1st Royal New South Wales Lancers, History, Post-war era
However, in 1949 the regiment was renamed the 1st Royal New South Wales Lancers and its battle honours and history were perpetuated by this unit, in order to reallocate the former name to the tank regiment that was to be established in the new Australian Regular Army. Later, in 1956 the 1st Royal New South Wales Lancers merged with the 15th Northern River Lancers to form the 1st/15th Royal New South Wales Lancers, equipped with a small number of Centurion tanks. This unit continues to serve today as a part-time unit in the Australian Army Reserve, operating Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicles (PMV) in the Light Cavalry (Reconnaissance) role.


1st Royal Saxon Guards Heavy Cavalry
The 1st Royal Saxon Guards Heavy Cavalry (Garde-Reiter-Regiment (1. Schweres Regiment)) was a heavy cavalry of the Royal Saxon Army. Established in 1680 as a cuirassiers unit, the regiment fought in the Battle of Vienna (1683), the Nine Years' War, the War of the Spanish Succession, the Silesian Wars, the Napoleonic Wars, the Austro-Prussian War, the Franco-Prussian War and World War I. The regiment was disbanded in 1919.


1st Royal Surrey Militia
The 1st Royal Surrey Militia, later the 3rd Battalion, East Surrey Regiment was an auxiliary regiment raised in Surrey in the Home Counties of  England. From its formal creation in 1759 the regiment served in home defence in all of Britain's major wars until 1918, seeing active service in the Second Boer War and supplying reinforcements to the East Surreys during World War I.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, Background
The universal obligation to military service in the Shire levy was long established in England and its legal basis was updated by two Acts of 1557, which placed selected men, the 'Trained Bands', under the command of Lords Lieutenant appointed by the monarch. This is seen as the starting date for the organised county militia in England. The Surrey Trained Bands formed part of the army at Tilbury during the Armada campaign of 1588, and some elements saw active service during the English Civil War.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, Background
The Militia was re-established in 1661 after the restoration of the monarchy, and was popularly seen as the 'Constitutional Force' in contrast to the 'Standing Army' that was tainted by association with the New Model Army that had supported the military dictatorship of the Protectorate. However, the Militia declined in the years after the Peace of Utrecht in 1713.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 1st Royal Surrey Militia, Seven Years War
Under threat of French invasion during the Seven Years' War a series of Militia Acts from 1757 re-established county militia regiments, the men being conscripted by means of parish ballots (paid substitutes were permitted) to serve for three years. An adjutant and drill sergeants were provided to each regiment from the Regular Army, and arms and accoutrements were supplied when the county had secured 60 per cent of its quota of recruits. Surrey was given a quota of 800 men to raise under the command of the Lord-Lieutenant of Surrey, Richard Onslow, 3rd Baron Onslow.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 1st Royal Surrey Militia, Seven Years War
Arms for the Surrey Militia were authorised on 23 February 1759 and the regiment was formed at Richmond-upon-Thames on 18 April 1759. By now Lord Onslow had resigned the colonelcy (he remained lord lieutenant) and had been replaced by Sir Nicholas Hacket Carew, 2nd Baronet, of Beddington, with the lord lieutenant's kinsman George Onslow as lieutenant-colonel. The 10 companies were distributed as follows:


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 1st Royal Surrey Militia, Seven Years War
The regiment was embodied for full-time service from 6 July 1759 and marched to Kent, where the companies were distributed. In August they were concentrated again at Frindsbury. On 3 November the regiment was split into two battalions of five companies each, the 1st or Eastern commanded by Carew and the 2nd or Western by Onslow with the writer Francis Grose as his adjutant. They then went into winter quarters in Surrey, the 1st Bn at Kingston, the 2nd at Putney, Fulham and Wandsworth.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 1st Royal Surrey Militia, Seven Years War
Thereafter the regiments were frequently moved about the country, one of their duties being to guard French prisoners of war, beginning in May 1760 when the two battalions alternated this duty at Maidstone in Kent. In November the 1st Bn was at Salisbury in Wiltshire and the 2nd had just marched through Essex to Northampton. The Peace of Fontainebleau was signed on 3 November 1762, ending the war, and the regiment was quartered at Lewes in Sussex when on 3 December it was ordered to march back to Surrey to be disembodied. The following year the two battalions were merged into a single regiment again; Sir Nicholas Carew had died in August 1762, so George Onslow was appointed colonel of the amalgamated regiment.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 1st Royal Surrey Militia, American War of Independence
The Militia was called out after the outbreak of the War of American Independence when the country was  threatened with invasion by the Americans' allies, France and Spain. The Surrey regiment was embodied on  26 March 1778, and that summer was at Coxheath Camp near Maidstone, which was the army's largest training camp, where the Militia were exercised as part of a division alongside Regular troops while providing a reserve in case of French invasion of South East England. The Surreys under Colonel Jeremiah Hodge formed part of the Right Wing under Major-General William Amherst.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 1st Royal Surrey Militia, American War of Independence
Each battalion had two small field-pieces or 'battalion guns' attached to it, manned by men of the regiment instructed by a Royal Artillery sergeant and two gunners. In 1779 the regiment was at Gosport guarding 1500 Prisoners of War in a former seamen's hospital when the militiamen foiled an attempt to tunnel out and a plot to overcome the guards, who were increased. In 1780 some of the Surrey companies were stationed at Ringwood in Hampshire, where they were called upon to assist the Revenue officers against smuggling.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 1st Royal Surrey Militia, American War of Independence
In June that year the regiment was deployed on the streets of London against the Gordon Riots, clearing the streets and bridges with the bayonet when parties of rioters refused to disperse. From 1 July 1782 the regiment was in summer camp at Chatham, Kent, once again brigaded with regulars and other militia. It was disembodied on 28 February 1783 after the signing of the Peace of Paris.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 1st Royal Surrey Militia, American War of Independence
In September 1759 it had been ordered that militia regiments on service were to take precedence from the date of their arrival in camp. In 1760 this was altered to a system of drawing lots where regiments did duty together. During the War of American Independence the counties were given an order of precedence determined by ballot each year, beginning in 1778. For the Surrey Militia the positions were:


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 1st Royal Surrey Militia, American War of Independence
From 1784 to 1792 the militia were assembled for their 28 days' annual peacetime training, but to save money only two-thirds of the men were actually mustered each year.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 1st Royal Surrey Militia, French Wars
In view of the worsening international situation in late 1792 the militia was called out, even though Revolutionary France did not declare war on Britain until 1 February 1793. The Surrey Militia was embodied on 1 December 1792. The French Revolutionary Wars saw a new phase for the English militia: they were embodied for a whole generation, and became regiments of full-time professional soldiers (though restricted to service within the British Isles), which the regular army increasingly saw as a prime source of recruits. They served in coast defences, manning garrisons, guarding prisoners of war, and for internal security, while their traditional local defence duties were taken over by the Volunteers. The militia order of precedence balloted for in 1793 (Surrey was 18th) remained in force throughout the French Revolutionary War.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 1st Royal Surrey Militia, French Wars
In 1797, to release regulars for overseas service, the strength of the Militia was increased by the creation of the Supplementary Militia, also raised by means of the ballot. A third of Surrey's Supplementary Militia quota (820 men) was assigned as reinforcements to the 'Old Surrey Militia', as the original regiment became known. The remainder were to form two supplementary regiments.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 1st Royal Surrey Militia, French Wars
Surrey has been described as one of the 'black spots' in recruitment for the Supplementary Militia (especially compared to the Volunteers), so although the 1st Surrey Supplementary Militia was successfully raised (and became the permanent 2nd Surrey Militia the following year) the 2nd regiment (intended to be the 3rd Surrey Militia) never reached establishment and was disbanded.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 1st Royal Surrey Militia, French Wars
The Old Surrey Militia, which officially became the 1st Surrey Militia on 17 August 1798, now consisted of 12 companies. At the end of 1797 it was stationed at Sunderland in the North East and York District, brigaded with other militia regiments.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 1st Royal Surrey Militia, French Wars
A peace treaty having been agreed (the Treaty of Amiens), most of the militia were disembodied in 1802, but the Peace of Amiens broke down in 1803 before the 1st Surreys could be disembodied and the regiment remained in service. On 23 April 1804 both the Surrey militia regiments were granted the title 'Royal', the 1st becoming the 1st Royal Surrey Militia (1st RSM). Another ballot for precedence took place at the start of the Napoleonic War: Surrey was 41st. These 'regular', 'ordinary' or 'permanent' regiments of embodied militia should not be confused with the Local Militia, part-time units formed in 1809 to replace the various Volunteer units in the county; eventually there were five Local Militia regiments in Surrey.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 1st Royal Surrey Militia, French Wars
Militia duties during the Napoleonic War were much as before: home defence and garrisons, prisoners of war, and increasingly internal security in the industrial areas where there was unrest. From 1813 the militia were invited to volunteer for limited overseas service, primarily for garrison duties in Europe. The 1st RSM supplied a detachment of one officer and 30 men for the 1st Provisional Battalion in the Militia Brigade. This embarked on 10–11 March 1814 and joined the Earl of Dalhousie's division that had occupied Bordeaux just as the war was ending. The brigade did not form part of the Army of Occupation after the abdication of Napoleon and returned to England in June.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 1st Royal Surrey Militia, French Wars
After Napoleon's exile to Elba the 1st RSM was disembodied on 24 June 1814, but it was called out again on 29 June 1815 during the Waterloo campaign. At the beginning of the campaign several regular regiments including the Scots Guards were hurriedly brought up to strength with militia volunteers before embarking for Belgium. There is a story that many of the Guardsmen at Waterloo were still clad in Surrey Militia uniforms. The 1st RSM was finally disembodied on 30 April 1816.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 1st Royal Surrey Militia, Long peace
Although officers continued to be commissioned into the militia and ballots were still held during the long peace after the Battle of Waterloo, the regiments were rarely assembled for training and the permanent staffs of sergeants and drummers were progressively reduced.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 1st Royal Surrey Militia, Long peace
The militia order of precedence balloted for in the Napoleonic War remained in force until 1833. In that year the King drew the lots for individual regiments and the resulting list remained in force with minor amendments until the end of the militia. The regiments raised before the peace of 1763 took the first 47 places: both Surrey regiments were deemed to predate 1763 (even though the 2nd had disappeared until 1797), and the 2nd RSM was allotted 11th place, the 1st RSM only 20th. Formally, the regiment became the 20th, or 1st Royal Surrey Militia: most regiments paid little notice, but the 1st RSM did include the numeral in its badge (see below).


