

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

but many new recruits volunteered to serve mainly young

Danube Swabians The Danube Swabians ( ) is a collective term for the ethnic German-speaking population who lived in the Kingdom of Hungary in east-central Europe, especially in the Danube River valley, first in the 12th century, and in greater numbers in the 17 ...

(''Shwoveh'') with an average age of 15.5-16. drawn from Hungary & Romania,in March 1944. In April 1944, they returned to Hungary and took part in the fighting in

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

after the Romanian front collapsed. The division was trapped in the

Siege of Budapest The siege of Budapest or battle of Budapest was the 50-day-long encirclement by Soviet and Romanian forces of the Hungarian capital of Budapest, near the end of World War II. Part of the broader Budapest Offensive, the siege began when Budapes ...

with the

IX SS Mountain Corps The IX Waffen Mountain Corps of the SS (Croatian) (), later simply IX SS Mountain Corps, was a ''Waffen-SS'' corps during World War II. Originally set up to command Croatian and Albanian SS divisions, it also commanded a variety of other German an ...

when the Soviet and Romanian forces surrounded the city in December 1944. The division was destroyed in the fighting for Budapest, and by the end of the siege, of the 30,000 men of the SS Corps, only about 800 reached German lines.

Commanders

*SS-Brigadeführer Gustav Lombard (March 1942 – April 1942) *SS-Gruppenführer

Hermann Fegelein Hans Otto Georg Hermann Fegelein (30 October 1906 – 28 April 1945) was a high-ranking commander in the ''Waffen-SS'' of Nazi Germany. He was a member of Adolf Hitler's entourage and brother-in-law to Eva Braun through his marriage to ...

(April 1942 – August 1942) *SS-Obergruppenführer

Wilhelm Bittrich Wilhelm Bittrich (26 February 1894 – 19 April 1979) was a high-ranking Waffen-SS commander of Nazi Germany. Between August 1942 and February 1943, Bittrich commanded the SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer, in rear security operations (''Banden ...

(August 1942 – 15 February 1943) *SS-Brigadeführer

Fritz Freitag Fritz Freitag (28 April 1894 – 10 May 1945) was a German SS commander during the Nazi era. During World War II, he commanded the 2nd SS Infantry Brigade, the SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer, and the SS Division Galicia. Freitag committed ...

(15 February 1943 – 20 April 1943) *SS-Brigadeführer Gustav Lombard (20 April 1943 – 14 May 1943) *SS-Gruppenführer

(14 May 1943 – 13 September 1943) *SS-Gruppenführer Bruno Streckenbach (13 September 1943 – 22 October 1943) *SS-Gruppenführer

(22 October 1943 – 1 January 1944) *SS-Gruppenführer Bruno Streckenbach (1 January 1944 – 14 April 1944) *SS-Brigadeführer Gustav Lombard (14 April 1944 – 1 July 1944) *SS-Brigadeführer Joachim Rumohr (1 July 1944 – 11 February 1945)

References

Citations

Bibliography

*Charles Trang
Florian Geyer Division
2000, *