11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland The 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division " Nordland , also known as Kampfverband Waräger , Germanische - Freiwilligen - Division , SS - Panzergrenadier - Division 11 ( Germanische ) or 11 . SS - Freiwilligen - Panzergrenadier - Division Nordland " , was a " Waffen SS " , " Panzergrenadier " division recruited from foreign volunteers . It saw action in Croatia and on the Eastern Front during World War II . Concept and formation . By 1943 , the foreign formations of the " Waffen SS " had an established record in combat . The 5th SS " Panzer Division Wiking " , a volunteer formation , had been in action since 1940 . The " 5 SS Wiking " , however , was composed of enlisted men who were predominantly volunteers from Nordic countries , commanded by German officers . In February 1943 , Hitler ordered the creation of an SS Division which would be officered by foreign volunteers . The " Wiking ' s SS - Panzergrenadier - Regiment Nordland " , a Scandinavian volunteer regiment , was pulled out of the line to be used as a cadre for the new division . The division was originally to receive the name " Waräger " ( Varangians ) but the name was rejected by Hitler himself . It was decided that the division was to continue using the already - existing regiment ' s name , " Nordland " . The Nordland ' s two " Panzergrenadier " regiments were also given honour titles , with reference to the location where the majority of the regiment ' s recruits were from , " SS - Panzergrenadier Regiment 23 Norge " ( Norwegians ) and " SS - Panzergrenadier Regiment 24 Danmark " ( Danes ) . Despite most volunteers hailing from Scandinavia , the " Nordland " carried the widest range of nationalities found in any single division . By the end of the war , Danish , Hungarian , Dutch , Norwegian , Finnish , French , Romania n , Spanish , Swedish , Swiss and British volunteers and Estonian conscripts had either served in the division or been attached to it . After its formation in Germany , the division was attached to the III ( Germanic ) SS " Panzer " Corps under the command of " Obergruppenführer " Felix Steiner and was moved to Croatia for training and to complete its formation . Soon after its arrival , the SS Volunteer Legion Netherlands was attached to the division and it began combat operations against Josip Broz Tito ' s partisans . In late November , the " Danmark " regiment was involved in heavy fighting with a force of 5 , 000 partisans near Glina . During this period , the " Nordland ' s " Panzer Battalion , " SS Panzer Battalion 11 " , was given the honour title Hermann von Salza in honour of the fourth Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights ( b . 1179 - d . 1239 ) . In January 1944 , orders were received to move the division to the Oranienbaum front near Leningrad , under the command of " Generalfeldmarschall " Walter Model ' s Army Group North . Leningrad to Narva . " Nordland " , along with the rest of III . ( Germanic ) SS " Panzer " Corps arrived at the front near Leningrad and was almost immediately put into action against the Red Army attacks to break the German encirclement of the city . After they escaped from being surrounded , the " Nordland " effected a fighting withdrawal over 60 kilometres to Oranienbaum . On 14 January 1944 , the Soviet Krasnoye Selo – Ropsha Offensive succeeded in collapsing the German front , and the " Nordland " fought its way back again to the city of Narva in Estonia , where a new line of defence was being organized . In early February , Soviet forces began their attacks towards the city and the Battle of Narva began . The battle has come to be known as the " Battle of the European SS " because a large proportion of the defenders were European volunteers . Joining the " Nordland " were elements from all over Europe . The Dutchmen of the III ( Germanic ) SS " Panzer " Corps , the Walloons of the 5th SS Volunteer " Sturmbrigade Wallonien " , the Flemings of the 6th SS Volunteer " Sturmbrigade Langemarck " , the Estonians of the 20th " Waffen " Grenadier Division of the SS ( 1st Estonian ) , as well as regular German formations . Altogether , the defenders of the Narva River line amounted to 50 , 000 men . Against them , the Soviets threw 200 , 000 soldiers of the Leningrad Front . The Kingisepp – Gdov Offensive was launched on 13 February , with Soviet forces attacking right across the line , as well as launching an amphibious assault from the Baltic near Mereküla . The " Nordland " units were among the forces that annihilated the Soviet landing force . Over the next five months , the " Waffen SS " held out against the Soviet attacks , the " Nordland " seeing very heavy fighting . On 6 March , Soviet aircraft managed to destroy the Narva bridge in the Battle for Narva Bridgehead , cutting off the troops on the far side of the river in Ivangorod . The men of " Nordland ' s " Pioneer Battalion quickly rebuilt the bridge while under heavy fire . The launching of Operation Bagration in June 1944 inspired the Narva Offensive . The highway bridge over the Narva was blown up and the defenders were moved 16 kilometres west to the Tannenberg Line . Tannenberg Line – Courland Pocket . The Tannenberg Line anchored on three strategic hills . Running west to east , these were known as Hill 69 . 