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 1852 reform
The Militia was revived by the Militia Act of 1852, enacted during a period of international tension. As before, units were raised and administered on a county basis, and filled by voluntary enlistment (although conscription by means of the militia ballot might be used if the counties failed to meet their quotas). Training was for 56 days on enlistment, then for 21–28 days per year, during which the men received full army pay. Under the Act, militia units could be embodied by Royal Proclamation for full-time home defence service in three circumstances:


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 1852 reform
The existing militia regiments were reorganised, with most of the old officers and permanent staff pensioned off and replaced, and annual training was resumed.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 1852 reform, Crimean War and Indian Mutiny
War having broken out with Russia in 1854 and an expeditionary force sent to the Crimea, the Militia were called out for home defence. The 1st RSM was embodied for service from 28 December 1854 to 10 June 1856, and was called out again from 5 November 1857 to 22 January 1858 during the absence of many of the Regular units fighting the Indian Mutiny.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 1852 reform, Crimean War and Indian Mutiny
Thereafter the regiment was called out for its annual training. As an experiment in 1867 this was held in May at Aldershot in conjunction with the regular division stationed there. The camp ended with a divisional field day and was considered a success, being repeated in subsequent years. The 1st RSM attended in 1868 and again in 1871, when extensive Autumn Manoeuvres were conducted.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, Cardwell reforms
Under the 'Localisation of the Forces' scheme introduced by the Cardwell Reforms of 1872, Militia regiments were brigaded with their local regular and Volunteer battalions – for the 1st RSM this was with the 31st (Huntingdonshire) and 70th (Surrey) Regiments of Foot and the 3rd Royal Surrey Militia in Sub-District No 47 (County of Surrey) with a shared depot at Kingston. The Barracks, Kingston upon Thames, was built for the brigade depot in 1874–5; the 1st RSM moved there from Richmond before the end of 1880. The Militia now came under the War Office rather than their county lords lieutenant.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, Cardwell reforms
Although often referred to as brigades, the sub-districts were purely administrative organisations, but in a continuation of the Cardwell Reforms a mobilisation scheme began to appear in the Army List from December 1875. This assigned Regular and Militia units to places in an order of battle of corps, divisions and brigades for the 'Active Army', even though these formations were entirely theoretical, with no staff or services assigned. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd RSM were assigned to 2nd Brigade of 2nd Division, III Corps. The brigade would have mustered at Redhill in time of war.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 3rd Battalion, East Surrey Regiment
The Childers Reforms of 1881 took Cardwell's reforms further, with the linked regiments becoming two-battalion regiments and the militia formally joining as their 3rd and 4th Battalions. The 31st and 70th Foot became the East Surrey Regiment and the 1st and 3rd RSM became the 3rd and 4th Battalions on 1 July 1881 (the 2nd RSM became 3rd Bn Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey)). Militia battalions now had a large cadre of permanent staff (about 30). Around a third of the recruits and many young officers went on to join the Regular Army. The Militia Reserve consisted of present and former militiamen who undertook to serve overseas in case of war.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 3rd Battalion, East Surrey Regiment
The 3rd Bn East Surrey was embodied from 9 March to 30 September 1885 during the Panjdeh Crisis.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 3rd Battalion, East Surrey Regiment, Second Boer War
After the disasters of Black Week at the start of the Second Boer War in December 1899, most of the Regular Army was sent to South Africa, and many militia units were embodied to replace them for home defence and to garrison certain overseas stations. The 3rd East Surreys were embodied on 12 May 1900 and disembodied on 19 October. They were embodied again on 6 May 1901 and volunteered for overseas service.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 3rd Battalion, East Surrey Regiment, Second Boer War
The battalion disembarked at Port Elizabeth in South Africa on 1 July with a strength of 23 officers and 617 other ranks (ORs) under its commanding officer, Lt-Col Sir George Douglas Clerk, 8th Baronet of Penicuik. It occupied various posts along the line of communications from Port Elizabeth to the Orange River bridge at Norvalspont, with battalion headquarters established at Colesberg. It was involved in an action at Kalkfontein on 28 November. On 29 December the battalion moved via Naauwpoort to De Aar and took over the blockhouse line from Victoria West to Beaufort West.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 3rd Battalion, East Surrey Regiment, Second Boer War
In February 1902, C and D Companies trekked to Clanwilliam and Williston to help build and man a new blockhouse line, H Company joining them later. In March, seven companies moved to Simon's Town where they mounted guard over 1700 Boer prisoners. The Treaty of Vereeniging was signed on 31 May 1902, and in June the 3rd East Surreys concentrated at Green Point to embark for home.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, 3rd Battalion, East Surrey Regiment, Second Boer War
After returning to England the 3rd Battalion was disembodied on 10 October 1902. During the campaign the battalion had lost two officers and 9 ORs killed or died of wounds or sickness. The battalion was awarded the Battle honour South Africa 1901–02 and the participants were awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal with clasps for 'Cape Colony', 'Orange Free State', 'South Africa 1901' and 'South Africa 1902'.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, Special Reserve
After the Boer War, the future of the Militia was called into question. There were moves to reform the Auxiliary Forces (Militia, Yeomanry and Volunteers) to take their place in the six Army Corps proposed by the Secretary of State for War, St John Brodrick. However, little of Brodrick's scheme was carried out.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, Special Reserve
Under the more sweeping Haldane Reforms of 1908, the Militia was replaced by the Special Reserve (SR), a semi-professional force whose role was to provide reinforcement drafts for Regular units serving overseas in wartime, rather like the earlier Militia Reserve. The battalion became the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, East Surrey Regiment, on 9 August 1908.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, Special Reserve, World War I
On the outbreak of World War I the 3rd East Surreys were embodied on 4 August 1914 at Kingston under Lt-Col C.O. Shipley. Made up of Special Reservists and the Regular Reservists at the depot, the battalion left by train the same night for its war station at Dover where it remained for the whole war.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, Special Reserve, World War I
The battalion was accommodated in the Grand Shaft Barracks and established outposts along the cliffs and guards at vital points such as South Breakwater, Turret Battery, Abbott's Cliff and the 'Valiant Sailor'. As well as forming part of the Dover Garrison, the battalion's role was to train and form drafts of reservists, special reservists, recruits and returning wounded for the regular battalions.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, Special Reserve, World War I
The 1st East Surreys served on the Western Front , with a short spell on the Italian Front, while the 2nd Bn returned from India and after a few months on the Western Front spent the rest of the war on the Macedonian Front. The 3rd Bn sent its first draft for the 1st Bn (one officer and 93 ORs) on 30 August 1914, followed by others at roughly two-weekly intervals.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, Special Reserve, World War I
The 3rd Bn also assisted in forming some of the Service battalions of  'Kitchener's Army' volunteers. The first of these, the 7th Bn East Surreys, for 'Kitchener's First Army' (K1), was formed at Kingston, and a draft of 32 men was sent from the 3rd Bn at Dover as a cadre to help organise and train them. At the beginning of September the eight companies (A to H) were amalgamated to conform with the standard four-company (A to D) establishment of the regular army.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, Special Reserve, World War I
However, the 3rd Bn immediately began forming new companies E to H; A to D were regarded as service companies composed of trained men, E to H were to be recruit companies. The additional companies were accommodated in tents on the Glacis of the Dover fortifications. Later a 200-strong special training company (I) was also established. On 16 October the formation of the 10th (Service) Battalion East Surreys for 95th Brigade in 32nd Division of K4 was ordered for 1 November. G, H and I Companies of 3rd Bn formed A, B and C Companies of the new battalion. At the end of January 1915 the 3rd Bn was back to a strength of seven companies, which were now numbered instead of lettered. Number 8 Company was formed in late March 1915 from a nucleus of the battalion machine gun and signal sections.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, Special Reserve, World War I
In April 1915 the K4 battalions were converted into reserve units for the K1–K3 service battalions and 95th Bde became 7th Reserve Bde. The 10th East Surreys (which returned to Dover in May 1915) therefore became 10th (Reserve) Bn carrying out for the 7th 8th and 9th (Service) Bns the same role that the 3rd Bn fulfilled for the regular 1st and 2nd Bns. 10th (Reserve) Bn moved to Purfleet in May 1915, then to Shoreham-by-Sea in September, but returned to Dover in My 1916. On 1 September it became 30th Training Reserve Bn in 7th Reserve Bde, and was disbanded on 14 December 1917 at Clipstone Camp.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, Special Reserve, World War I
On 10 November 1915 3rd Bn was ordered to send a draft of 109 men to the new Machine Gun Training Centre at Grantham where they were to form the basis of a machine-gun company of the new Machine Gun Corps for one of the brigades serving overseas. In addition, 10 men at a time were to undergo training at Grantham as battalion machine gunners. The order stated that 'Great care should be taken in the selection of men for training as machine gunners as only well educated and intelligent men are suitable for this work'.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, Special Reserve, World War I
Thousands of men for the regular battalions would have passed through the ranks of the 3rd East Surrreys during the war. On 19 November 1918, just after the Armistice, the 3rd Bn moved from Dover to Bridge of Allan in Scotland, and then in February 1919 to Glasgow. The 3rd Bn was disembodied on 15 August 1919, when its remaining personnel were drafted to the 2nd Bn.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, Special Reserve, Postwar
The SR resumed its old title of Militia in 1921 but like most militia battalions the 3rd East Surreys remained in abeyance after World War I. By the outbreak of World War II in 1939, only two officers (both commissioned in 1915) remained listed for the battalion. The Militia was formally disbanded in April 1953.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, Commanders
The following officers commanded the regiment as Colonel or (after the 1852 reforms) as Lieutenant-Colonel commandant:


1st Royal Surrey Militia, Uniforms & Insignia
The uniform of the regiment in 1759 was red with white facings, the drummers' coats decorated with red and white lace and the words 'SURREY MILITIA' embroidered on the flap of their caps. The first Regimental Colour in 1759 was white (the regiment's facing colour), bearing the Coat of arms of Lord Onslow as lord lieutenant. A second pair of colours was requested when the regiment split into two battalions. A new regimental colour of the same pattern was issued in 1770. When the regiment was granted its 'Royal' title in 1804 the facings changed to blue, appropriate for a royal regiment.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, Uniforms & Insignia
About 1810 the officers wore an oval gilt shoulder-belt plate bearing a crown within a garter bearing the words 'FIRST ROYAL SURREY REGT', the whole superimposed on a crowned star. In the 1870s officers' and ORs' cap badges showed the Roman numeral 'XX' within a crowned circle bearing the inscription 'FIRST ROYAL SURREY' – despite the fact that militia regiments had been ordered not to use their 1833 numbers.


