On 10 September the division reached a strength of 126 officers, 374 non-commissioned officers and 3,293 men, composed of German officers and Bosnian Muslim soldiers, a fraction of its prescribed strength of 19,000 men. By this time, morale was waning within the new division just as it completed the final phase of its training in Hungary; the war was not going well, and there were rumours that the Germans were going to abandon the Balkans and leave the Muslims to defend themselves. Faced with high rates of desertion from the 13th SS Division, Sauberzweig proposed a plan to disarm the Bosnians in both divisions, and on 18 September travelled to see Himmler. The "Reichsführer-SS" instead opted for a plan to transport the 2,000 Bosnians of the 23rd SS Division to the area of operations of the 13th SS Division in Bosnia and re-organise both divisions there. Combat arms units from the 13th SS Division were to be brought under the direct control of IX "Waffen" Mountain Corps of the SS (Croatian), which would also move to Bosnia. Issued on 24 September, the plan cancelled the formation of the 23rd SS Division, and directed "SS Oberführer" (Senior Colonel) Gustav Lombard to form and command a new SS infantry division using the German cadre and equipment of the 23rd SS Division, supplemented by ethnic Germans recruited from Hungary. The Bosnians of the 23rd SS Division were to be transported by rail back to the Gradište-Županja-Bošnjaci area for re-organisation into a "new" "Kama" division.