The 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking () or SS Division Wiking was an infantry and later an armoured division among the thirty-eight

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 ...

divisions of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. 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 ...

, the division served on the Eastern Front. It surrendered on 9 May 1945 to the American forces in Austria. The division contained contingents of foreign volunteers from Northern European countries including, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, the Netherlands and Belgium. Although the role of foreign volunteers was played up by German wartime propaganda, the vast majority of the division’s personnel (over 90% at times) remained German, with the Nordic volunteers being from the “Westland” and “Nordland” SS regiments. Like other Waffen-SS divisions, Division Wiking participated in war crimes in Eastern Europe.

Formation, training and demographics

After the German

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

in 1939,

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...

, the head of the SS, sought to expand the

with foreign military volunteers for the Nazi "crusade against Bolshevism". The enrollment began in April 1940 with the creation of two regiments: the Waffen-SS Regiment Nordland (for Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and a minority of Icelandic volunteers), and the Waffen-SS Regiment Westland (for Dutch and Flemish volunteers). The Nordic formation, originally organised as the ''Nordische Division'' (Nr. 5), was to be made up of Nordic volunteers mixed with German Waffen-SS personnel. The SS Infantry Regiment Germania of the ''SS-Verfügungs-Division'', which was formed mostly from Germans, was transferred to help form the nucleus of a new division in late 1940. In December 1940, the new SS motorised formation was to be designated as SS-Division Germania, but after its formative period, the name was changed, to SS Division Wiking in January 1941. The division was formed around three motorised infantry regiments: Germania, Westland, and Nordland; with the addition of an artillery regiment. Command of the newly formed division was given to

Felix Steiner Felix Martin Julius Steiner (23 May 1896 – 12 May 1966) was a German SS commander during the Nazi era. During World War II, he served in the Waffen-SS, the combat branch of the SS, and commanded several SS divisions and corps. He was awarded t ...

, the former commander of the ''Verfügungstruppe SS Regiment Deutschland''. After formation, the division was sent to Heuberg in Germany for training; by April 1941, it was ready for combat. The division was ordered east in mid-May, to take part with

Army Group South Army Group South () was the name of one of three German Army Groups during World War II. It was first used in the 1939 September Campaign, along with Army Group North to invade Poland. In the invasion of Poland, Army Group South was led by Ge ...

's advance into

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

during

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

, the invasion of the Soviet Union. In June 1941, the Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS was formed from volunteers from that country. This unit was attached to the SS Regiment Nordland of the division. About 430 Finns who fought in the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

served in the SS Division Wiking from the beginning of Barbarossa. In spring 1943, the Finns' two-year contract ended, and the Finnish battalion was withdrawn. During that same timeframe, Regiment Nordland was transferred to help form the core of the new SS Division Nordland. They were replaced by the Estonian Battalion Narwa.Littlejohn (1987) p. 53.

Operational history

Invasion of the Soviet Union

The division took part in

, the invasion of the Soviet Union, advancing through Galicia, today's Ukraine. In July and August, Wiking participated in the encirclement battles at

Uman Uman (, , ) is a city in Cherkasy Oblast, central Ukraine. It is located to the east of Vinnytsia. Located in the east of the historical region of Podolia, the city rests on the banks of the Umanka River. Uman serves as the administrative c ...

and

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. Later in August, the division fought for the bridgehead across the

Dnieper River 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 ...

Dnepropetrovsk Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

. Finally, the division took part in the heavy fighting for

Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

before retreating to the

Mius River The Mius (; ) is a river in Eastern Europe that flows through Ukraine and Russia. It is long, and has a drainage basin of .Миус

line in November, to hold for the winter. In February 1942, the Soviet winter offensive had established breakthroughs on either side of the transportation hub of

Izium Izium or Izyum (, ; ) is a city on the Donets River in Kharkiv Oblast, eastern Ukraine that serves as the administrative center of Izium Raion and Izium urban hromada. It is about southeast of the city of Kharkiv, the oblast's administrative cen ...