1st Royal Surrey Militia, Uniforms & Insignia
After the 1st RSM became the 3rd East Surreys, new colours were presented to the battalion in 1884 by the Countess of Lovelace, wife of the lord lieutenant, the Earl of Lovelace. These colours were carried until the disembodiment of the battalion in 1919.


1st Royal Tank Regiment
The 1st Royal Tank Regiment (1 RTR) was an armoured regiment of the British Army. It is part of the Royal Tank Regiment, itself part of the Royal Armoured Corps and operationally under 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade.


1st Royal Tank Regiment, History, Formation
The regiment was originally formed as A Company, Heavy Section, Machine Gun Corps in May 1916 during the First World War (1914–1918). It took part in the first ever tank offensive in 1916 and saw action on the Western Front again in the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917 and later in the Hundred Days Offensive. Remaining active in the army during the interwar period, in 1939 it was renamed the 1st Royal Tank Regiment.


1st Royal Tank Regiment, History, Second World War
During the Second World War (1939–1945) the regiment took part in the Siege of Tobruk in the summer of 1941 and the Battle of El Alamein in October 1942, the advance up Italy in late 1943, the Normandy landings in June 1944 and the Western Allied invasion of Germany in 1945. From the Battle of El Alamein the regiment was part of the 22nd Armoured Brigade, itself part of the 7th Armoured Division, for the rest of the war.


1st Royal Tank Regiment, History, Post war
After a period based in Germany, 1 RTR fought Communist forces during the Korean War.


1st Royal Tank Regiment, History, Post war
The regiment was in the Suez Canal Zone as part of 25 Armoured Brigade to protect British interests in the Zone from on January 1954 to August 1955.


1st Royal Tank Regiment, History, Post war
In 1957 the regiment was posted to Hong Kong as part of the 48th Gurkha Infantry Brigade. When it left Hong Kong in 1960 it replaced the Comet tanks with Centurions at Hohne, West Germany.


1st Royal Tank Regiment, History, Amalgamation
In 1993, it amalgamated with the 4th Royal Tank Regiment without change of title. It incorporated both of the original regiments' traditional recruiting areas of Merseyside and Scotland.


1st Royal Tank Regiment, History, Amalgamation
In 1999, two squadrons were split off as part of the Joint NBC Regiment with No. 27 Squadron RAF Regiment. In December 2011 the Regiment handed over its responsibility for CBRN to the RAF Regiment.


1st Royal Tank Regiment, History, Amalgamation
On 25 June 2008 at Buckingham Palace, both 1RTR and 2 RTR were presented with their new Standard by The Queen, which included the new Battle Honour of Al Basrah 2003.


1st Royal Tank Regiment, History, Amalgamation
On 2 August 2014 the regiment merged with 2RTR to form the single battalion Royal Tank Regiment (RTR), based at Aliwal Barracks, Tidworth and is one of three armoured regiments equipped with the Challenger 2 tank.


1st Royal Tank Regiment, History, Amalgamation
The history and traditions of 1 RTR are preserved by 'Ajax" Squadron of the RTR.


1st SA Infantry Regiment
1st SA Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment of the South African Army, during World War One.


1st SA Infantry Regiment, History, Origin
The infantry regiments were raised with men from the four provinces of the Union: the 1st Regiment troops were from the Cape. Also known as "The Cape Regiment." A Company (Western Province) was made up from men mostly from the Duke of Edinburgh's Rifles. B. Company was recruited from the Eastern Province and C Company was from Kimberley, with many of the men being ex Kimberley Regiment. D Company was recruited from Cape Town. Most of the recruits already had military training or experience. They were, in general, middle class, well-educated and well-bred men.


1st SA Infantry Regiment, History, Origin
The regiment was led by serving officers of the Union Defence Force, while the whole of 1st South African Infantry Brigade came under the command of Brigadier-General Henry Lukin DSO, a previous Inspector General of the UDF and part of the South African Overseas Expeditionary ForceThe Brigade was attached to the 9th (Scottish) Division.


1st SA Infantry Regiment, History, Engagements
The Regiment was deployed to France where it captured the village of Longueval and was deployed in the adjacent Delville Wood on 15 July 1916. The regiment then served with the Brigade at Arras during April 1917 and was part of the offensive at Ypres and Passchendale in September 1917, at Marrieres Wood in March 1918, at Messines in April 1918 and finally at Le Cateau in October 1918.


1st SA Infantry Regiment, History, Victoria Cross
Private W. Faulds of 1 SA Infantry won his VC at Delville Wood.


1st SA Infantry Regiment, Leadership
The 1st South African Infantry Regiment was commanded by Lt Col F.S. Dawson.


1st SAS Brigade
The 1st Special Air Service Brigade (1st SAS) was a fictional brigade during the Second World War. It was first formed in Cairo in 1941, as part of a deception by Brigadier Dudley Clarke, to play on Italian fears of airborne attacks. Clarke used documents, photographs, news reports and even fake SAS soldiers to plant information about the brigade – he even named the Cairo-based deception department, 'A' Force, to bolster evidence of their existence.


1st SAS Brigade
In the summer of 1941, when David Stirling was pitching his idea for a dedicated airborne commando unit (which later evolved into the Special Air Service) he obtained Clarke's support partly by promising to use the SAS name. From late 1942, Clarke used the 1st SAS in his major order of battle deception (codenamed Operation Cascade). The brigade formed part of the fictional 4th Airborne Division; between then and the end of the war it was used to mislead Axis commanders about the strength of Allied forces in North Africa, and as part of several specific tactical deceptions.


1st SAS Brigade, Formation
In late 1940 the Allies recovered the journal of an Italian officer during an operation at Sidi Barrani. The diary referred to fears of British paratroopers being landed to the Italian rear. At the time the Allies had no airborne troops in the North African region. Dudley Clarke, in charge of military deception in the region, decided to play on these fears by creating a fictional airborne unit. Clarke began Operation Abeam in January 1941 by creating a paper trail for the 1st SAS Brigade. The fictional unit was supposedly training for special missions in Transjordan.


1st SAS Brigade, Formation
Clarke established their existence using documentary and physical subterfuge. Photographs of parachutists were printed in local papers, documents were planted with the enemy, Allied airmen were warned to look out for gliders (Victor Jones mocked up some dummies to support the story), and a section of desert was cordoned off for "training". To aid the rumours, two soldiers were dressed in 1st SAS uniforms and wandered around the Allied-held cities of Cairo, Port Said, and Alexandria, where they were briefed to hint at missions in Crete or Libya.


1st SAS Brigade, Formation
By March, Clarke's deception operations had grown and it was decided to create a formal department. He chose the name Advanced Headquarters 'A' Force - the 'A' being a subtle reference to airborne - in the hope that it would help support the existence of paratroopers in the area (as well as hide the true purpose of the department). Clarke continued actively promoting the existence of 1st SAS until around June 1941, and it appears that Axis commanders accepted the brigade as real.


1st SAS Brigade, Formation
Clarke had created the unit with no specific aims, although it did mean that the enemy command had to factor the existence of airborne troops into any battle plan. However, Abeam and the 1st SAS represented his first attempt at inflating the apparent strength of Allied forces, a tactic he would use significantly over the rest of the war. The brigade occasionally featured in Clarke's tactical deceptions; such as a March 1941 threat to Axis supply lines near Tripoli.


1st SAS Brigade, Formation, Stirling's SAS
In May 1941, David Stirling, an injured British forces Commando in the North Africa theatre, proposed the idea of small airborne special forces units to operate behind enemy lines. Whilst lobbying for support within Middle East Command it came to Clarke's attention, who offered his backing provided the force could also be used to help his own deception schemes.


1st SAS Brigade, Formation, Stirling's SAS
The name SAS came mainly from the fact I was anxious to get the full co-operation of a very ingenious individual called Dudley Clark[e], who was responsible for running a deception operation in Cairo... Clark[e] was quite an influential chap and promised to give me all the help he could if I would use the name of his bogus brigade of parachutists, which is the Special Air Service, the SAS


1st SAS Brigade, Formation, Stirling's SAS
Stirling's plan received approval in the summer of 1941 and the unit was designated "L" Detachment, Special Air Service. The name was intended to add further evidence of an airborne presence, specifically 1st SAS, in the region.


1st SAS Brigade, 4th Airborne
Through 1941 and 1942, 1st SAS formed part of Clarke's overall strategy to deceive the Axis about the strength of Allied forces in the region. In early 1942, this ad hoc situation was formalised as Operation Cascade; an entire fictional order of battle featuring numerous units.


1st SAS Brigade, 4th Airborne
By late 1942, the Allies had begun to train a number of real airborne units in the North African theatre. Clarke created the fictional 4th Airborne Division out of several units, both real and fictional, including 1st SAS. Under the umbrella of Cascade, the  aim was to mislead the Axis that paratroopers, most of whom were still training, posed a realistic threat. The 4th Airborne were utilised in a number of specific operational deceptions over the next few years (including Operation Zeppelin and Operation Barclay), most often to threaten fictional invasions as a distraction from real Allied operations.


1st SIIMA Short Film Awards
The 1st SIIMA Short Film Awards were presented on 14 May 2017 at Hyderabad, Telangana and 28 May 2017 at Chennai, Tamil Nadu to honour the best achievements of the short films produced in Telugu & Kannada and Tamil languages respectively in the previous years. A total of 21 Awards were given to the talented professionals across all categories in three languages.


1st SS Infantry Brigade
The 1st SS Infantry Brigade was a unit of the German Waffen SS formed from former concentration camp guards for service in the Soviet Union behind the main front line during the Second World War. They conducted Nazi security warfare in the rear of the advancing German troops and took part in the Holocaust. The unit also filled gaps in the front line when called upon in emergencies. In 1944, the brigade was used as the cadre in the formation of the SS Division Horst Wessel.