9 , Grenadier Hill and Orphanage Hill . From Orphanage Hill , the rear side of the town of Narva could be protected . From 27 July 1944 , " Nordland " fought alongside the 20th SS Grenadier Division ( 1st Estonian ) , " Sturmbrigade Langemarck " and " Kampfgruppe " ( Strachwitz ) from the " Grossdeutschland " Division to keep control of Orphanage Hill . Despite the death of the " Nordland " Division ' s commander , " Gruppenführer " Fritz von Scholz , ( killed in action ) and the subsequent deaths of the commanders of the " Norge " and " Danmark " Regiments , the division helped to hold onto Orphanage Hill and it destroyed 113 tanks between 27 and 29 July . < br > On 4 August , men from Penal Company 103 , were reinstated and absorbed into the " Danmark " Regiment . The III SS " Panzer " Corps bled itself white defending the Tannenberg Line , until on September , the headquarters of the Army Group North pulled it back into Latvia to defend the capital , Riga . The city fell on 12 October ; by the end of the month , all " Waffen SS " units had been withdrawn into what was known as the Courland Pocket . < br > From late October to December 1944 , the " Nordland " fought fierce defensive battles in the pocket ; by early December the divisional strength was down to 9 , 000 men . In January 1945 , the division was ordered to the Baltic port of Libau , where it was shipped out of the pocket to Pomerania . The division disembarked at Stettin , with the Panzer Battalion " Hermann von Salza " being sent on to Gotenhafen for refitting . In late January , " Nordland " was assigned to Steiner ' s 11th SS Panzer Army , which was now forming in anticipation of the defence of Berlin . East Prussia and Pomerania . In early February 1945 , the refitted " Panzer " Battalion returned to the division , and a trickle of reinforcements began arriving . Among these was the platoon - sized Free Corps , a British " Waffen - SS " unit . On 16 February , the division was ordered onto the offensive as a part of Operation Sonnenwende , the plan to destroy a Soviet salient and to relieve the troops besieged in the town of Arnswalde . The offensive had been conceived by " Generaloberst " Heinz Guderian as a massed assault all along the front but had then been reduced by Hitler to the level of a local counter - attack . Initially , " Nordland ' s " attack achieved a total tactical surprise and the division soon advanced to the banks of Lake Ihna in all sectors . However , as the Soviet forces realized what was happening , resistance grew stiffer and the advance began to slow . On 17 February , the division reached Arnswalde and relieved the exhausted garrison . Over the next few days the town was secured and the surviving civilians were evacuated . Soon however , strong Soviet counter - attacks halted the division ' s advance , and Steiner called off the attack , pulling the III ( Germanic ) " SS Panzer " Corps back to Stargard and Stettin on the northern Oder River . By 21 February the conclusion was arrived - at that no more useful gains could be made against an increasingly powerful enemy without incurring undue casualties , so Steiner ordered a general withdrawal back to the north bank of the Ihna . Between the 23rd and 28th , III ( Germanic ) " SS Panzer " Corps made a slow withdrawal to the area around Stargard and Stettin on the northern Oder River . The Soviet offensive of 1 March , pushed " Nordland " , along with the rest of the depleted III ( Germanic ) " SS Panzer " Corps , before them . In a desperate fighting withdrawal , the " Nordland " and the rest of III ( Germanic ) " SS Panzer " Corps inflicted heavy casualties on the Soviet forces ; but by 4 March , the division was falling back to Altdamm , the last defensive position east of the Oder itself . During the next two weeks , " Nordland " grimly held onto the town , inflicting and suffering heavy casualties . On 19 March , the battered defenders fell back behind the Oder , the " Danmark " and " Norge " regiments had fought virtually to the last man . The division was ordered back to the area west of Schwedt - Bad Freinwalde for a refit . During this time , the 33rd " Waffen - Grenadier Division " of the SS " Charlemagne " , a 300 - man unit of French SS volunteers and the Spanish Volunteer Company of the SS No . 