ostturkischer waffen-verband der ss cuff title

[rory]

First SS item for me, I've also got another Croatian volunteers cloth badge on the way

[harryamb2]

I like it.

[rory]

Some close ups, don't know much about cuff titles but this looks pretty mint.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Very nice. Well done!

[Woolgar]

Rory, is that the one from German War Booty?

Nick

[rory]

Thanks Ade, and no got it in a trade Nick but ill have a look at the one you mentioned for value as would rather have a nice tr medal bar instead

[Woolgar]

The Osttürkischer Waffen-Verband der SS was formed 1944 as 1. Ostmuselmanisches SS-Regiment with the support of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husseini, with the intention of expanding it to a division, Muselmanischen SS-Division Neu-Turkistan. The men came from the Turkic units in the Heer that were disbanded (450th, 480th and I/94 Turkic battalions), prisoners of war and men working in Germany.
It was transferred to Belorussia in February 1944 were it trained and was used for anti-partisan missions.

The unit contained some troublesome elements and SS-Hauptsturmführer Billig tried to handle the problem by shooting 78 suspected mutineers, but he was soon removed from command.
It was sent to Poland where it fought the Polish Home Army during the Warsaw uprising, being attached to the SS-Regiment Dirlewanger.
It was transferred to Slovakia in the autumn of 1944 to help fight the uprising where it was redesignated Osttürkischen Waffen-Verbande der SS. In December 1944 450 - 500 deserted from this unit of which 300 later returned.
The Azerbaijani regiment was removed from the unit 30 December 1944 and transferred to Kaukasischer Waffen-Verband der SS. It received soldiers from the disbanded Waffen-Gebirgs-Brigade der SS (Tatar Nr. 1) February 1945 to replace the Azerbaijani soldiers.
It was transferred to Austria were it continued to train until the end of the war.


Commanders
SS-Obersturmbannführer Andreas Meyer-Mader (? Jan 1944 - ? Mar 1944)
SS-Hauptsturmführer Billig (28 Mar 1944 - 5 Apr 1944)
SS-Hauptsturmführer Hermann (27 Apr 1944 - 2 May 1944)
SS-Sturmbannführer der Reserve Franz Liebermann (? June 1944 - 11 July 1944)
SS-Sturmbannführer der Reserve Franz Liebermann (29 July 1944 - 30 Aug 1944)
SS-Hauptsturmführer Reiner Olzscha (? Sep 1944 - ? Oct 1944)
SS-Standartenführer Harun-el-Raschid Bey (? Oct 1944 - ? Dec 1944)
SS-Hauptsturmführer Fürst (? Jan 1945 - ? May 1945)


Manpower strength
Jan - Feb 1944 3.000
Mar - May 1944 3.500
June - Sep 1944 4.000
Oct 1944 - Jan 1945 5.000
Feb - May 1945 8.500


Order of battle
Waffen-Gruppe Turkistan
Waffen-Gruppe Idel-Ural
Waffen-Gruppe Aserbaijan
Waffen-Gruppe Krim

[rory]

Thanks for that Nick, I had a quick look on Google and what I saw was it was just Russian POWs who volunteered to fight rather than rot in prison camps, a lot more detailed

[Woolgar]

No probe Rory I really like it! I'm tempted to buy the one onGWB!

Nick

[HPL2008]

Perhaps also of interest are the two links in my first post here:

https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/ss-un...der-ss-395527/

(They lead to color footage of members of the unit and information on its commander, respectively.)