1st SS Infantry Brigade, Invasion of the Soviet Union
The 1 SS Infantry Brigade (mot) was formed from concentration camp guards, on 21 April 1941, from men of the SS-Totenkopfverbände (concentration camp guards). It received the designation of the 1st SS Infantry Brigade (motorised) on 20 September 1941.


1st SS Infantry Brigade, Invasion of the Soviet Union
When Germany invaded the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa) in June 1941, the brigade was stationed in Kraków, Poland awaiting its full complement of men and materials. On 23 July the unit moved east into the occupied territories and between July and August 1941, mopping up dispersed Red Army units in the rear of Army Group South. On 9 August, the brigade was north of Zhitomir and was asked to cover the northern flank of the 6th Army in the Pinsk Marshes. The brigade next operated behind the XVII Army Corps and on 23 August, crossed the Dnieper River.


1st SS Infantry Brigade, Invasion of the Soviet Union
During the remainder of the year and until late 1942 the unit was assigned to the Reich Security Main Office, which also had the SS Cavalry Brigade and the 2nd SS Infantry Brigade under command. In the autumn of 1941, the brigade actively took part in the Holocaust as part of Einsatzgruppe C and took part in the liquidation of the Jewish population of the Soviet Union, forming firing parties when required. The three brigades were responsible for the murder of tens of thousands of the population by the end of 1941, and they destroyed at least one village st Białystok for no apparent reason as they had not been engaged from it.


1st SS Infantry Brigade, Invasion of the Soviet Union
On 12 December 1941, the brigade was placed under the command of the 56th Infantry Division on the orders of Army Group Center when a gap appeared in the front line of the 2nd Army in the area of Tula, Yelets Liwny. On 28 December 1941, the unit was placed under the command of LV Army Corps.


1st SS Infantry Brigade, 1942
The brigade spent the winter in fighting defensive battles in the front line, then received new orders. They were again to form a rear-area security unit. From January to August they took part in security and defensive duties around the area of Kursk and a new commander, Karl Fischer von Treuenfeld, arrived in July. The unit remained in the Kursk area until 11 August when it was sent to the Minsk area.


1st SS Infantry Brigade, 1942
On 11 October, the brigade was in the Wydriza sector in Central Russia (where Erich von dem Bach-Zelewsky was the SS and Police Leader). It took part in the Operation Karlsbad (11 September to 23 October); also participating were the SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger, SS Schuma Battalion 255 and the 1st Battalion, Légion des Volontaires Français. By the end of it the brigade had recorded the killing of 1051 civilians and alleged partisans for the loss of 24 dead and 65 wounded.


1st SS Infantry Brigade, 1942
The brigade next took part in the Operation Freda (5 to 9 November), together with the SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger near Borissov. The reported casualties from the operation were light with 2 men killed and 10 missing compared to several hundred dead "partisans", most likely civilians.


1st SS Infantry Brigade, 1942
The unit was next used in another security action, Operation Nürnberg (19 to 25 November), with Police Kampfgruppe von Gottberg. The operation took place between Gleboki and Wilna. The operation was under the command of Brigadeführer Curt von Gottberg with SS Polizei Regiment 14, two Schuma battalions and a town Gendarmerie unit in support of the 1 SS Infantry Brigade. The operation resulted in 2984 Russian casualties and the release of some German prisoners. At the end of 1942 they were involved in the Battle of Velikiye Luki when the Soviet forces encircled the town of Velikiye Luki. The 83rd Infantry Division which was trapped in the pocket and was destroyed. The 1 SS Infantry Brigade, along with Frikorps Danmark, who had participated in the attempts to break the encirclement under Kampfgruppe Chevallerie had suffered heavy casualties in the process.


1st SS Infantry Brigade, 1943
In 1943 the brigade came under the command of the LIX Corps in the 3rd Panzer Army. On 4 February they were located at Podluschje. They took part in Operation Kugelblitz (22 February to 8 March) attached to the 201st Sicherungs Division. Operation Kugelblitz was an anti Belarusian partisans sweep in the area of Witebsk Gorodok Gurki and Senniza Lake. They also took part in the followup Operation Donnerkeil (31 March to 2 April) the second operation was ordered by the 3rd Panzer Army.


1st SS Infantry Brigade, 1943
In May 1943, the brigade formed a cadre for the 3 Estonian SS Volunteer Brigade and on 7 July it was sent to Borrissov on another security sweep. They participated in Operation Hermann (7 July) with various other units under the command of Generalmajor of Polizei von Gottberg.


1st SS Infantry Brigade, 1943
On 1 August, the brigade took part in the security and depopulation operation in the area Jeremicze-Starzyna-Rudnja-Kupinsk. The goal was to murder or deport the local population and seize livestock and agricultural supplies.


1st SS Infantry Brigade, 1943
They were again moved into the front line in September to reinforce the 25th Panzergrenadier Division, which wasfighting in the Smolensk-Gomel sector. Smolensk was abandoned on 24 September and the brigade reported that during the fighting they had lost 215 killed in action, 1172 wounded and 77 missing.


1st SS Infantry Brigade, 1943
On 12 November, the brigade units were redesignated the former SS Infantry Regiment 8 and SS Infantry Regiment 10 now became known as the SS Grenadier Regiment 39 and SS Grenadier Regiment 40. To counter the Soviet offensive on 10 November the Brigade formed SS Kampfgruppe Trabandt which came under the command of the 36th Infantry Division. They fought at the Rogatschew bridgehead until they were transferred to the bridgehead at Stassewka on 2 December.


1st SS Infantry Brigade, 1943
In December, the brigade took part in Operation Nikolaus which started on 20 December and formed the 9th Army's southern pincer group attacking towards the 2nd Army alongside the 16th Panzer Division, 258th Infantry Division, 134th Infantry Divisions and Cavalry Regiment Mitte. The counterattack filled the gap between the 2nd and 9th Army's which had been created by the Soviet push towards Bobruisk in November that year. The attack was succeeded and the gap was closed on 22 December.


1st SS Infantry Brigade, 1943
At the end of December 1943 the Brigade was ordered to move to East Prussia. After they reached the troop training grounds Stablack near Königsberg they were reformed.


1st SS Infantry Brigade, 1944
The 1 SS Infantry Brigade (mot) was disbanded on 24 January 1944 when it was used to form the 18th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Horst Wessel.


1st SS Infantry Brigade, War crimes
The brigade took an active part in the killing of the Jewish population assisting the Einsatzgruppen, in the town of Ushomir where it took part in the killing of all male Jews.


1st SS Infantry Brigade, War crimes
Untersturmführer Max Täubner commanded a workshop detail in the brigade and was tried by an SS court in May 1943, along with four other Waffen-SS men, for unauthorized and sadistic killings of a large number of Jews in 1941 and for taking photos of the killings showing them to wife and friends. In the indictment, the SS court states "The accused allowed his men to act with such vicious brutality that they conducted themselves under his command like a savage horde". The case against four other defendants under Täubner's command was dismissed by the judge Standartenführer Dr. Reinecke. The photos and negatives were later ordered to be destroyed. Täubner, who had been given a sentence of 10 years, was pardoned in January 1945 and released from prison.


1st SS Infantry Brigade, War crimes
In another version of this trial cited in  Taubner is convicted of disregarding secrecy provisions surrounding the exterminations, expelled from the SS, deprived of his civil rights and sentenced to ten years imprisonment, for behavior that was "unworthy of an honorable and decent German man."


1st SS Infantry Brigade, War crimes
Vasyl Valdeman, a Jewish resident of Ostroh reported: "We knew something would be done to us here. When we saw people hit and driven along here with spades, even small children realised why people were carrying the spades." One of the members of the 1st SS Infantry Brigade at the time was Hans Friedrich. He claims not to recall exactly which actions he took part in that summer, but he does admit to participating in killings like the one in Ostrog. "They were so utterly shocked and timid, you could do with them what you wanted.'"


1st SS Infantry Brigade, War crimes
Vasyl Valdeman: "Kids were crying, the sick were crying, the elderly were praying to God. Not on their knees but seated or lying down. It was very tough to go through it all, hearing all this wailing and crying. Then they had everyone get up and said 'Go', and as soon as people started moving, they selected people for shooting, for execution." The selected Ukrainian Jews were taken out to this spot and a pit was dug.


1st SS Infantry Brigade, War crimes
In scenes which were repeated right across the areas of the Soviet Union occupied by the Nazis, men, women and children were ordered to strip and prepare to die. The killings went on into the evening. Vasyl Valdeman and his mother managed to escape and hide in a nearby village. But the SS killed his father, grandfather and two uncles.


1st SS Infantry Brigade, War crimes
Vasyl Valdeman: "That's how it was—the first execution—the most horrible one. It wasn't the last one. There were three more large executions after that with 2000 to 3000 people shot at every one of them. More people were executed afterwards in smaller scale ones and this is how the Jewish community of Ostrog was annihilated."


1st SS Infantry Brigade, Casualties
Between formation in 1941 and January 1944 the Brigade reported the following casualties, from an establishment of 6,271 officers and men:


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler
The 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler or SS Division Leibstandarte, abbreviated as LSSAH, (German: 1. SS-Panzerdivision "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler") began as Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard, responsible for guarding the Führer's person, offices, and residences. Initially the size of a regiment, the LSSAH eventually grew into an elite division-sized unit during World War II.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler
The LSSAH participated in combat during the invasion of Poland, and was amalgamated into the Waffen-SS together with the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT) and the combat units of the SS-Totenkopfverbände (SS-TV) prior to Operation Barbarossa in 1941. By mid-1942 it had been increased in size from a regiment to a Panzergrenadier division and was designated SS Panzergrenadier Division "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler". It received its final form as a Panzer division in October 1943.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler
Members of the LSSAH perpetrated numerous atrocities and war crimes, including the Malmedy massacre. They killed an estimated 5,000 prisoners of war in the period 1940–1945, mostly on the Eastern Front.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Early history (1923–1933)
In the early days of the Nazi Party, the leadership realized that a bodyguard unit composed of reliable men was needed. Ernst Röhm formed a guard formation from the 19.Granatwerfer-Kompanie; from this formation the Sturmabteilung (SA) soon evolved. Adolf Hitler in early 1923, ordered the formation of a small separate bodyguard dedicated to his service rather than "a suspect mass", such as the SA. Originally the unit was composed of only eight men, commanded by Julius Schreck and Joseph Berchtold. It was designated the Stabswache (staff guard).


