8th Cavalry Division SS "Florian Geyer": creation, history and commanders

The SS division "Florian Geyer" was formed in the middle of the Second World War. The unit played a significant role in the events on the Eastern Front of Hitler's Germany. On the hands of the fighters of the division, the blood of thousands of Soviet soldiers and civilians. The Nazis distinguished themselves with particular cruelty in the territory of the Byelorussian SSR, where entire villages were burned.

However, in 1945 deserved retribution still caught up with this unit.

Title History

Florian Geyer, in honor of whom the 8th Cavalry Division of the SS was named, was a real man who lived in the sixteenth century on the territory of South Germany. At that time, the Holy Roman Empire established new requisitions for the peasant population, which caused discontent among the masses. After a while, a riot began, which grew into an uprising. Florian was of a noble family, but nevertheless sincerely empathized with the poor. Therefore, immediately joined the insurgents and armed with personal money, obtained from the sale of property, several dozen people. Florian Geier's "Black Squad" was the basis of the new army. The very inspiration himself showed himself as an outstanding negotiator. He was part of each group of parliamentarians, whom the rebels sent to the princes of besieged cities. Thanks to diplomatic skills, Florian Geyer sought to surrender without a fight.

Despite the initial success, the peasant uprising was defeated, and Geyer himself was killed. But for the German people, he became a semi-legendary personality (like Robin Hood in Britain). He devoted a lot of songs, fairy tales and other elements of folklore. In the forty-second year, the situation inside Hitler's Germany was heated. Every day the scale of mobilization increased. In the elite SS troops already called for without the previous demanding inspection and strict selection. To prove the nationality of the army (and, accordingly, the same nature of the ongoing war), a "Florian Geyer" division was created.

Baptism of fire

The Eighth Cavalry Division of the SS was created on the basis of the group "The Dead Head". Initially, the fighters of these units were intended to guard concentration camps and fight off elements that were unfriendly to the Fuhrer within German society. However, with the outbreak of war against the Soviet Union, the Waffen SS began to be used at the front. The staff was fanatically devoted to the ideas of National Socialism and carried out any command orders. Division "Florian Geyer" first showed itself in the battles of Rzhev. At this time the Germans held a stubborn defense there.

One of the most talented generals of Hitler, Walter Model, commanded the front.

The Red Army carried out offensive operations four times, trying to encircle the German grouping, but to no avail. Eighth division was commanded by Fritz Freitag.

Anti-guerrilla warfare

In the spring of 1943, local partisans became active in the forests of Belarus. They regularly made sorties, destroying personnel, armored vehicles, enemy fodder. Despite all the measures taken, the Hitlerites could not suppress the resistance. Therefore, in May, Commander Erich Bach-Zelewski decided to conduct a large-scale operation in order to break up partisan formations in Polissya and Volhynia. The "Florian Geyer" Division took a direct part in these actions. During the operation, many crimes against humanity were committed. Nazis burned whole villages, killing all residents indiscriminately. The partisans exerted desperate resistance in the forests and marshes, bearing great losses. The Eighth Division of the SS was particularly cruel, for which Bach-Zelevsky decided to transfer the unit to personal control.

At that time, Soviet troops advanced in the Kharkov area, where they sent the division. Using their bloody glory, the SS continued the anti-guerrilla war. At a critical moment, the Wehrmacht command sent the division's soldiers to the front line to contain the tank breakthrough. After the liberation of Kharkov by the Red Army, Florian Geyer, along with other German troops, withdrew to Kremenchug.

Anti-Polish actions

In the forty-fourth, the fighting came to Poland. This was a signal for the activation of the Polish resistance. Partisans of the Army Craiova began actively to clash with the invaders, often coordinating their actions with the advancing Soviet troops. To eliminate this threat, Erich Bach ordered the eighth division of the SS to conduct an anti-partisan raid. In the course of the operation the Hitlerites acted with the same cruelty as in the forests of Byelorussia. But in the spring near Kovel, the seventeenth regiment of the division was surrounded.

The insurgents almost completely destroyed it. Some survivors were saved only by the arrival of reinforcements.

End of the Battle Route

After leaving Poland, Florian Geyer fought in Hungary. There they suffered heavy losses. Some regiments continued to engage in anti-guerrilla actions on various fronts. For example, against the Yugoslav rebels in the forty-fourth. The defeat of the Eighth Cavalry Division SS met in Budapest. In the winter of 1945, Soviet troops took the city into the ring. Despite all the attempts of the German command, the besieged could not offer serious resistance. As a result, in the middle of February they managed to escape from the encirclement, but the Red Army men made a successful pursuit, as a result of which practically the entire personnel was destroyed.

Commander Joachim Rumor was also killed. Individual surviving soldiers were able to withdraw to their troops, and they were sent to form a new thirty-third SS cavalry division.

The memory of the division

Florian Geyer's rebels play an important role in German history. Under any regime, they were seen as positive heroes. That is why the Nazi leadership tried to identify itself with them. However, after the end of the war, the new German authorities still managed to differentiate the SS criminals from the sixteenth-century popular insurgents. March "Florian Geyer" nevertheless still associates in mass culture with Hitler's Germany.