SS - Verfügungstruppe The SS - " Verfügungstruppe " ( SS - VT ) ( " " ) was formed in 1934 as combat troops for the NSDAP . By 1940 these military SS units had become the nucleus of the Waffen - SS . On 17 August 1938 Adolf Hitler decreed that the SS - VT was neither a part of the police nor the German Wehrmacht , but military - trained men at the disposal of the Führer in war or peace . The men were to be trained in accordance with the rules of the SS and manned by volunteers who had completed their service in the Reichsarbeitsdienst ( or RAD , Reich Labour Service ) . Formation . The SS - VT was formed on 24 September 1934 from a merger of various Nazi and paramilitary formations such as the SS Special Detachments ( " SS - Sonderkommandos " ) and the Headquarters Guard ( " SS - Stabswache " ) units . The SS - VT was to be made up of three regiments modeled on the infantry regiments of the German Army ( Heer ) and according to their regulations . Each regiment would contain three battalions , a motorcycle company and mortar company . The unit was officially designated " SS - Verfügungstruppe " ( " Dispositional troops " , i . e . troops at the personal disposal of the Führer ) . The formation was to be placed at the " disposal " of the army in time of war . The existence of the SS - Verfügungstruppe ( SS - VT ) was publicly declared on 16 March 1935 by Hitler in a speech at the Reichstag . The SS - VT trained alongside Hitler ' s personal body guard the " Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler " ( LAH ) , which after 13 April 1934 , was known as the " Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler " ( LSSAH ) . The LSSAH continued to serve exclusively as a personal protection unit and honor guard during this timeframe . By 1937 the SS was divided into three branches : the " Allgemeine - SS " ( General SS ) , the " SS - Verfügungstruppe " , and the " SS - Totenkopfverbände " ( SS - TV ) which administered the concentration camps . The military formations under Himmler ' s command on 1 September 1939 consisted of several subgroups : Early operations . Elements of the SS - VT served with the Wehrmacht during the occupation of the Sudetenland , Austria , and Czechoslovakia . For those operations , the SS - VT was under the command of the army . The SS - VT also formed an Artillery Regiment during this timeframe which was used to fill the gaps in a number of army units for those events . The SS - VT regiments " Deutschland " and " Germania " along with the " Leibstandarte " participated in the invasion of Poland , with " Der Führer " ( recruited in Austria after the Anschluss ) in reserve at Prague . In September 1939 , a combined unit of SS - VT and Heer ( Army ) troops conducted operations as Panzer Division " Kempf " during the invasion of Poland . It fought alongside Army units at Rozan , Modlin , Łomża and Kmiczyn . The division was disbanded near the Polish city of Nidzica on 7 October 1939 . Events during the invasion of Poland raised doubts over the combat effectiveness of the SS - VT . Their willingness to fight was never in any doubt ; at times they were almost too eager to fight . The OKW or Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ( High Command of the Armed Forces ) reported that the SS - VT had unnecessarily exposed themselves to risks and acted recklessly , incurring heavier losses than Army troops . They also stated that the SS - VT was poorly trained and its officers unsuitable for command . In its defence the SS - VT insisted that it had been hampered by fighting piecemeal instead of as one formation , and being improperly equipped to carry out what had been required of it . Heinrich Himmler insisted that the SS - VT should be allowed to fight in its own formations , under its own commanders , while the OKW tried to have the SS - VT disbanded altogether . Hitler chose a compromise path . He ordered that the SS - VT form its own divisions but the divisions would be under army command . Development of the Waffen - SS . In the wake of the Polish Invasion , there were four SS combat regiments : " Leibstandarte " , " Deutschland " , " Germania " and " Der Führer " . The latter three were reorganized into the SS - Verfügungs - Division , and the " Leibstandarte " was expanded into a motorized brigade . In addition there were the armed but ill - trained " Totenkopfstandarten " ; three of these together with " SS Heimwehr Danzig " were organized into the " Totenkopf - Division " under Eicke ' s command . A further division , the " Polizei - Division " , was created from the " Ordnungspolizei . " These formations took part in Operation " Fall Gelb " against the Low Countries and France in 1940 . The SS - VT troops first saw action in the main drive for the Dutch central front around Rotterdam . After the city had been captured , the Division , along with other divisions , intercepted a French force and forced them back to the area of Zeeland and Antwerp . They were next used to mop - up small pockets of resistance in the areas already captured by the German advance . The SS - VT was renamed the " Waffen - SS " in a speech made by Adolf Hitler in July 1940 ; on 1 August Himmler established the " Kommandoamt der Waffen - SS " ( Waffen - SS Command Office ) within the new " SS - Führungshauptamt " ( FHA ) under " Gruppenführer " Hans Jüttner . The " Totenkopf " Division and other SS - TV combat units were transferred to FHA control . In December 1940 the " Germania " Regiment would be removed from the " Verfügungs " - Division and used to form the cadre of a new division , SS - Division " Germania " , comprising mostly " Nordic " volunteers from the newly conquered territories , Danes , Norwegians , Dutch and Flemings ; it was soon renamed " Wiking " . At the start of 1941 the " Verfügungs - Division " would be redubbed " " Reich " " ( in 1942 " " Das Reich " " ) , and the " Polizei " division brought under Waffen - SS administration . The " Leibstandarte " would be expanded to a division for Operation Barbarossa . When the Waffen - SS divisions were assigned numbers much later in the war these first formations , " Leibstandarte , Das Reich , Totenkopf , Polizei " and " Wiking " would be recognized as SS divisions 1 through 5 .