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Early history (1923–1933)
The Stabswache were issued unique badges, but at this point was still under SA control. Schreck resurrected the use of the Totenkopf ("death's head") as the unit's insignia, a symbol various elite forces had used in the past, including specialized assault troops of Imperial Germany in World War I who used Hutier infiltration tactics.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Early history (1923–1933)
In May 1923, the unit was renamed Stoßtrupp (Shock Troop)–Hitler. The unit numbered no more than 20 members at that time. On 9 November 1923, the Stoßtrupp, along with the SA and several other Nazi paramilitary units, took part in the abortive Beer Hall Putsch in Munich. In the aftermath, Hitler was imprisoned and his party and all associated formations, including the Stoßtrupp, were disbanded.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Early history (1923–1933)
In the mid-1920s, violence remained a large part of Bavarian politics. Hitler was a potential target. In 1925, Hitler ordered the formation of a new bodyguard unit, the Schutzkommando (protection command). The unit was renamed the Sturmstaffel (assault squadron) and in November was renamed the Schutzstaffel, abbreviated to SS. By 1933 the SS had grown from a small bodyguard unit to a formation of over 50,000 men. The decision was made to form a new bodyguard unit, again called the Stabswache, which was mostly made up of men from the 1st SS-Standarte.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Early history (1923–1933)
By 1933 this unit was placed under the command of Sepp Dietrich, who selected 117 men to form the SS-Stabswache Berlin on 17 March 1933. The unit replaced the army guards at the Reich Chancellery. Out of this initial group, three eventually became divisional commanders, at least eight would become regimental commanders, fifteen became battalion commanders, and over thirty became company commanders in the Waffen-SS. Eleven men from the first company of 117 went on to win the Knights Cross, and forty of them were awarded the German Cross in gold for bravery.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Early history (1923–1933)
Later in 1933, two further training units were formed: SS-Sonderkommando Zossen on 10 May, and a second unit, designated SS-Sonderkommando Jüterbog on 8 July. These were the only SS units to receive military training at that time. Most of the training staff came from the ranks of the army. On 3 September 1933 the two Sonderkommando merged into the SS-Sonderkommando Berlin under Dietrich's command. Most of their duties involved providing outer security for Hitler at his residences, public appearances and guard duty at the Reich Chancellery.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Early history (1923–1933)
In November 1933, on the 10th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch, the Sonderkommando took part in the rally and memorial service for the Nazi Party members who had been killed during the putsch. During the ceremony, the members of the Sonderkommando swore personal allegiance to Hitler. At the conclusion the unit received the new title, "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler" (LAH). The term Leibstandarte was derived partly from Leibgarde – a somewhat archaic German translation of "Guard of Corps" or personal bodyguard of a military leader ("Leib" = lit. "body, torso") – and Standarte: the Schutzstaffel (SS) or Sturmabteilung (SA) term for a regiment-sized unit, also the German word for a specific type of heraldic flag (Standard).


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Expansion
On 13 April 1934, Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, ordered the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler (LAH) to be renamed "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" (LSSAH). Himmler inserted the SS initials into the name to make it clear that the unit was independent from the SA or the army. The LSSAH was designated a "National Socialist" unit, which eventually grew into an elite Panzer division of the Waffen-SS. Although nominally under Himmler, Dietrich was the real commander and handled day-to-day administration.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Expansion
During 1934, Stabschef-SA Ernst Röhm continued to push for greater political influence for his already powerful SA. Hitler decided that the SA had to be eliminated as an independent political force and ordered the LSSAH to prepare for the action. The LSSAH formed two companies under the control of Jürgen Wagner and Otto Reich, these formations were moved to Munich on 30 June.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Expansion
Hitler ordered all SA leaders to attend a meeting at the Hanselbauer Hotel in Bad Wiessee, near Munich. Hitler along with Sepp Dietrich and a unit from the LSSAH travelled to Bad Wiessee to personally oversee Röhm's arrest on 30 June. Later at around 17:00 hours, Dietrich received orders from Hitler for the LSSAH to form an "execution squad" and go to Stadelheim prison where certain SA leaders were being held. There in the prison courtyard, the LSSAH firing squad shot five SA generals and an SA colonel.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Expansion
Additional alleged "traitors" were shot in Berlin by a unit of the Leibstandarte. On 1 July Hitler finally agreed with Göring and Himmler that Röhm should be executed. In what the Nazis called the Röhm Putsch, but otherwise came to be known as the Night of the Long Knives, companies of the LSSAH, together with the Gestapo and Göring's Landespolizeigruppe, performed Death Squad actions. At least 85, but most likely no less than twice that number of people, were executed without trial over the next few days.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Expansion
This action succeeded in effectively decapitating the SA and removing Röhm's threat to Hitler's leadership. In recognition of their actions, both the LSSAH and the Landespolizeigruppe General Göring were expanded to regimental size and motorized. In addition, the SS became an independent organization, no longer part of the SA.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Expansion
The LSSAH provided the honor guard at many of the Nuremberg Rallies, and in 1935 took part in the reoccupation of the Saarland. On 6 June 1935, the LSSAH officially adopted a field-grey uniform to identify itself more with the army, which wore a similar uniform. The LSSAH was later in the vanguard of the march into Austria as part of the Anschluss, and in 1938 the unit took part in the occupation of the Sudetenland. By 1939, the LSSAH was a full infantry regiment with three infantry battalions, an artillery battalion, and anti-tank, reconnaissance and engineer sub-units.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Expansion
Soon after its involvement in the annexation of Bohemia and Moravia, the LSSAH was redesignated "Infanterie-Regiment Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (mot.)". When Hitler ordered the formation of an SS division in mid-1939, the Leibstandarte was designated to form its own unit, unlike the other Standarten of the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT) (SS-Standarte Deutschland, SS-Standarte Germania, and SS-Standarte Der Führer). The Polish crisis of August 1939 put these plans on hold, and the LSSAH was ordered to join XIII. Armeekorps, a part of Army Group South, which was preparing for the attack on Poland.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Expansion
The Leibstandarte division's symbol was a skeleton key, in honor of its first commander, Josef "Sepp" Dietrich (Dietrich is German for skeleton key or lock pick); it was retained and modified to later serve as the symbol for I SS Panzer Corps.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of Poland
During the initial stages of the invasion of Poland, the LSSAH was attached to the 17.Infanterie-Division and tasked with providing flank protection for the southern pincer. The regiment was involved in several battles against Polish cavalry brigades attempting to hit the flanks of the German advance. At Pabianice, a town near Łódź, the LSSAH fought elements of the Polish 28th Infantry Division and the Wołyńska Cavalry Brigade in close combat. Throughout the campaign, the unit was notorious for burning villages. In addition, members of the LSSAH committed atrocities in numerous Polish towns, including the murder of 50 Jews in Błonie and the massacre of 200 civilians, including children, who were machine gunned in Złoczew. Shootings also took place in Bolesławiec, Torzeniec, Goworowo, Mława, and Włocławek.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of Poland
After the success at Pabianice, the LSSAH was sent to the area near Warsaw and attached to the 4.Panzer-Division under then Generalmajor (brigadier general) Georg-Hans Reinhardt. The unit saw action preventing encircled Polish units from escaping, and repelling several attempts by other Polish troops to break through. In spite of the swift military victory over Poland, the regular army had reservations about the performance of the LSSAH and SS-VT units due to their higher casualty rate than the army units.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of France
In early 1940 the LSSAH was expanded into a full independent motorized infantry regiment and a Sturmgeschütz (Assault Gun) battery was added to their establishment. The regiment was shifted to the Dutch border for the launch of Fall Gelb. It was to form the vanguard of the ground advance into the Netherlands, tasked with capturing a vital bridge over the IJssel, attacking the main line of defense at the Grebbeberg (the Grebbeline), and linking up with the Fallschirmjäger of Generaloberst Kurt Student's airborne forces, the 7.Flieger-Division and the 22.Luftlande-Infanterie-Division.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of France
Fall Gelb—the invasion of France and the Low Countries—was launched on 10 May 1940. On that day, the LSSAH crossed the Dutch border, covered over 75 kilometres (47 mi), and secured a crossing over the IJssel near Zutphen after discovering that their target bridge had been destroyed. Over the next four days, the LSSAH covered over 215 kilometres (134 mi), and upon entering Rotterdam, several of its soldiers accidentally shot at and seriously wounded General Student. After the surrender of Rotterdam, the LSSAH left for The Hague, which they reached on 15 May, after capturing 3,500 Dutch soldiers as prisoners of war. After the surrender of the Netherlands on 15 May, the regiment was then moved south to France.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of France
After the British counterattack at Arras, the LSSAH, along with the SS-Verfügungs-Division, were moved to hold the perimeter around Dunkirk and reduce the size of the pocket containing the encircled British Expeditionary Force and French forces. The LSSAH took up a position 15 miles south west of Dunkirk along the line of the Aa Canal, facing the Allied defensive line near Watten. That night the OKW ordered the advance to halt, with the British Expeditionary Force trapped. The LSSAH paused for the night.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of France
However, on the following day of 25 May, in defiance of Hitler's orders, Dietrich ordered his 3rd battalion to cross the canal and take the Wattenberg Heights beyond, where British artillery observers were putting the regiment at risk. They assaulted the heights and drove the observers off. Instead of being censured for his act of defiance, Dietrich was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of France
On 26 May the German advance resumed. By 28 May the LSSAH had taken the village of Wormhout, only ten miles from Dunkirk. After their surrender, soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, along with some other units (including French soldiers) were taken to a barn in La Plaine au Bois near Wormhout and Esquelbecq. It was there that troops of the LSSAH 2nd battalion, under the command of SS-Hauptsturmführer Wilhelm Mohnke committed the Wormhoudt massacre, where 80 British and French prisoners of war were killed. Although it is unarguable that the massacre occurred, Mohnke's level of involvement is impossible to know; he was never formally charged and brought to trial.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece
After the conclusion of the Western campaign on 22 June 1940, the LSSAH spent six months in Metz (Moselle). It was expanded to brigade size (6,500 men). A 'Flak battalion' and a StuG Batterie were among the units added to the LSSAH. A new flag was presented by Heinrich Himmler in September 1940. During the later months of 1940, the regiment trained in amphibious assaults on the Moselle River in preparation for Operation Seelöwe, the invasion of England. After the Luftwaffe's failure in the Battle of Britain and the cancellation of the planned invasion, the LSSAH was shifted to Bulgaria in February 1941 in preparation for Operation Marita, part of the planned invasion of Greece and Yugoslavia.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece
The operation was launched on 6 April 1941 by aerial bombings of central-southern Yugoslavia, specially over Belgrade causing enormous destructions and thousands of victims and woundeds. After the LSSAH entered on 12 April into the Yugoslavian capital, then to follow the route of the 9.Panzer-Division, part of General der Panzertruppe Georg Stumme's XL Panzer Corps. The LSSAH crossed the border near Bitola and was soon deep in Greek territory.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece
The LSSAH captured Vevi on 10 April. SS-Sturmbannführer Kurt Meyer's reinforced Aufklärungs-Abteilung (reconnaissance battalion), LSSAH was tasked with clearing resistance from the Kleisoura Pass south-west of Vevi and driving through to the Kastoria area to cut off retreating Greek and British Commonwealth forces. Despite stiff resistance, Meyer's unit captured the pass.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece
The brigade participated in the clearing the Klidi Pass just south of Vevi, which was defended by a "scratch force" of Greek, Australian, British and New Zealand troops. An Australian artillery officer wrote of the Germans' "insolence" in driving "trucks down the main road – to within 3,000 yards (2,700 m) of our infantry" and there unloading the troops. The Germans were forced off the road by artillery fire and faced fierce resistance for more than two days. On the morning of 12 April the Germans renewed their attack, and by late afternoon the pass was cleared.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece
With the fall of the two passes the main line of resistance of the Greek Epirus army was broken, and the campaign became a battle to prevent the escape of the enemy. On 20 April, following a pitched battle in the 5,000-foot-high (1,500 m) Metsovon Pass in the Pindus Mountains, the commander of the Greek Epirus army surrendered the entire force to Dietrich. British Commonwealth troops were now the only Allied forces remaining in Greece, and they were falling back across the Corinth Canal to the Peloponnesos.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece
By 26 April the LSSAH had reached the Gulf of Patras, and in an effort to cut off the retreating British Commonwealth forces, Dietrich ordered that his regiment cross the Gulf and secure the town of Patras in the Peloponnesos. Since no transport vessels were available, the LSSAH commandeered fishing boats and successfully completed the crossing, but were forced to leave much of their heavy equipment behind. By 30 April the last British Commonwealth troops had either been captured or escaped. The LSSAH occupied a position of honor in the victory parade through Athens. After Operation Marita, the LSSAH was ordered north to join the forces of Army Group South massing for the launch of Operation Barbarossa.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of the Soviet Union
Following LSSAH's outstanding performance during Marita, Himmler ordered that it should be upgraded to divisional status. The regiment, already the size of a reinforced brigade, was to be given motorized transport and redesignated "SS-Division (mot.) Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler". It was moved to Czechoslovakia in mid May for reorganization until being ordered to assemble in Poland for Operation Barbarossa, as part of Gerd von Rundstedt's, Army Group South.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of the Soviet Union
There was not enough time to deliver all its equipment and refit it to full divisional status before the launch of the invasion of the Soviet Union, so the new "division" remained the size of a reinforced brigade, even though its expansion and development was of concern at the very highest ranks of command. Franz Halder, chief of the OKH General Staff noted on 20 June that "SS 'Adolf Hitler' will not be ready in time. Tracked components leave on 22 June, others not before 25 June," then more hopefully the next day; "Materiel position of SS 'Adolf Hitler' has improved, Div. may yet get ready in time."


