SS Stammabteilung Montur "Mitte"

[HPL2008]

Would I be correct in the assumption that the majority of the membership of the Stammabteilung held the ranks of the enlisted man?

I have no figures or reference material on that, but personally, it seems most likely to me that the rank structure would have more or less reflected that of the active A-SS with perhaps a higher percentage of SNCO ranks.

(The Stammabteilungen being composed of older men over the age of 45 and such SS members whose "daytime jobs" for the state and party kept them from maintaining active status, a typical example being personnel of the order police.)

[d'alquen]

DrCMH and HPL,
The Stammabteilung was grouped under Sondereinheiten for statistical purposes. In 1937 the rank distribution for that section, Sondereinheiten, of the Allgemeine-SS was 1,678 men, 4,496 Unterfuehrer and 2,812 Fuehrer. I don't know how accurately those figures reflect the actual Stammabteilung breakdown but it is a very different rank profile to the rest of the Allgemeine-SS.
d'Alquen

[DrCMH]

Thank you to both Andreas and d'Alquen for the further information, I deeply appreciate any further understanding of this complex organization.

Andreas, do you recall if the statistics were in the main body of the Hein work or is it found amongst the many footnotes? I have stumbled through the work and perhaps spent more effort in translation than in absorbing the contents.

Thanks again,

CMH

[HPL2008]

Andreas, do you recall if the statistics were in the main body of the Hein work or is it found amongst the many footnotes? I have stumbled through the work and perhaps spent more effort in translation than in absorbing the contents.

The figures I cited are in the main body of the text. They are found in part V, section 3 on page no. 214.

[DrCMH]

Thank you, Andreas.

CMH

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Thank you, Andreas.

CMH

I add my thanks.

Maybe the term "Sondereinheiten" needs explanation here, since it is not a straight forward term for many of our readers.

[DrCMH]

Would the Sondereinheiten be an amalgam of a police and political special forces that primarily centered on the support of the political and racial idealogy of the SS?

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Would the Sondereinheiten be an amalgam of a police and political special forces that primarily centered on the support of the political and racial idealogy of the SS?

If memory serves, this is how Himmler referred to the Reiterei, Nachrichtenwesen, Pionierwesen, etc in the force structure of the Allgemeine SS, which, as the SSVT and the SSTV grew in size, were, in turn, reduced in force. I believe this fact is in Robert Koehl's book, which is now superseded by all the excellent new German research.

[DrCMH]

Thank you, FB. I read Koehl's book and this is the understanding I had. I hope to make better use of the newer German works soon.

CMH

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Thank you, FB. I read Koehl's book and this is the understanding I had. I hope to make better use of the newer German works soon.

CMH

Happy reading and happy collar patches to you all.