. A was formed around the 1st battalion of the regiment and the division's assault gun battery and sent north to help contain the Soviet thrusts. By the 25th of February, this was virtually annihilated in defensive battles near Izium against superior Soviet armored forces. Ultimately the front had been stabilized however, and conditions had been set for the devastating Axis counterattack at the

Second Battle of Kharkov The Second Battle of Kharkov or Operation Fredericus was an Axis powers, Axis counter-offensive in the region around Kharkov against the Red Army Izium bridgehead offensive conducted 12–28 May 1942, on the Eastern Front (World War II), Easter ...

a few months later. During the spring of 1942, the division received reinforcements for the coming offensive, including a battalion of Finnish infantry and a battery of StuG III's to replace earlier losses. In early June 1942, Wiking received its panzer battalion, making it among the first SS Divisions to be given its own armored contingent. The panzer battalion had just under sixty tanks, and was made up of two companies of

Panzer III The ''Panzerkampfwagen III (Pz.Kpfw. III)'', commonly known as the Panzer III, was a medium tank developed in the 1930s by Nazi Germany, Germany, and was used extensively in World War II. The official German ordnance designation was List of Sd.K ...

s and one company of

Panzer IV The IV (Pz.Kpfw. IV), commonly known as the Panzer IV, is a German medium tank developed in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 161. The Panzer IV was the most numer ...

s. The battalion was commanded by veteran SS officer Johannes Mühlenkamp. In the summer of 1942, the unit took part in Army Group South's offensive

Case Blue Case Blue (German: ''Fall Blau'') was the ''Wehrmacht'' plan for the 1942 strategic summer offensive in southern Russia between 28 June and 24 November 1942, during World War II. The objective was to capture the oil fields of Baku ( Azerb ...

, with orders to capture Rostov and the Maikop oil fields. After capturing both targets, the division came to a halt in the foothills of the Caucasus on 14 August. In late September 1942, Wiking participated in the operation aimed to capture the city of

Grozny Grozny (, ; ) is the capital city of Chechnya, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the 2021 Russian census, 2021 census, it had a population of 328,533 — up from 210,720 recorded in the 2002 Russian Census, 2002 ce ...

, alongside the 13th Panzer Division. After much difficulty, the division captured the Malgobek ridge on 6 October, but the objective of seizing Grozny and opening a road to the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...

was not achieved. The division took part in the attempt to seize Ordzhonikidze. The Soviet

Operation Uranus Operation Uranus () was a Soviet 19–23 November 1942 strategic operation on the Eastern Front of World War II which led to the encirclement of Axis forces in the vicinity of Stalingrad: the German Sixth Army, the Third and Fourth Romani ...

, the encirclement of the 6th Army at Stalingrad, brought any further advances to a halt and later necessitated a retreat from the Caucasus. After Operation Winter Storm, the failed attempt to relieve the 6th Army,

Erich von Manstein Fritz Erich Georg Eduard von Manstein (born Fritz Erich Georg Eduard von Lewinski; 24 November 1887 – 9 June 1973) was a Germans, German Officer (armed forces), military officer of Poles (people), Polish descent who served as a ''Generalfeld ...

, the commander of Army Group South, proposed another attempt towards Stalingrad. To that end, entrained on 24 December; however, by the time it arrived at Zimovniki on 30 December, the Wehrmacht was retreating westwards. The Wiking Division was tasked with covering the retreat of Kleist's First Panzer Army back across the Don. Wiking held Simovniki for seven days, covering the retreat of several large German formations, taking high casualties in the process. The division escaped through the Rostov gap and took up a new defensive position at Stalino on 5 February.

Ukraine, 1943/44

In early 1943, the division fell back to Ukraine south of

Kharkov Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

, recently abandoned by the II SS Panzer Corps commanded by

Paul Hausser Paul Hausser, also known by his birth name Paul Falk post war (7 October 1880 – 21 December 1972), was a German general and, together with Sepp Dietrich, one of the two highest ranking commanders in the Waffen-SS. He played a key role in the ...

. In the remaining weeks of February, the Corps, including Wiking, engaged Mobile Group Popov, the major Soviet armoured force named after

Markian Popov Markian Mikhaylovich Popov (; 15 November 1902 – 22 April 1969) was a Soviet military commander, Army general (Soviet Union), Army General (26 August 1943), and Hero of the Soviet Union (1965). Early life Markian Popov was born in 1902 in U ...

during the

Third Battle of Kharkov The Third Battle of Kharkov was a series of battles on the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front of World War II, undertaken by Nazi Germany's Army Group South against the Soviet Red Army, around the city of Kharkov between 19 February ...

