21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Skanderbeg (1st Albanian)
Active	Raised 1944, Surrendered 1945
Country	Albania
Branch	Waffen SS
Type	Mountain
Size	about 9,000
Nickname	Skanderbeg

The 21st SS Division Skanderbeg was a Waffen SS Mountain division set up by Heinrich Himmler in March 1944, officially under the title of the 21st Waffen-Gebirgs Division der SS Skanderbeg (Albanische Nr. 1). It was named after George Kastrioti Skanderbeg, the national hero of Albanians who resisted Ottoman invasion for 25 years. The division was set up mostly from 4,000 prisoners of Albanian nationality. After the wars end, the division was accused of having committed thousands of war crimes, mostly against Serbs in Montenegro and Kosovo. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 110 × 130 pixelsFull resolution (110 × 130 pixel, file size: 9 KB, MIME type: image/gif) (All user names refer to it. ... Recruitment poster of the Waffen-SS. (Enlistment at the age of 17) The Waffen-SS (German for Armed SS, literally Weapons SS) was the combat arm of the Schutzstaffel or SS. It was founded in Germany in 1939 after the SS was split into two units [1] but the title... For other uses, see Mountain (disambiguation). ... Recruitment poster of the Waffen-SS. (Enlistment at the age of 17) The Waffen-SS (German for Armed SS, literally Weapons SS) was the combat arm of the Schutzstaffel or SS. It was founded in Germany in 1939 after the SS was split into two units [1] but the title... For other uses, see Mountain (disambiguation). ... Himmler redirects here. ... Skanderbeg Portrait Gjergj Kastrioti (George Kastrioti) (1405 - January 17, 1468), better known as Skanderbeg, is the most prominent figure in the history of Albania. ... Motto دولت ابد مدت Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (The Eternal State) Anthem Ottoman imperial anthem Borders in 1683, see: list of territories Capital Söğüt (1299–1326) Bursa (1326–1365) Edirne (1365–1453) Constantinople (1453–1922) Government Monarchy Sultans  - 1281–1326 (first) Osman I  - 1918–22 (last) Mehmed VI Grand Viziers  - 1320... In the context of war, a war crime is a punishable offense under International Law, for violations of the laws of war by any person or persons, military or civilian. ... Languages Serbian Religions Predominantly Serbian Orthodox Christian Related ethnic groups Other Slavic peoples, especially South Slavs See Cognate peoples below (* many Serbs opted for Yugoslav ethnicity) [27] Serbs (Serbian: Срби or Srbi) are a South Slavic people who live mainly in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and, to a lesser extent, in... This article is about the country in Europe. ... For other uses, see Kosovo (disambiguation). ...

Formation

The names of 11,398 recruits were submitted to Berlin. Of these, 9,275 were deemed suitable for drafting, and 6,491 were actually drafted into the Waffen SS. The final division was formed up by the aforementioned recruits, another three hundred ethnic Albanians transferred from the 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar and German and Austrian officers, NCOs and enlisted men. The final total strength of the division was 8,500 to 9,000 men, consisting of two infantry regiments, an artillery regiment, a reconnaissance battalion, a mountain combat engineer battalion, a signals battalion and an anti-tank battalion. Recruitment poster of the Waffen-SS. (Enlistment at the age of 17) The Waffen-SS (German for Armed SS, literally Weapons SS) was the combat arm of the Schutzstaffel or SS. It was founded in Germany in 1939 after the SS was split into two units [1] but the title... The 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian) was one of the thirty-eight divisions fielded as part of the Waffen-SS during World War II. It was the largest of the SS divisions, with 21,065 men at its peak, composed almost entirely of non-German...

Albanians in Kosovo saw the invasion of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by Axis Powers as an opportunity to secede from the kingdom, and eventually merge with Albania. In 1941 Albania, Western Macedonia, and majority of Kosovo were under Italian control. Following the surrender of Fascist Italy in 1943, the territories under discussion, inhabited largely by Albanians were handed over to Nazi Germany. The 21st Waffen SS Mountain Division was the only fully ethnic Albanian division to be recruited during the Second World War. It was established originally to combat partisans with the promise that the territories with a majority Albanian population were to become an independent and unified state to include Albania, Kosovo and Western Macedonia or what Albanian nationalists called “Natural Albania” or "Ethnic Albania". Motto: One nation, one king, one country Anthem: Medley of Bože pravde, Lijepa naÅ¡a domovino, and Naprej zastava slave Capital Belgrade Language(s) Serbo-Croato-Slovenian (see: Serbo-Croat and Slovenian) [1] Government Value specified for government_type does not comply King  - 1918-1921 Peter I  - 1921-1934 Alexander... Black: Zenith of the Axis Powers Capital Not applicable Political structure Military alliance Historical era World War II  - Tripartite Pact September 27, 1940  - Anti-Comintern Pact November 25, 1936  - Pact of Steel May 22, 1939  - Dissolved 1945 This article is about the independent countries (states) that comprised the Axis powers. ... Anthem Marcia Reale dOrdinanza (Royal March of Ordinance)¹ The Kingdom of Italy at the height of its power in 1940. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...

