Not to be confused with SS-Totenkopfverbände, the SS organization responsible for administering the German Nazi concentration camps.
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3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf
3. SS-Panzerdivision "Totenkopf"
Divisional insignia
Active
1939–45
Country
Nazi Germany
Branch
Waffen-SS
Type
Panzer
Role
Armoured warfare
Size
Division
Nickname(s)
Death's Head Division
Engagements
World War II
Operation Konrad III
Operation Spring Awakening
Commanders
Notable commanders
Theodor Eicke
Max Simon
Military unit
The 3rd SS Panzer Division "Totenkopf" (German: 3. SS-Panzerdivision "Totenkopf")[1] was an elite division of the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II, formed from the Standarten of the SS-TV. Its name, Totenkopf, is German for "death's head" – the skull and crossbones symbol – and it is thus sometimes referred to as the Death's Head Division.[2]
The division was formed through the expansion of Kampfgruppe Eicke, a battle group named – in keeping with German military practice – after its commander, Theodor Eicke. Most of the battle group's personnel had been transferred to the Waffen-SS from concentration camp guard units, which were known collectively as SS-Totenkopfverbände; others were former members of Selbstschutz: ethnic German militias that had committed war crimes in Poland.
The division became notorious for its brutality, and committed numerous war crimes, including the Le Paradis and Chasselay massacres. The remnants of the division surrendered on 9 May 1945 to American forces in Czechoslovakia.
^Official designation in German language as to "Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv* in Freiburg im Breisgau, stores of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS.
^Mann, Chris (2015). SS-Totenkopf: The History of the 'Death's Head' Division, 1940–45 (Waffen-SS Divisional Histories). MBI Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0760310151.
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Global Information
Nazi Germany
Waffen-SS