. As the post-Stalingrad Soviet offensive exhausted itself, Manstein was able to stabilize the front. In 1943, Herbert Gille was appointed to command the division. The SS Regiment Nordland, along with its commander Fritz von Scholz, were removed from the division and used as the nucleus for the new SS Division Nordland. The Finnish Volunteer Battalion was also withdrawn and they were replaced by the Estonian Battalion Narwa. In the summer of 1943, the division, along with the 23rd Panzer Division, formed the reserve for Manstein's Army Group in

Operation Citadel Operation Citadel () was the German offensive operation in July 1943 against Soviet forces in the Kursk salient, proposed by Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein during the Second World War on the Eastern Front that initiated the Battle of ...

. Immediately following the German failure in the

Battle of Kursk The Battle of Kursk, also called the Battle of the Kursk Salient, was a major World War II Eastern Front battle between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in southwestern Russia during the summer of 1943, resulting in ...

, the Red Army launched two counter-offensives,

Operation Kutuzov Operation Kutuzov was the first of the two counteroffensives launched by the Red Army as part of the Kursk Strategic Offensive Operation. It commenced on 12 July 1943, in the Central Russian Upland, against Army Group Center of the German ''Ger ...

and Operation Rumyantsev. Wiking, together with the SS Divisions Totenkopf and Das Reich, was sent to the Mius- Bogodukhov sector. The Soviets took

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

on 23 August and began advancing towards 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 ...

. In October the division was pulled out to a quiet sector of the line just as the Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive overtook Army Group South. In November 1943 the division participated in Operation Harvest Festival, engaging in the mass murder of thousands of Jews at

Majdanek concentration camp Majdanek (or Lublin) was a Nazi concentration and extermination camp built and operated by the SS on the outskirts of the city of Lublin during the German occupation of Poland in World War II. It had three gas chambers, two wooden gallows, ...

. In the aftermath of the fall of Kiev in late December 1943, the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts of the Red Army encircled several German divisions during the

Battle of the Korsun–Cherkassy Pocket A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force c ...

in January 1944. Over 60,000 soldiers, including the Wiking division, were trapped along the Dnieper River. Roughly half of German forces broke out of the encirclement. Similar to other formations in the pocket, Wiking suffered heavy casualties and lost nearly all of its heavy equipment. In early March 1944, while still refitting after its ordeal in the Cherkassy Pocket, the division was ordered to the town of

Kovel Kovel (, ; ; ) is a city in Volyn Oblast, northwestern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Kovel Raion within the oblast. Population: Kovel gives its name to one of the oldest runic inscriptions which were lost during World War I ...

to help contain a Soviet breakthrough. Only a portion of the division's strength, equipped only with small arms, and the division commander Gruppenführer Herbert Gille, made it into Kovel before being surrounded by Soviet forces. A breakout was deemed impractical, as there were over 2,000 German wounded in the city. By the end of March 1944, a relief force had been assembled outside of the pocket, led by Obersturmführer Karl Nicolussi-Leck. This force was built around the 8th Company of Wiking's 5th Panzer regiment, which had just received sixteen new Panther tanks. Fighting through determined Soviet resistance and heavy snow, the relief force broke through to the pocket on 30 March. Now able to be resupplied and receive reinforcements, Gille conducted counterattacks throughout April, culminating in the scattering of Soviet forces around Kovel on 24 April. Through May, the division received replacements for earlier losses, including

s, Stug IVs, and Panther tanks. In early June the division was ordered west, to new defensive positions at Maciejow. On 6 July, the Soviet armored advance reached Maciejow. Wiking's tanks and AT guns were well dug-in and camouflaged, and were able to destroy over 300 Soviet armored vehicles in three days of fighting. After bringing the Red Army's advance to a standstill in that sector, Wiking was dispatched to Poland on July 13, 1944.

Warsaw

In late-August 1944, the division was ordered back to

Modlin Fortress Modlin Fortress () is one of the largest 19th-century fortresses in Poland. It is located in the town of Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki in district Modlin (village), Modlin on the Narew river, approximately 50 kilometers north of Warsaw. It was original ...

on the

Vistula River The Vistula (; ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at in length. Its drainage basin, extending into three other countries apart from Poland, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra ...

line near

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

where it joined the newly formed

Army Group Vistula Army Group Vistula () was an Army Group of the ''Wehrmacht'', formed on 24 January 1945. It lasted for 105 days, having been put together from elements of Army Group A (shattered in the Soviet Vistula-Oder Offensive), Army Group Centre (similar ...

