Ukrainian SS Mutiny - France 1944

[Music] call of war world war ii is a free online strategy game that gathers millions of players worldwide you fight up to 100 other players in real time in games that can take weeks to complete the games feature world war ii historically accurate maps and units that allows you to create your own path and rewrite history color war world war ii is fully cross-platformed your objective is to take over the world define your own strategy build powerful armies by combining dozens of different unit types and fight for world domination mark felton productions viewers are getting a special gift click on the link below to get 13 000 gold and one month of premium subscription for free the offer is available for only 30 days so click the link in the description choose a country and fight your way to victory in epic real-time battles two months into the normandy campaign in august 1944 there occurred a very rare event during world war ii a mutiny and not any old music but an uprising by troops of the waffen-ss the unit in question was not german but rather ukrainian and led by a small german staff of officers and ncos over 800 ukrainians planned to rise up against this small german staff once they had killed them disappear into the countryside and join the french resistance ukrainians were but one nationality represented in the waffen-ss due to recruiting restrictions imposed upon it by the german army the ss had been forced to trawl the occupied nations for men willing to serve hitler and the nazis in ukraine the ss found many volunteers until its occupation by the germans in 1941 ukraine had been part of the soviet union but portions of her population had grown very anti-soviet due to stalin's ruthless policies and many wanted independence for their country the nazis encouraged such sentiments throughout their empire and many ukrainians greeted the german army as liberators rather than occupiers in this vein ukrainians were recruited into the ss many of them nationalists and anti-communists and some anti-semites as well thousands of former soviet prisoners of war of ukrainian nationality joined the ss and were assigned as guards to german concentration camps where they earned a well-deserved reputation for brutality towards their inmates they were known as ss travnikes after the camp where the germans trained them yet more were organized into a combat force the 14th volunteer ss division galitsin the ukrainian ss division was complete by summer 1943 and heinrich himmler stressed that the word ukrainian was not to be used in its title the men were recruited primarily from eastern galicia an area of the old austro-hungarian empire on the poland-ukraine border region however combat losses were to ensure that ukrainians from other regions would also end up in its ranks the 14th ss division joined other ss units from all over europe from france belgium the netherlands denmark norway latvia estonia croatia and belarus to name just a few there had already been one mutiny by foreign ss in france when bosnian muslim ss had risen against their german staff in 1943 causing a major embarrassment for himmler please check out my video on this subject in the end screen however elements of the galitsin division entered operations against partisans in the rear areas of the eastern front and eventually into full frontline combat against the red army the remnants of the division was rebuilt with new recruits and began anti-partisan operations in slovakia however in slovakia almost 200 ukrainians deserted to the partisans another ss unit contained a higher proportion of ukrainians was named the 30th waffen grenadier division of the ss formed in warsaw in august 1944 as well as ukrainians the 30th contain russians and bella russians who had volunteered to fight for germany against the soviets again these men were all united by a hatred of communism the division numbered some 11 600 men with a small cadre of german ss officers and ncos directing operations its divisional symbol ironically was the double cross but instead of being sent into action against the red army as the men believed they would be the 30th division was instead posted to southeastern france to combat french resistance activities moving by train the division headquartered at vesul was charged with security of the belfor gap a flat area between mountain ranges ideal for an allied advance from the coast on into western germany and a location where the french forces of the interior the ffi or the french resistance were extremely active ukrainian officers led by major lev holloba dissatisfied with their situation and fed up with the high-handed behavior of the german staff who treated the ukrainian troops with contempt and distrust entered into secret talks with local french resistance leaders major haloba senior officer in a battalion of 818 ukrainian troops thrashed out a plan with the french if the resistance would provide shelter food and medical assistance the battalion would kill its german directing staff and go over to the resistance bringing with them their weapons and equipment the french agreed on the 27th of august 1944 the battalion marched out with its german staff major holoba was unsure if his men would follow his orders once he began the uprising the rank and file not knowing of the plan until the actual rising began for security reasons the signal would be the firing of a green flare into the sky a mounted ukrainian ss officer now turned to a german ss lieutenant also sitting on a horse and shot him through the head several other ukrainians in on the plot shot more germans while exhorting their men to kill all of the german staff in a few moments the orderly ss column degenerated into a murderous melee hundreds of germans were killed including all 25 german officers attached to the battalion whereas only three ukrainians died the battalion now joined the french resistance bringing with it 45 millimeter anti-tank guns 50 and 82 millimeter mortars 21 heavy machine guns and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition in fact the defectors became the first and second ukrainian battalions of the french forces at the interior and were later inducted into the french foreign legion after the war many of these ukrainian soldiers fighting in the war in french indochina those ukrainian units that had not mutinied were punished by the germans many transferred to heavy labor battalions partially rebuilt the 30th ss division took part in the fighting in the colmar pocket on the franco-german border but its last 4400 men were withdrawn and sent to germany for training and refitting in december 1944. what remained of the ukrainian element of the 30th division became the first white ruthenian ss grenadier brigade later renamed the 30th ss grenadier division but with only one regiment until disbanded in april 1945 regarding the earlier mentioned 14th waffen grenadier division first galician it was morphed by the germans into a ukrainian national army to fight against the soviets however this division retreated and surrendered to the british in austria in may 1945 transferred to rimini in italy their fate will be the subject of a future video don't forget that mark felt and production viewers are getting a special gift from call of war world war ii click on the link below to receive 13 000 gold one month premium subscription for free choose a country and fight your way to victory thanks for watching please subscribe and share and also visit my audiobook channel war stories with mark felton you can also help to support both of my channels at paypal and patreon details in the description box below

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 667,928

Keywords: Mark Felton, Ukraine, SS Galizien, Mutiny, Himmler

Id: bQTXaWTmQE4

Length: 8min 58sec (538 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 25 2022