1st SS Infantry Brigade conflict World War II
The 1st SS Infantry Brigade was a unit of the German Waffen SS formed from former concentration camp guards for service in the Soviet Union behind the main front line during the Second World War. They conducted Nazi security warfare in the rear of the advancing German troops and took part in The Holocaust. The unit also filled gaps in the front line when called upon in emergencies. In 1944, the brigade was used as the cadre in the formation of the SS Division Horst Wessel.Invasion of the Soviet Union
The 1 SS Infantry Brigade (mot) was formed from concentration camp guards, on 21 April 1941, from men of the SS-Totenkopfverbände (concentration camp guards). It received the designation of the 1st SS Infantry Brigade (motorised) on 20 September 1941.
When Germany invaded the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa) in June 1941, the brigade was stationed in Kraków, Poland awaiting its full complement of men and materials. On 23 July the unit moved east into the occupied territories and between July and August 1941, mopping up dispersed Red Army units in the rear of Army Group South. On 9 August, the brigade was north of Zhitomir and was asked to cover the northern flank of the 6th Army in the Pinsk Marshes. The brigade next operated behind the XVII Army Corps and on 23 August, crossed the Dnieper River.
During the remainder of the year and until late 1942 the unit was assigned to the Reich Security Main Office, which also had the SS Cavalry Brigade and the 2nd SS Infantry Brigade under command. In the autumn of 1941, the brigade actively took part in The Holocaust as part of Einsatzgruppe C and took part in the liquidation of the Jewish population of the Soviet Union, forming firing parties when required. The three brigades were responsible for the murder of tens of thousands of the population by the end of 1941, and they destroyed at least one village st Białystok for no apparent reason as they had not been engaged from it.On 12 December 1941, the brigade was placed under the command of the 56th Infantry Division on the orders of Army Group Center when a gap appeared in the front line of the 2nd Army in the area of Tula, Yelets Liwny. On 28 December 1941, the unit was placed under the command of LV Army Corps.
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