Operation "Axis". An extremely rare photograph of members of the SS Regiment "Germania" in action against Tito's Partisans. The regiment originates from 1934, when it was formed as part of the SS Dispositional Troops, the forerunner of the Waffen-SS. After World War II broke out, the "Germania" became part of the SS Dispositional Division (later renamed "Reich") and in December 1940, it became the nucleus and the first regiment of the first international SS division, of the same name, soon renamed "Wiking". In the summer and autumn of 1943, along with the "Nordland" Division, elements of the "Wiking" Division were also stationed in Yugoslavia: the Headquarters and the II Battalion of the Armoured Regiment and the III Battalion of the "Germania" Regiment. During Operation "Axis", units of the "Wiking" Division were subordinated to the 14th SS Police Regiment, whose primary task was to disarm the Italians in the Karlovac–Ogulin area and secure the local supplies. However, the Partisan VIII Kordun Division had a similar plan and it was rushing, together with the Plaški, Kordun and Karlovac detachments, to forestall the Germans and be the first to get its hands on the valuable war material. Pictured, well armed and camouflaged members of the III Battalion, "Germania" Regiment, comb a forest in the Kamenica–Zdenac area (district of Ogulin), in search of the Kordun Partisans.
Text: Ivan Ž.
Photographer: unknown.
Date: September 1943.
Location: unknown (district of Ogulin), Yugoslavia.
Original caption: unknown.
File source: "Wenn alle Brüder schweigen" (p. 215).
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Operacija "Osovina". Izuzetno retka fotografija pripadnika SS-puka "Germanija" u akciji protiv Titovih partizana. Puk vodi poreklo iz 1934. godine, kada je formiran kao deo SS-jedinica na raspolaganju, preteče SS-trupa. Po izbijanju II svetskog rata, "Germanija" ulazi u sastav SS-divizije na raspolaganju (kasnije preimenovane u "Rajh"), a u decembru 1940. postaje jezgro i prvi puk istoimene, prve internacionalne SS-divizije, ubrzo preimenovane u "Viking". U leto i jesen 1943. godine, zajedno sa divizijom "Nordland", u Jugoslaviji su boravili i delovi "Viking" divizije: štab i II bataljon oklopnog puka i III bataljon puka "Germanija". Za vreme operacije "Osovina", jedinice divizije "Viking" bile su potčinjene 14. policijskom SS-puku, čiji je primarni zadatak bio razoružanje Italijana u rejonu Karlovac–Ogulin i osiguranje tamošnjih zaliha. Međutim, sličan plan je imala i partizanska VIII kordunaška divizija, koja je zajedno sa Plaščanskim, Kordunaškim i Karlovačkim odredom hitala da preduhitri Nemce i prva se dočepa vrednog ratnog materijala. Na slici, dobro naoružani i kamuflirani pripadnici III bataljona puka "Germanija" prečešljavaju jednu šumu u rejonu Kamenica–Zdenac (srez Ogulinski), u potrazi za kordunaškim partizanima.
Tekst: Ivan Ž.
Fotograf: nepoznat.
Datum: septembar 1943.
Mesto: nepoznato (srez Ogulinski), Jugoslavija.
Originalni natpis: nepoznat.
Izvor fajla: "Wenn alle Brüder schweigen" (str. 215).
NIJE DOZVOLJENO: uklanjanje naziva izvora sa fajlova – korišćenje teksta bez navođenja izvornog autora – korišćenje fajlova i informacija u političko-propagandne i komercijalne svrhe.