. Fighting alongside the Luftwaffe's ''"Hermann Göring" Panzer Division'' and SS Division Totenkopf the division participated in the Battle of Radzymin. The German counterattacks brought the Soviet offensive to a halt and the front line stabilized for the rest of the year.The division remained in the Modlin area, grouped with the 3 SS ''Totenkopf'' and the IV SS Panzer Corps. Gille was promoted to the command of the new ''SS Panzer'' Corps, and after a brief period with ''Oberführer'' Eduard Deisenhofer in command, ''Standartenführer'' Johannes Mühlenkamp, commander of the SS Panzer Regiment 5 ''Wiking'', took command. Battles around Modlin followed for the rest of the year. In October, Mühlenkamp was replaced by ''Oberführer'' Karl Ullrich, who led the division for the rest of the war.

Hungary

In late-December 1944, the German forces, including

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 ...

, were encircled in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. The IV SS Panzer Corps was ordered south to join Hermann Balck's 6th Army for a relief effort codenamed Operation Konrad. As a part of Operation Konrad I, the 5th SS Panzer Division ''Wiking'' was committed to action on 1 January 1945, fighting alongside the 3rd SS Panzer Division ''Totenkopf''. Near Tata, the advance columns of the ''Wiking'' attacked the 4th Guards Army. The Soviet forces halted the German advance at Bicske, 28 kilometres from

. After the failure of Konrad I, ''Wiking'' was moved south of

Esztergom Esztergom (; ; or ; , known by Names of European cities in different languages: E–H#E, alternative names) is a city with county rights in northern Hungary, northwest of the capital Budapest. It lies in Komárom-Esztergom County, on the righ ...

, near the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

bend. The second relief attempt, Operation Konrad II, got under way on 7 January with ''Wiking'' advancing south towards Budapest. By 12 January, the ''SS Panzergrenadier Regiment Westland'' had reached

Pilisszentkereszt Pilisszentkereszt () is a village in Pest County, Budapest metropolitan area, Hungary, some 20 km from Budapest in the Pilis Mountains. ''Pilis Szent-Kereszt'' means "St. Cross in Pilis". History The territory of Pilisszentkereszt and the ...

, 20 kilometres from Buda. Despite initial successes, the division was unable to exploit its breakthrough and was ordered to pull back and regroup. A third attempt, Operation Konrad III, in cooperation with the III Panzer Corps, took place 100 kilometres to the south. It started on 20 January and achieved initial tactical success. The quick redeployment of more Red Army troops prevented a German breakthrough, turning the German forces back by 28 January. By the end of January, ''Wiking'' and ''Totenkopf'' had suffered 8,000 casualties, including 200 officers. On 13 February 1945, the division was ordered west to

Lake Balaton Lake Balaton () is a freshwater rift lake in the Transdanubian region of Hungary. It is the List of largest lakes of Europe, largest lake in Central Europe, and one of the region's foremost tourist destinations. The Zala River provides the larges ...

, where ''Oberstgruppenführer''

Sepp Dietrich Josef "Sepp" Dietrich (28 May 1892 – 21 April 1966) was a German politician, general and war criminal in the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) during the Nazi era. Despite having no formal staff officer training, Dietrich was, along with Paul Hausser, t ...

's 6th SS Panzer Army was preparing

Operation Spring Awakening Operation Spring Awakening () was the last major German offensive of World War II. The operation was referred to in Germany as the Plattensee Offensive and in the Soviet Union as the Balaton Defensive Operation. It took place in Western Hungary ...

, an offensive at Lake Balaton.Stein (1984) p. 238. Gille's remained as a support to the 6th SS Panzer Army during the beginning of the operation. Dietrich's army made "good progress" at first, but as they drew near the Danube, the combination of the muddy terrain and strong Soviet resistance ground them to a halt. The division performed a holding operation on the left flank of the offensive, in the area between Lake Velence-

Székesfehérvár Székesfehérvár (; ; ; ; Serbian language, Serbian: ''Стони Београд''; ), known colloquially as Fehérvár (), is a city in central Hungary, and the country's ninth-largest city. It is the Regions of Hungary, regional capital of C ...

