Corpus 35021 SS SPG officer

The beginning of the development of German self-propelled artillery can be considered in the mid-1930s, when the concept of creating an assault gun (German: Sturmgeschütz - in short StuG ) intended to support the offensive activities of the German infantry. Very often the author of this idea is considered to be the later field marshal Erich von Manstein. The first prototypes of such vehicles were created in 1937, and when they entered mass production, they received the designation StuG III. They were used for the first time during the French campaign in 1940. In the course of this campaign, the Bison guns (sometimes referred to as Sturmpanzer I) were also used, i.e. the 150 mm sIG guns mounted on the Panzer I chassis. During the further part of World War II, the German army introduced more and more perfect self-propelled guns on a large scale. The armored and mechanized units were equipped with vehicles such as the Wespe or the very successful Hummel, which allowed for a significant improvement in the mobility of artillery in these units. The StuG III carts were also developed and the StuG IV cart was introduced to production. At the end of the war, a small number of Sturmtiger vehicles armed with a 380 mm rocket mortar appeared.

The first paramilitary unit to have the abbreviation SS (German: Schutz Staffel) in its name was the personal protection of the dictator of the Third Reich called Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, which was officially formed in 1933. From 1934, the SS was an independent formation headed by Heinrich Himmler. With time, further SS units were formed, including the SS-Totenkopfverbände and the SS-Verfügungstruppe. It is worth adding that the latter was trained similarly to regular Wehrmacht infantry units. On a relatively small scale, SS units were used in combat during the fighting in Poland in 1939 and in the French campaign in 1940. The first units intended from the beginning to fight at the front were created in mid-1940, giving them the name of the Waffen SS. Initially, they were recruited on a voluntary basis, also among non-German people, but over time, compulsory recruitment began to apply. Within the Waffen-SS, many divisions of different combat value were formed. Nevertheless, a few of them (e.g. the 1st SS LAH Panzer Division, the 2nd SS Das Reich Panzer Division or the 12th SS Hitlerjugend Panzer Division) can be considered elite units, with very high combat value and often equipped with the best available equipment. They demonstrated their considerable advantages not only on the Eastern Front (1941-1945), especially during the battles near Kharkiv in 1943, but also during the battles in France in 1944. Another thing is that the quality of the commanding staff of these units was in many cases debatable, and many Waffen-SS soldiers committed war crimes during World War II.