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of the Soviet Union
Despite Halder's hopes, LSSAH was held in reserve attached to XIV Panzer Corps as part of Generalfeldmarschall Ewald von Kleist's 1st Panzer Group during the opening stages of the attack. Through July it was attached to III Panzer Corps before finishing August as part of XLVIII Panzer Corps. During this time, the LSSAH was involved in the Battle of Uman and the subsequent capture of Kiev.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of the Soviet Union
According to a postwar report by Waffen-SS journalist Erich Kern, the division murdered 4,000 Soviet prisoners in reprisal on 18 August, after finding the mutilated bodies of six dead divisional members who had been executed at Nowo Danzig, north of Kherson. These allegations have been researched using local units' war diaries; no mention of executed German soldiers during those dates has been found. For want of reliable evidence, not even accusations by the Soviet authorities, the allegations remained unproven.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of the Soviet Union
In early September, the division was shifted to LIV Army Corps, as part of the 11th Army under Eugen Ritter von Schobert during the advance east after the fall of Kiev. Hoping to capitalize on the collapse of the Red Army defense on the Dnepr River the reconnaissance battalion of LSSAH was tasked with making a speedy advance to capture the strategically vital choke point of the Perekop Isthmus through a "coup de main" but were rebuffed by entrenched defenders at the town of Perekop.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of the Soviet Union
That same day, 12 September, 11th Army's commander was killed in an aircraft accident, and Hitler appointed Erich von Manstein to command. It took five days for Manstein to take matters in hand, and the operation to clear the Crimean Peninsula was not launched until 17 September. Manstein deployed LSSAH to create diversions while preparing for the main assault, intending to employ it to exploit an eventual breakthrough, but was forced to throw pioneers into the attack on the "Tatar Ditch" in the face of a furious counterattacks and did not break the Soviet defense for ten days.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of the Soviet Union
In October, the LSSAH was transferred back north to help solidify the Axis line against fresh Soviet attacks against the Romanian 3rd Army and later took part in the heavy fighting for the city of Rostov-on-Don, which was captured in late November; there, the LSSAH took over 10,000 Red Army prisoners. However by the end of the year, the German advance faltered as Soviet resistance grew stronger.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of the Soviet Union
Under pressure from heavy Soviet counterattacks during the winter, the LSSAH and Army Group South retreated from Rostov to defensive lines on the river Mius. After the spring rasputitsa (seasonal mud) had cleared, the division joined in Fall Blau, participating in the fighting to retake Rostov-on-Don, which fell in late July 1942. Severely understrength, the LSSAH was transferred to the Normandy region of occupied France to join the newly formed SS Panzer Corps and to be reformed as a Panzergrenadier division.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of the Soviet Union, Kharkov
The LSSAH spent the remainder of 1942 refitting as a panzergrenadier division. Thanks to the efforts of Himmler, along with SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser, the SS Panzer Corps commander, the three SS Panzergrenadier divisions, LSSAH, Das Reich and Totenkopf, were to be formed with a full regiment of tanks rather than only a battalion. This meant that the SS Panzergrenadier divisions were full-strength Panzer divisions in all but name. The division also received nine Tiger 1 tanks, and these were formed into the 13th (schwere) Company/1st SS Panzer Regiment.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of the Soviet Union, Kharkov
The collapse of the front around Stalingrad and the encirclement of the 6th Army created a threat to Field Marshal Erich von Manstein's Army Group Don. Manstein requested reinforcements to halt the Soviet attack near Kharkov. The SS Panzer Corps was then ordered east to join Manstein's forces.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of the Soviet Union, Kharkov
Arriving at the front in late January 1943, the LSSAH was engaged in fighting in and around Kharkov as a part of Hausser's SS Panzer Corps. In March 1943 the division participated in the recapture of Kharkov. On 12 March 1943, the LSSAH made progress into the city's center by breaking through the Soviet defenses in the northern suburbs. By the end of the day, the division had reached a position just two blocks north of Dzerzhinsky Square.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of the Soviet Union, Kharkov
The 2nd Panzergrenadier Regiment's 2nd Battalion was able to surround the square, after taking heavy casualties from Soviet snipers and other defenders, by evening. When taken, the square was renamed "Platz der Leibstandarte". Despite the declaration that the city had fallen, fighting continued on 15 and 16 March, as German units cleared the remnants of resistance in the tractor works factory complex, in the southern outskirts of the city. The city was taken on 17 March. While in Kharkov, troops of the LSSAH engaged in the murder of wounded Soviet soldiers that were located in the city's military hospital; several hundred were killed. Additionally, captured Soviet officers and commissars were routinely executed.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of the Soviet Union, Kharkov
The division was pulled back to rest and refit. Division commander Sepp Dietrich was promoted to form a new Corps, the 1st SS Panzer Corps Leibstandarte, and the LSSAH was to supply all the senior officers for the new headquarters. At the same time a new SS division would be formed from members of the Hitler Youth and the LSSAH would supply all of the regimental, battalion and most of the company commanders. This new division would become the 12th SS Panzer Division (Hitlerjugend).


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of the Soviet Union, Massacre of civilians on the Eastern Front
During the fighting around Kharkov, a unit under the command of Joachim Peiper gained a nickname "Blowtorch Battalion", after the inhabitants of two Soviet villages were shot or burned. Ukrainian sources, including surviving witness Ivan Kiselev, who was 14 at the time of the massacre, described the killings at the villages of Yefremovka and Semyonovka on 17 February 1943. On 12 February Waffen-SS troops of the LSSAH occupied the two villages, where retreating Soviet forces had wounded two SS officers. In retaliation, five days later LSSAH troops killed 872 men, women and children. Some 240 of these were burned alive in the church of Yefremovka.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of the Soviet Union, Massacre of civilians on the Eastern Front
The reputation of the "Blowtorch Battalion" was confirmed in August 1944, when Sturmbannführer Jacob Hanreich was captured south of Falaise in France and interrogated by the Allies. He stated that Peiper was "particularly eager to execute the order to burn villages". Hanreich had previously served with Leibstandarte but was with SS Division Hitlerjugend at the time of his capture.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of the Soviet Union, Massacre of civilians on the Eastern Front
Additional sources support the division's reputation for brutality. The following statement, taken from the surreptitious recording of POWs' conversations by the Allies, describes the atrocities on the Eastern Front. SS-Untersturmführer Krämer (captured on the Western Front during his service with the SS Division Hitlerjugend) recounted the following from his time with the LSSAH:


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of the Soviet Union, Massacre of civilians on the Eastern Front
I have experienced it in Russia at Orel. An MG 42 was set up in the main aisle of a church, [...] and the Russian men, women and children were taken into the church, without knowing at all what was happening. Then they were shot immediately with the MG 42 and petrol was poured on them and the whole place was set on fire.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Invasion of the Soviet Union, Fabrikaktion Operation
Elements of LSSAH took part in Fabrikaktion "factory action" a/k/a/ Großaktion Juden "Major Action (on) Jews", an operation to capture remaining German Jews that worked in the arms industry. Men of the LSSAH helped the Gestapo round up Jews in Berlin; people were taken from their jobs and herded in to cattle wagons on 27–28 February 1943. Most of the captured perished either in Auschwitz or other camps in the East. In May 1943, Hans Frank shipped 500 watches collected from Auschwitz prisoners to soldiers of the 3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Battle of Kursk
The spring rasputitsa halted offensive operations, giving the LSSAH time to rest and refit. By early June 1943, the division had been fully refitted and was now under the command of SS-Brigadeführer, Theodor Wisch. Its armor strength was 12 Tiger Is, 72 Panzer IVs, 16 Panzer III and Panzer IIs, and 31 StuGs. In late June 1943, the formation of I SS Panzer Corps meant that Hausser's SS Panzer Corps was renamed II SS Panzer Corps.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Battle of Kursk
The II SS Panzer Corps was moved north to Belgorod in preparation for the upcoming summer offensive Operation Citadel. The LSSAH, along with the SS Divisions Totenkopf and Das Reich, was to form the spearhead of General Hermann Hoth's 4th Panzer Army, tasked with breaching the southern flank of the Kursk salient. Field Marshal Walter Model's 9th Army was to breach the northern flank, and the two forces were to meet near the city of Kursk, to the east, thereby encircling a large Soviet force.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Battle of Kursk
The attack commenced on 5 July. The LSSAH's panzers, advancing in Panzerkeils (wedges), soon ran into the elaborate defenses of the Red Army, which slowed the advance. By 9 July, the II SS Panzer Corps had advanced 48 km (30 mi) north, and were nearing the small town of Prokhorovka. The LSSAH again took the lead; by now its strength was reduced to just 77 armored vehicles. The 2nd SS Panzergrenadier Regiment, supported by several tanks, advanced up the road to Prokhorovka against heavy resistance. By midday, the infantry had cleared the Komsomolets State Farm and begun the attack on Hill 241.6, which they secured shortly after nightfall on 10 July.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Battle of Kursk
The next day the advance resumed, with the division capturing Oktiabr'skii State Farm and Hill 252.2 in heavy fighting against Soviet Paratroops of the 9th Guards Airborne Division. On 12 July, the Soviets threw the 5th Guards Tank Army into a counterattack near Prokhorovka. Two tank corps faced the LSSAH, hitting the Germans around Oktiabr'skii State Farm and Hill 252.2. In the ensuing fighting, the Germans inflicted heavy casualties on the Soviets. The Soviet counterattack had stalled the German advance, and the division was forced to fall back to Oktiabr'skii. Fighting continued the next day, but the focus of the Soviet attack had then shifted to the Totenkopf, on the left of the LSSAH.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Battle of Kursk
With the battle at Prokhorovka still in the balance, Soviet High Command launched an offensive of their own, Operation Kutuzov, near Orel causing Hitler to order the cessation of Citadel. The II SS Panzer Corps was pulled back. The LSSAH was ordered out of the line, having suffered 2,753 casualties including 474 killed. Eleven tanks were also lost during Citadel. The division was sent to Italy to help stabilize the situation there caused by the deposal of Benito Mussolini by the Badoglio government and the Allied invasion of Sicily which began on the night of 9–10 July 1943. The division left behind its heavy equipment, which was given to Das Reich and Totenkopf.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Italy and subsequent operations
The division, re-equipped with vehicles, arrived on the Po River Plain on 8 August 1943. The LSSAH was given the task of guarding several vital road and rail junctions in the area of Trento-Verona. After several weeks, the division was moved to the Parma-Reggio area. During this period, the Leibstandarte was involved in several skirmishes with partisans. With Italy having announced an armistice with the Allies of 8 September 1943, the division was ordered to begin disarming nearby Italian units. This went smoothly, with the exception of brief, bloody fights with Italian troops stationed in Parma, Cremona and Piacenza on 9 September. By 19 September, all Italian forces in the Po River Plain had been disarmed.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Italy and subsequent operations
While on rear security duties in Italy, LSSAH men murdered 49 Jewish refugees near Lake Maggiore, in the Lake Maggiore massacres, who had fled there after the German takeover. The murders happened between 15 and 24 September. Some of the victims had their feet and hands tied and were drowned.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Italy and subsequent operations
The LSSAH was sent to the Istria Peninsula and was engaged in several anti-partisan operations as part of Nazi security warfare. During its period in Italy, the LSSAH was reformed as a full panzer division, and redesignated 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. In early November, the division was ordered back to the Eastern Front, arriving in the Zhitomir area in mid-November.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Italy and subsequent operations
The division was assigned to XLVIII Panzer Corps, a part of 4th Panzer Army, which was struggling to hold the line near Zhitomir. The division was transferred to the Cherkassy area at the end of January, where it was assigned to the III Panzer Corps, part of 1st Panzer Army. As part of the corps, the division took part in the relief attempt of German forces of Army Group South encircled in the Korsun Pocket in January–February 1944.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Italy and subsequent operations
The majority of the LSSAH, which amounted to 41 officers and 1,188 men, were withdrawn to Belgium for rest and refit, however a Kampfgruppe was left behind. On 25 March, the 1st Panzer Army was encircled in the Kamenets-Podolsky pocket. The battle group took part in the fighting to escape the encirclement, forming a part of the spearhead which linked up with the II SS Panzer Corps near Buczacz on 6 April. The LSSAH Division was reformed in Belgium and was at full strength by 25 April 1944.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Western Front
The division was transferred again as part of the I SS Panzer Corps which at this time consisted of the 101 SS Heavy Panzer Battalion, SS Division Hitlerjugend, SS Division Götz von Berlichingen and the Panzer Lehr Division. The LSSAH had been positioned north of the River Seine to counter any possible landing in the area of the Pas de Calais so the first units did not arrive in Normandy until after the Allied invasion there on 6 June 1944; part of it arrived on the night of 27–28 June with the whole division taking another week.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Western Front
By 4 July the I SS Panzer Corps was reformed, and now consisted of the LSSAH and the Hitlerjugend. The first action they were involved in was the defense of Carpiquet village and airfield in the Allied Operation Windsor. There then followed a number of Allied attacks – Operations Charnwood and Jupiter. On 12 July the LSSAH was holding the Caen south sector from Maltot in the west to the Caen – Falaise road in the east. During the night of 14 – 15 July, LSSAH was relieved by the 272nd Infantry Division and pulled back to an assembly area astride the Caen – Falaise road between Ifs and Cintheaux.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Western Front, Operation Goodwood
The British Operation Goodwood took place between 18 and 20 July 1944. British VIII Corps, with three armored divisions, launched the attack aiming to seize the German-held Bourguébus Ridge, along with the area between Bretteville-sur-Laize and Vimont. The operation was preceded by a three-hour bombing by 2,500 aircraft. The Division strength prior to Goodwood was reported as 59 Panzer IVs, 46 Panthers and 35 StuG IIIs.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Western Front, Operation Goodwood
II/1st SS Panzer Regiment, located near Garcelles, received orders to attack the British at Soliers. While moving its 13 Panthers towards Bourguébus, the unit engaged 60 British tanks, destroying 20 of them and capturing Soliers. Around 12:00, the Panther Battalion, I/1st SS Panzer regiment, was engaged in combat with the British 29th Armoured Brigade of the British 11th Armoured Division. The body of the LSSAH was rushed to the front from Falaise, where it was being held in reserve. It counterattacked at 17:00, together with the 21st Panzer Division, and halted the British offensive on the left front.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Western Front, Operation Goodwood
The British resumed their assault at around 13:00 on 19 July, having brought up reinforcements to continue the attack. They overran some of the forward German units and approached Bourguébus Ridge at 16:00. They came under fire from Panthers of the Leibstandarte, who had taken up positions on the ridge. Reinforcements of the 12th SS Panzer Division arrived at the right flank at around 15:00. The Canadians attacked next in the Battle of Verrières Ridge and Operation Spring (see map), where the LSSAH came up against a number of Allied divisions, including the Guards Armoured Division, 7th Armoured, 2nd and 3rd Canadian Divisions.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Western Front, Operation Lüttich
On 25 July 1944, US forces under General Omar Bradley succeeded in breaking through the German defenses as part of Operation Cobra and entered Brittany. Hitler forbade any retreat, and ordered a counteroffensive, codenamed Operation Lüttich, by the XLVII Panzer Corps, consisting of the 2nd Panzer Division, part of the LSSAH, the SS Division Das Reich and the 116th Panzer Division. The plan for the attack was to hit the 30th Infantry Division east of Mortain, then cut through American defenses to reach the coast. The US response was aided by Ultra intelligence, which had revealed the plans for Operation Lüttich by 4 August. As a result, Bradley was able to obtain air support from both the US 9th Air Force and the RAF.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Western Front, Operation Lüttich
The LSSAH and other divisions went on the attack on 7 August. The 1st SS Panzer Regiment, along with two battalions of motorized infantry, one combat engineer company, and the division's flak battalion, were used for the attack. The weather was not suitable for flying that morning, which disadvantaged the Allies. The SS Division Das Reich recaptured Mortain, and an armored battle group under Joachim Peiper reached Bourlopin, but had to halt due to US counterattacks and air strikes.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Western Front, Operation Lüttich
The much-reduced division was encircled in the Falaise pocket by US, Canadian, and Polish forces. Some LSSAH units broke out of the pocket on 22 August, leaving behind all their tanks and artillery. The division sustained 5,000 casualties during the Normandy campaign. During their retreat from France, members of the LSSAH and the SS Division Hitlerjugend division murdered 34 French civilians in the towns of Tavaux and Plomion.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Western Front, Ardennes Offensive
The Ardennes Offensive (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was a major German offensive launched through the forested Ardennes Mountains region of Belgium, France and Luxembourg. The offensive was called Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein (Operation "Watch on the Rhine") by the Germans. The 'bulge' was the initial incursion the Germans put into the Allies' line of advance, as seen in maps presented in contemporary newspapers.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Western Front, Ardennes Offensive
Wilhelm Mohnke, now in command of the LSSAH, attached to the I SS Panzer Corps, was the spearhead of the operation. The fuel crisis in Nazi Germany meant that the LSSAH had insufficient amounts of fuel for its vehicles. On 16 December the operation began, with then SS-Obersturmbannführer Joachim Peiper's Kampfgruppe leading the push to the Meuse.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Western Front, Malmedy massacre
Peiper bypassed the Elsenborn ridge, and at 07:00 on 17 December, the unit seized a US fuel depot at Büllingen, and refueled before continuing westward. At 12:30, near the hamlet of Baugnez, on the height halfway between the town of Malmedy and Ligneuville, Peiper's Kampfgruppe encountered a convoy of the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion, US 7th Armored Division. After a brief battle the Americans surrendered. Along with other Americans captured earlier (127 men total), they were disarmed and sent to stand in a field near the crossroads, where the Germans shot them en masse with machine guns and pistols.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Western Front, Malmedy massacre
Of the 84 men killed, 41 were killed by a pistol shot to the head at close range and six were killed by having their skulls bashed in. After feigning death in the field for several hours while the Germans moved among them shooting survivors, a group of about 30 men escaped. Researcher Danny S. Parker believe that Peiper or one of his subordinates made the decision to kill the prisoners. There is no record of an SS officer giving an execution order. News of the killings raced through the Allied lines.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Western Front, Malmedy massacre
Captured SS men who were part of Kampfgruppe Peiper were tried during the Malmedy massacre trial following the war for this massacre and several others in the area. Many of the perpetrators were sentenced to hang, but the sentences were commuted. Peiper himself was imprisoned for eleven years for his role in the killings.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Western Front, Malmedy massacre
Peiper entered Stavelot on 18 December but encountered fierce resistance from the American defenders. Unable to defeat them, he left a smaller support force in town and headed for the bridge at Trois-Ponts with the bulk of his strength, but by the time he reached it, retreating US engineers had already destroyed it. Peiper then headed for the village of La Gleize and from there on to Stoumont. There, as Peiper approached, engineers blew up the bridge. US defenders were entrenched and ready.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Western Front, Malmedy massacre
Peiper's men were cut off from the main German force and supplies when the Americans recaptured the poorly defended Stavelot on 19 December. As their situation in Stoumont was becoming hopeless, Peiper decided to pull back to La Gleize where he set up his defenses, waiting for the German relief force. Since no such force was able to penetrate the US line, Peiper decided to break out back to the German lines on 23 December. The men of the Kampfgruppe abandoned their vehicles and heavy equipment, although most of the men were able to escape.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Western Front, Malmedy massacre
With each passing day, enemy resistance stiffened and the advance was eventually halted on all fronts. The German High Command ordered that a renewed attack begin on 1 January 1945. Yet by this time, the Allies had regrouped their forces and were ready to repulse any attack launched by the Germans. The operation formally ended on 27 January 1945, and three days later Mohnke was promoted to SS-Brigadeführer. LSSAH and the I SS Panzer Corps were then transferred to Hungary to bolster the crumbling situation there. Mohnke was wounded in an air raid. In his place, SS-Brigadeführer Otto Kumm was appointed the new Division Commander as of 15 February 1945.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Western Front, Malmedy massacre, Killing of Wereth 11
During Battle of the Bulge, troops from 3./SS-PzAA1 LSSAH captured eleven African-American soldiers from the 333rd Artillery Battalion in the hamlet of Wereth. Subsequently the prisoners were shot and their remains found by Allied troops two months later. The soldiers had their fingers cut off, legs broken, and at least one was shot while trying to bandage a comrade's wounds.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Eastern Front 1945, Operation Spring Awakening
Operation Spring Awakening (6 March 1945 – 16 March 1945) was the last major German offensive launched during World War II. It began in great secrecy on 6 March 1945. The German forces launched attacks in Hungary near Lake Balaton. This area included some of the last oil reserves still available to the Axis. The operation involved many German units withdrawn from the failed Ardennes Offensive on the Western Front, including the 6th SS Panzer Army and the LSSAH. Operation Spring Awakening was a failure for the German side. Within a week, the early gains were halted by massive counter-attacks by Soviet forces. The overwhelming numerical superiority of the Red Army made any defense impossible, yet Hitler somehow had believed victory was attainable.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Eastern Front 1945, Operation Spring Awakening
After the failure of Operation Spring Awakening, Sepp Dietrich's 6th SS Panzer Army retreated in stages to the Vienna area. The Germans prepared defensive positions in an attempt to hold the city against the fast arriving Red Army, in what become known as the Vienna Offensive. The Germans could not hold Vienna, which fell to the Soviet forces on 13 April.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Eastern Front 1945, Operation Spring Awakening
This defeat resulted in the Ärmelstreifen (Cuff Titles Order) or "armband order", which was issued by Hitler to the commander of the 6th SS Panzer Army, Sepp Dietrich. Hitler claimed that the troops "did not fight as the situation demanded." As a mark of disgrace, Hitler ordered the Waffen-SS units involved to remove their cuff titles (German: Ärmelstreifen). Dietrich refused to carry out the order and did not relay the message to the troops. According to Heinz Guderian, most cuff titles had already been removed; he later wrote that the removal of unit cuffs from the Leibstandarte, Totenkopf, Hohenstaufen, and the Das Reich Divisions was accomplished for security reasons.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Eastern Front 1945, Battle of Berlin
Part of the LSSAH ended the war fighting in Berlin. On 23 April 1945, Hitler appointed Brigadeführer Mohnke the commander for the central government district (Zitadelle sector) that included the Reich Chancellery and Führerbunker. Mohnke's command post was under the Reich Chancellery in the bunkers therein. He formed Kampfgruppe Mohnke which was divided into two weak regiments made up of approximately 2,000 men. The core group were the 800 of the Leibstandarte Guard Battalion (assigned to guard the Führer). After Hitler's suicide, they received orders to break out.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Eastern Front 1945, Battle of Berlin
Prior to the attempt, Mohnke briefed all commanders who could be reached within the Zitadelle sector about Hitler's death and the planned break out. It started at 2300 hours on 1 May. Mohnke led the first of ten small groups. Several very small groups managed to reach the Americans at the Elbe's west bank, but most, including Mohnke's group, could not get through the Soviet lines. Many were taken prisoner and some committed suicide. On 2 May hostilities officially ended by order of Helmuth Weidling, Commandant of the Berlin Defense Area.