101 , a company of Spanish SS men were attached to the division . The division ' s strength was replenished with the addition of several vehicles and some personnel from the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine . The final battle . On 16 April , " Nordland " was ordered back into the line east of Berlin . Despite recent replenishment , the division was still grossly understrength and , with the exception of the French and Spanish , many of the new recruits had little , if any combat experience . < br > From 17 to 20 April , the division was involved in constant combat all along its front , and was pushed back into the city itself . On 24 April , the main Soviet assault was towards the Treptow Park area , which the rest of the Pioneer battalion and the few remaining Tiger tanks of Panzer battalion " Hermann von Salza " were defending . " Obersturmbannführer " Kausch led the few tanks and armoured vehicles in a counterattack and succeeded in temporarily halting the enemy advance at the cost of some of his last vehicles . However , by midday , the 5th Shock Army was able to advance again . A later counter - attack by three assault guns was stopped by a Soviet soldier named Shulzhenok with three captured German " Panzerfaust s " . On 25 April , " Brigadeführer " Gustav Krukenberg was appointed the commander of ( Berlin ) Defence Sector C which included the " Nordland " Division , whose previous commander , Joachim Ziegler , was relieved of his command the same day . The arrival of the French SS men bolstered the " Nordland " Division whose " Norge " and " Danmark " " Panzergrenadier " regiments had been decimated in the fighting . They each roughly equalled a battalion . By 26 April , with Neukölln heavily penetrated by Soviet combat groups , Krukenberg prepared fallback positions for Sector C defenders around Hermannplatz . He moved his headquarters into the opera house . As the " Nordland " Division fell back towards Hermannplatz the French SS and one - hundred Hitler Youth attached to their group destroyed 14 Soviet tanks with " panzerfausts " ; one machine gun position by the Halensee bridge managed to hold up any Soviet advance in that area for 48 hours . The " Nordland " ' s remaining armour , eight Tiger tanks and several assault guns , were ordered to take up positions in the Tiergarten , because although the two divisions of Weidling ' s LVI " Panzer " Corps could slow the Soviet advance down , they could not stop it . On 27 April , after a spirited but futile defence , the remnants of " Nordland " were pushed back into the central government district ( Zitadelle sector ) in Defence sectore Z . There Krukenberg ' s " Nordland " headquarters was a carriage in the " Stadtmitte " U - Bahn station . Thereafter , the defenders of the government district were pushed back into the " Reichstag " and " Reich " Chancellery . For the next few days , the few survivors of the division held out against overwhelming odds . On 30 April , after receiving news of Hitler ' s suicide , orders were issued that those who could do so were to break out . Prior to that " Brigadeführer " Wilhelm Mohnke briefed all commanders that could be reached within the Zitadelle sector about the events as to Hitler ' s death and the planned breakout . The break out from the Reich Chancellery and " Führerbunker " started at 2300 hours on 1 May . There were ten main groups that attempted to head north west towards Mecklenburg . Fierce fighting continued all around , especially in the Weidendammer Bridge area . What was left of the " Nordland " Division under Krukenberg fought hard in that area but Soviet artillery and anti - tank guns were too strong . The " Nordland " ' s last Tiger was knocked out attempting to cross the Weidendammer Bridge . Others such as the 3rd ( Swedish ) Company of the Reconnaissance battalion fought a desperate and ultimately useless battle to escape the surrounding Soviets , as described by Erik Wallin in his book ' Twilight of the Gods ' . Several very small groups managed to reach the Americans at the Elbe ' s west bank , but most ( including Mohnke ' s group and men from Krukenberg ' s group ) , could not break through the Soviet ring . Krukenberg made it to Dahlem , where he hid out in an apartment for a week but then had to surrender . On 2 May hostilities officially ended by order of Helmuth Weidling , " Kommandant " of the Defence Area Berlin and General of Artillery . All remaining pockets of resistance were mopped up by the Red Army and the 80 , 000 or so Prisoners of War were marched east . Many SS men , loyal to their oath to Hitler , had already either fought to the death or taken their own lives . Of the few survivors who reached the Western Allies ' lines , most were handed over to their respective countries and tried as traitors , some serving prison time and a few even receiving the death penalty .