Feldgrau.net

And now, here is the related document in which Himmler relieves Demelhuber from his command of SS-Kampfgruppe "Nord" with effect on 14th August 1941. Now we know that he will keep his command till January 1942.

Thanks for posting these Charles. This serves a further proof that single period documents cannot be relied upon for 100% accuracy and how authors can sometimes get things "wrong", even after extensive archival research where information would appear to be confirmed as fact via period documents.

John

Here is another order which can be classified in the same category. SS-IR 10 stayed within the 1.SS-Infanterie-Brigade (mot.) and both legions ("Norwegen" and "Flandern") stayed within the 2.SS-Infanterie-Brigade (mot.).

Monsieur Charles, where did you find these? They are very interesting documents for Nord research! Merci!

I think Demelhuber had already been identified as a better trainer for forming-up units than as a combat commander. He was sent to Finland when early signs showed that the Nord KG was unready for wartime combat (this was BEFORE its failure at Salla). After Salla, Demelhuber was able to being forming a better division out of the KG, and Krüger was proposed to take over and finish the process. In the event, since the unit wasn't really going back into combat for months to come, it was okay to leave Demelhuber there, until the time for combat was close, and a good combat commander was available. Kleinheisterkamp took command, and led the Nord Division successfully.

Tom, these documents come from the US National Archives (T175 series).

Kleinheisterkamp was successful, that's for sure, but he could count on better human material than Demelhuber could. The young Waffen-SS replacements who began to arrive for the division from November 1941 were far better - military speaking - than the former SS-TV members who formed the original SS-Kampfgruppe "Nord". And among the latter, those who had survived the hard summer battles, were now seasoned veterans. The division could also count on more modern equipment from 1942 onwards. Nord kept on fighting better and better. The US Army Command rated it as the best German infantry division (sic) on the Western Front in 1945.

Charles Trang wrote:Tom, these documents come from the US National Archives (T175 series).

Merci!

Must be one of the parts I don't have yet!

Charles Trang wrote:Kleinheisterkamp was successful, that's for sure, but he could count on better human material than Demelhuber could. The young Waffen-SS replacements who began to arrive for the division from November 1941 were far better - military speaking - than the former SS-TV members who formed the original SS-Kampfgruppe "Nord". And among the latter, those who had survived the hard summer battles, were now seasoned veterans. The division could also count on more modern equipment from 1942 onwards. Nord kept on fighting better and better. The US Army Command rated it as the best German infantry division (sic) on the Western Front in 1945.

What's really funny is that the Nord men themselves, in early 1945, came to realize that they didn't entirely know how to operate in mountain terrain! The US 45th Infantry Division had fought in the Apennines in Italy, and then for a while in the Vosges, before Nord arrived on the scene. Wolf Zoepf, author of Seven Days in January, noted that the 45th Infantry Division had more experience at mountain warfare than did Nord, which had been fighting in mostly-flat forests and swamps!

Here is another order which was later cancelled. As John wrote earlier, no document can be considered as vouched when taken out of its context.