1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Eastern Front 1945, Battle of Berlin
After Vienna was captured, the LSSAH had fewer than 1,600 men and 16 tanks. Apart from the remains of Berlin Guard Battalion, the LSSAH surrendered to US forces in the Steyr area on 8 May 1945.


1st SS Police Regiment
The 1st SS Police Regiment (German: SS-Polizei-Regiment 1) was initially named the 1st Police Regiment (Polizei-Regiment 1) when it was formed in 1942 from existing Order Police (Ordnungspolizei) units for security duties in Occupied Europe. It was redesignated as an SS unit in early 1943. Later that year it was disbanded and its battalions were reassigned to other SS Police units. The regiment was reformed in late 1944 in Hungary, but was absorbed by 35th SS and Police Grenadier Division (35. SS und Polizei Grenadier Division) in early 1945.


1st SS Police Regiment, Formation and organization
The regimental headquarters was formed in July 1942 in Berlin and was subordinated to the Polizei Abschnitt Spree which was the police command for all SS-police units in and around the Berlin capitol area. The regiment comprised three police battalions as well as a signals and headquarters unit. A police tank company was planned, but never formed. Police Battalion 2 (Polizei-Batallion 2) was assigned as its 1st battalion, but it was in northern Russia at that time. It was withdrawn to Berlin around August or September for reorganization.


1st SS Police Regiment, Formation and organization
The regiment's 2nd battalion was Police Battalion 3, but this assignment was only nominal as the battalion was scattered along the length of the Eastern Front and remained that way until the bulk of it was withdrawn to Mährisch Ostrau, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, (now Ostrava, Czech Republic) in late 1942 where it served as cadre for the 1st Battalion of the 36th Police Rifle Regiment (Polizei-Schützen Regiment 36) in mid-1943. Police Battalion 10 was in Upper Carniola, Slovenia, when it was redesignated as the regiment's third battalion, and apparently remained there until early 1943. All of the police regiments were redesignated as SS-police units on 24 February 1943.


1st SS Police Regiment, Formation and organization, Activities
In late 1942, the headquarters and first battalion were deployed to the Eastern Front and attached to Army Group North while the second battalion remained attached to various security police units on the individual company level and the third battalion remained in Slovenia on anti-partisan duty. In early 1943, the first and third battalions were transferred to France where they were assigned to Polizei-Regiment Griese in Marseilles, and were redesignated as the first and third battalions of the 14th SS Police Regiment in March, while the regimental HQ was disbanded.


1st SS Police Regiment, Formation and organization, Activities
The regiment was reformed in August 1944 in Hungary from the headquarters of the Polizei-Regiment zbV (zur besonderen Verwendung). Its battalions were taken from other police regiments, notably II./SS Pol.Rgt. 12, II./SS Pol.Rgt. 20 and III./SS Pol.Rgt. 21 as its first through third battalions, respectively. The latter two battalions were redesignated as the first and second battalions of the 6th SS Police Regiment in October while the regiment's second battalion was replaced by the assignment and redesignation of the Police Half-Battalion Hungary (Polizei Halb-Batallion Ungarn). The regiment was ordered disbanded on 12 March 1945 and its personnel and equipment were absorbed by the SS and Police Grenadier Regiment 89 (SS und Polizei Grenadier Regiment 89) of the 35th SS and Police Grenadier Division.


1st SS Special Regiment Waräger
1st SS Special Regiment Waräger (German: SS-Sonder-Regiment I 'Waräger') was a collaborationist formation, primarily composed of Russians, that fought under German command during World War II.


1st SS Special Regiment Waräger, Background
After the end of the Russian Civil War (1917–23), several hundred thousand Russians (and other subjects of the Imperial Russia) fled the Bolshevik forces. Most so-called White émigrés initially fled from Southern Russia and Ukraine to Turkey and then moved to other Slavic countries in Europe (the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland). A large number also fled to Estonia, Latvia,  Lithuania, Finland, Iran, Germany and France. Some émigrés also fled to Portugal, Spain, Romania, Belgium, France, Sweden, Switzerland, and Italy.