1st SG Panzer Division Heimat

The **1st SG Panzer Division Heimat** (German: *1. SG-Panzerdivision "Heimat"*) was division of Kaussist Germany's elite forces of SG (ESG).

## 1st SG Panzer Division Heimat

### Engagements

Anschluss
German invasion of Czecho-Slovakia
World War II

* Western front:
	+ Invasion of France
	+ Invasion of Netherlands
	+ Invasion of Belgium
* Eastern front:
	+ Operation Barbarossa
	+ Invasion of Poland
	+ Operation Goldauge

The division first began as a detachment of the Territorial Defence of Germany, falling under the Strafverfolgungskommandos (SG), called the ESG (Elitetruppen der Strafverfolgung). The division played a key role in Germany's territorial expansion after the totalitarian Kaussists came to power in March 1931. The core of the division was made up of protectors of the original founder of the Kaussist Party and Chancellor of Germany, Hans von Kauss, including Vice-Chancellor Fritz Königmann, but also a number of soldiers from the army of the then barely existing Weimar Republic before the Kaussists took power completely just 6 days after the division was founded, on 26 March 1931.

This unit committed a number of war crimes, including crimes against humanity and violations of human and civil rights. Eleven such crimes have been documented, in Germany and abroad.

## History

### Background

On the sixth of August 1924, Vice-Chancellor Jacob Bäcker died suddenly. Reich President Wilhelm Hering thus elected the then Reichstag deputy, Fritz Königmann, to the office. As Vice-Chancellor, Fritz met the leader of the Kaussist Party, Hans von Kauss. Hans von Kauss led a very popular party, and Fritz himself joined the party on the first of December 1924. Fritz was offered the post of general secretary of the party, which he readily accepted, and became friends with Hans and the closer party leadership.

With the increasing power of the Kaussist Party and the leader Hans himself, the members gradually became radicalized. Street riots, fights, violence and disturbances also increased. As attacks came from both sides of the political spectrum, Hans feared for the safety of the leadership, including himself. He therefore ordered General Secretary Fritz to gather capable men to protect the party leadership. Thus, on Hans's orders, Fritz assembled a group of 32 armed men to protect the party leadership from attacks or assassinations.

Subsequently, elections to the Reichstag were held on 20 March 1930, after which the Kaussist Party won, occupying 540 of the 647 seats. It thus became a very dominant party, which improved its negotiating position. Concerned about more massive attacks on the party, General Secretary Fritz organized the party's paramilitary unit, the Strafverfolgungskommandos (SG) on 23 March. The latter constantly terrorized the party's opponents. Seven days later, on 30 March 1930, Hans von Kauẞ submitted a law on the teaching of Kaussism in schools to Reich President Wilhelm Hering. The President first dismissed this, saying that Germany is democratic and not bound by ideologies. Vice-Chancellor Fritz as SG-Oberbefehlshaber ordered a military lockdown of the presidential building and threatened that if the law was not passed, the SG would fire on the palace. So the President passed the law and the ideology of Kaussism began to be taught in schools as part of brainwashing and party propaganda.

At the end of October 1930, the Chancellor and leader of the Kaussist Party, Hans von Kauss died. He was replaced in all positions by Fritz, abolishing the post of Vice-Chancellor. Concerned about remaining in office, Fritz ordered the liquidation of the Reich President. He entrusted this to the 32-man security force he had formed earlier. He believed that the death of Wilhelm Hering was inevitable for the German homeland and that Germany could not progress under Hering's presidency. The Reich President was ambushed in his car halfway between Bremen and Hamburg. Wilhelm Hering had 15 security guards with him. After a night shootout lasting about 20 minutes, the security guards were completely exhausted and subsequently killed. After a while, the President was seriously wounded along with her, and the group of 32 assassins escaped. The President somehow managed to survive until early the next morning when he was taken in by the hospital in Elsdorf.

On the same day, 23 March, the wounded President was taken to hospital in Hanover. Here, however, his condition deteriorated rapidly on 24 March. As the President was already in palliative intensive care, it was clear to the doctors that unless he was immediately taken to the best-equipped hospital in Berlin at the time, he would not last the night. He was therefore airlifted to Berlin on the morning of 24 March. The next day, however, due to complications such as gangrene and deep infections, including irreversible organ damage, President Wilhelm Hering finally died. He was immediately replaced by Fritz, who merged the office of Reich Chancellor with that of Reich President, into the office of Reichsführer, which he became, thus definitively beginning the brutal rule and dictatorship of Kaussist Germany.

As a credit for the work done by the 32-man assassination squad, the Reichsführer promoted it to a division of the newly formed elite component of the SG.

## Organization structure

* Brigade HQ (Berlin)
* 1st Armored Brigade
	+ 1st Regiment
	+ 2nd Regiment
	+ 3rd Regiment
	+ 4th Regiment
	+ 5th Regiment
* 2nd Armored Brigade
	+ 6th Regiment
	+ 7th Regiment
	+ 8th Regiment
* 3rd Armored Brigade
	+ 9th Regiment
	+ 10th Regiment
	+ 11th Regiment
* 4th Armored Brigade
	+ 12th Regiment
	+ 13th Regiment
* 1st Mechanized Brigade
	+ 14th Regiment
	+ 15th Regiment
	+ 16th Regiment
* 1st Regiment Group
	+ 1st Support Regiment
	+ 2nd Support Regiment
	+ 1st Artillery Regiment
	+ 1st Reconnaissance Regiment

## Areas of operation

* Austria (October 1936)
* Czecho-Slovakia (August - September 1937)
* Invasion of Poland (April 1938 - January 1939)
* Invasion of Belgium (February - March 1939)
* Invasion of Netherlands (May - July 1939)
* Invasion of France (September - December 1939)
* Operation Barbarossa (January - August 1941)
* Operation Goldauge (April 1942 - October 1943)
* Defence of Berlin (April - May 1945)