. As the operation progressed, the division was engaged in preventing Soviet efforts to outflank the advancing German forces. On 16 March, the Soviets forces counterattacked in overwhelming strength, causing the Germans to be driven back to their starting positions. On 24 March, another Soviet attack threw the IV SS Panzer Corps back towards

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

; all contact was lost with the neighbouring I SS Panzer Corps, and any resemblance of an organised line of defence was gone. Wiking withdrew into Czechoslovakia. The division surrendered to the American forces near Fürstenfeld, Austria on 9 May.

War crimes

Following the killing of Hilmar Wäckerle, one of the division's high ranking field officers, in the city of

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

, Jews in the area were rounded up by members of the division's logistics units led by ''Obersturmführer'' Braunnagel and ''Untersturmführer'' Kochalty. A gauntlet was then formed by two rows of soldiers. Most of these soldiers were from the Wiking's logistics units, but some were members of the German 1st Mountain Division. The Jews were then forced to run down this path while being struck by rifle butts and bayonets. At the end of this path stood a number of SS and army officers who shot the Jews as soon as they entered a bomb crater being used as a mass grave. About 50 or 60 Jews were killed in this manner. In addition, historian Eleonore Lappin, from the Institute for the History of Jews in Austria, has documented several cases of war crimes committed by members of Wiking in her work ''The Death Marches of Hungarian Jews Through Austria in the Spring of 1945''.Lappin On 28 March 1945, 80 Jews from an evacuation column, although fit for the journey, were shot by three members of Wiking and five military policemen. On 4 April, 20 members of another column that left

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

tried to escape near the town of Eggenfelden, not far from Gratkorn. Troops from the division stationed there apprehended them in the forest near Mt. Eggenfeld, then herded them into a gully, where they were shot. On 7–11 April 1945, members of the division executed another eighteen escaped prisoners. In 2013 the

NRK The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...

quoted "the first Norwegian o publicly admitthat he participated in war crimes and extermination of Jews in Eastern Europe"Olav Tuff (91): Vi brente en kirke med sivilister
/ref> during World War II, former soldier of the division Olav Tuff, who admitted: "In one instance in Ukraine during the autumn of 1941, civilians were herded like cattle—into a church. Shortly afterwards soldiers from my unit started to pour gasoline onto the church and somewhere between 200 and 300 humans were burned inside he church I was assigned as guard, and no one came out." The 2014 Norwegian book ''Morfar, Hitler og jeg'' (Grandfather, Hitler and I) quotes the diary of a division soldier from 1941 to 1943: "and then we cleaned a Jew hole".Ei ny fortid
new past"Bestefaren Per Pedersen Tjøstland var frontkjempar i 5. SS Panzer-divisjon Wiking frå 1941–1943, og skreiv for bladet Germaneren. Hans eigne dagbøker og artiklar er ei hovudkjelde, men Jackson skriv at det er umulig å vite nøyaktig kva han var med på. Kanskje seier det sitt at han bruker uttrykket «så rensket vi et jødehull»"

Organisation

Commanders

Order of battle

The organisation structure of this SS formation was as follows: * 5th SS Panzer Division Structure (1940): ** SS Regiment

Germania Germania ( ; ), also more specifically called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman provinces of Germania Inferior and Germania Superio ...

*** 1. Battalion *** 2. Battalion *** 3. Battalion ** SS Regiment Nordland *** 1. Battalion *** 2. Battalion *** 3. Battalion ** SS Regiment Westland *** 1. Battalion *** 2. Battalion *** 3. Battalion ** 5. SS Artillerie *** 1. Battalion *** 2. Battalion *** 3. Battalion *** 4. Battalion ** 5. SS Support Battalion ** 5. SS Engineer Battalion ** 5. SS Tank-Destroyer Battalion ** 5. SS Anti-Tank Battalion ** 1. Sanitary Company ** 2. Sanitary Company ** 1. Defense and Works Company ** 2. Defense and Works Company ** 3. Defense and Works Company

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * pp. 25–26 * * * * *

External links

5.SS-Panzer-Division “Wiking”
{{DEFAULTSORT:5th SS Panzer Division Wiking Panzer divisions of the Waffen-SS Panzergrenadier divisions of the Waffen-SS Foreign volunteer units of the Waffen-SS Security units of Nazi Germany established in 1941 Military units and formations established in 1941 Ukraine in World War II Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 The Holocaust in Ukraine 1941 establishments in Germany 1945 disestablishments in Germany