大象传媒

Message 1 - Re: Rudolph, Prisoner of War

Posted on: 06 October 2004 by Peter - WW2 Site Helper

I read this story with interest. But, with respect, some of these recollections cannot be right. Rudolph was probably in his mid-20s in 1944, assuming that he was taken prisoner in May 1940, the first time the SS met British forces in France. But even this is unlikely given the retreat to Dunkirk, and it is more likely that he was taken prisoner in North Africa (but if so he wouldn't have been in the SS, since no SS fought in Africa).

He could not possibly have been a PoW in 1939 'in the first week of the war', unless the Poles had captured him. Nor could he have been serving at the front aged 14 or 15 in 1939 (if 20 in 1944). It wasn't until early 1945 that the Germans in desperation sent 15 year olds to the front.

Of the thirty-eight SS Divisions in 1944, there were only four in existence in 1940. These were:

1. Leibstandarte SS 'Adolf Hitler', then a motorised infantry regiment. They fought in Poland in September 1939 then were switched to the Western Front in October 1939 taking part in the advance through Holland, Belgium, and France. They murdered 80 British PoWs in Wormhout on 28 May 1940. If he was in this group, the one that most fits the facts, then he was hand picked by Himmler at the age of 18 or older and highly indoctrinated in Nazi ideology combined with extreme tough military training; from 1933 to 1940 it wasn't possible just to simply volunteer for the SS to get in. Until 1943, Leibstandarte SS 'Adolf Hitler' was commanded by SS-Obst-Gruf 'Sepp' Dietrich, Hitler's old comrade from the beer-hall fighting days.

2. SS-Division 'Deutschland' (later, in 1942 'Das Reich'). This formation was raised in October 1939 and included the 'Deutschland', 'Der F眉hrer' and 'Germania' SS regiments. They were in the West 1940-41. On 22 May 1940 they were near Calais. They themselves took over 30,000 prisoners in the closing stages of the French collapse.

3. SS-Totenkopf (Death Skull) Division, raised in November 1939. In the West, in 1940, their already bad reputation was made worse by their mass execution of French Moroccan Troops, considered racially inferior.

4. Polizei Division, this SS formation was raised in October 1939. In the West it was held in reserve and didn't go into action until June 1940. So he couldn't have been in this formation if he was taken prisoner.

Other SS formations were not raised until December 1940. On balance it seems that it is more likely that Rudolph was in the 'Hitler Jugend' as a teenager before the war and a conscript or volunteer in the regular Wehrmacht early in WW2, probably taken prisoner in North Africa.

Kind regards,

Peter