Quote:
Originally Posted by Blackriot
Nikitns can you provide a source where SS men were used as guards?
I know that the SS as an organization were involved in many terrible things including concentration camps but the Waffen SS were purely a military group.
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The Schutz-Staffel (SS) was just the head-organisation for the many minor parts, out of which the Waffen-SS is one.
They were created in november 1939 and formed out of the old SS-Totenkopfverbänden and SS-Verfügungstruppen. While the majority of the armed troops of the SS served the same purposes as the Wehrmacht and was similiar armed, there were also troops whose purpose was not front combat.
One of them was the fifth division, the SS-Totenkopf Standarte (SS-Skull-Division). They were not armed for frontal combat (i.e. had no artillery, no heavy weapons) and were not to be used as normal troops, but surpression forces in conquered territories aswell as guarding the concetration camps.
Well, i guess you can easily find sources for that in english if you want to.
Since i am german i could only give you german sources. Guess they are more reliable than translated ones.