The division was placed under the command of SS-Standartenführer August Schmidhuber, later promoted to SS-Oberführer. It fought against communists who were on the increase and consolidating their actions, both in Albania and Yugoslavia as the Second World War was drawing to an end. In Kosovo, the division embarked on ethnic cleansing of the Serbs and other non-Albanians.^{[1][2][citation needed]} SS-Standartenführer insignia Standartenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was used in both the SA and the SS. First created as a title in 1925, in 1928 the rank became one of the first commissioned Nazi ranks and was bestowed upon those SA and SS officers... SS-Oberführer Collar Patch (1942 version) SA-Oberführer Collar Patch Oberführer was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party dating back to 1921. ... This article is about communism as a form of society, as an ideology advocating that form of society, and as a popular movement. ... For the video game, see Ethnic Cleansing (computer game). ...

The division was operational for a full year (March 1944 – March 1945) losing pace with the German withdrawal from the area during the last months of WWII, and reorganizing into the 21st SS Mountain Skanderbeg Division, concentrated at Skopje, leading to its defense, alongside the Prinz Eugen Division, of the Vardar River valley in Macedonia, allowing German General Alexander Lohr's Army Group E to retreat from Greece. By January 1945, a group of the Skanderbeg Division retreated to Kosovska Mitrovica in Kosovo and then to Brcko in Bosnia-Herzegovina. They reached Austria in May, 1945, and fought until Germany's surrender. The division surrendered to Western Allied personnel. Location of the city of Skopje (green) in Macedonia Country Macedonia Municipality Government  - Mayor Trifun Kostovski Area  - Total 1,854 km² (715. ... Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division SS-Freiwilligen-Division Prinz Eugen SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division Prinz Eugen 7. ... Vardar in Skopje Axios redirects here. ... Alexander Löhr (born 20 May 1885; died 26 February 1946) was an Austrian Air Force (Österreichische Luftstreitkräfte) commander during the 1930s and, after the Political Union of Germany and Austria (Anschluss), he was a German Air Force (Luftwaffe) commander during the Second World War. ... Map showing the location of the Brčko District within Bosnia and Herzegovina (in red, upper right corner) Brcko District map Brčko or Брчко (in Serbian Cyrillic) is a city in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina. ... Bosnia and Herzegovina (also variously written Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Bosnia-Hercegovina) is a mountainous country in the western Balkans. ...

SS-Brigadefűhrer August Schmidthuber, one of the commanders of the 21st SS Mountain Division "Skanderbeg”, was captured in 1945 and turned over to Yugoslav authorities. He was put on trial in February 1947 by a Yugoslav military tribunal at Belgrade, on charges of participating in massacres, deportations and atrocities against civilians. The tribunal sentenced him to death by hanging. He was executed on February, 27th 1947. ^[3] August Schmidthuber was an SS-Brigadeführer of the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen from 20 Jan 1944 to 8 May 1945. ... For other uses, see Belgrade (disambiguation). ...

Insignia

The division arm patch consisted of a white double-headed eagle on a black background. The recruits wore the white traditional Albanian highlander cap (plis), and later the SS issued grey headgear in the same style, with the Totenkopf sewn on the front.

War crimes

On July 28th, 1944, in the village of Velika, in Montenegro. The division was assisting the Prinz Eugen Division during Operation Draufgegner. On that day, the Skanderbeg Division was alleged by witnesses to have murdered 428 Serbian civilians, 120 of which were children, in addition to burning some 300 houses. Many of those killed, many of which were young girls, were thrown into fires to burn alive. The division also apprehended some 519 Kosovo Jews in Pristina, to be exterminated. July 28 is the 209th day (210th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 156 days remaining. ... Year 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Prishtinë/Prishtina (Albanian indefinite/definite form) or Priština (Приштина) (Serbian) is the capital city of Kosovo, a landlocked province of Serbia located at 42°65′ N 21°17′ E. It is estimated that the current population of Prishtina is as high as 500,000. ...

Religion

^{[neutrality disputed]}

This division, together with the 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian) was a Muslim division of the Waffen-SS set up in cooperation with the Muslim equivalent of the pope Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, mufti of Jerusalem. They ethnically cleansed Kosovo of Jews and Christians. The 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian) was one of the thirty-eight divisions fielded as part of the Waffen-SS during World War II. It was the largest of the SS divisions, with 21,065 men at its peak, composed almost entirely of non-German... Mohammad Amin al-Husayni (ca. ...

See also

• List of German divisions in WWII
• Waffen-SS

This is a list of German divisions in WWII. Only ground units are covered; divisions of aircraft are not. ... Waffen-SS recruitment poster; Volunteer to the Waffen-SS The Waffen-SS was the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel. ...

Further reading

• Hermann Neubacher, Sonderauftrag Sudost (1953)
• Haroey Samer, Rescue In Albania: One Hundred Percent Of Jews In Albania Rescued From Holocaust, Brunswick Press, California (1997). Available at: http://www.aacl.com/index11.html
• Noel Malcolm, Kosovo: A Short History, New York University Press; New Update edition (November 2000).
• Chris Bishop, Hitler's Foreign SS Divisions (2005)

Noel Robert Malcolm (born 26 December 1956) is an English writer, historian and journalist, known for his polymathy, and his polyglottism. ...

References

• Skenderbeg Division
• Skenderbeg Division, Eyewitness Accounts of Attrocities

v • d • e -- The divisions of the Waffen-SS --

1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler  · 2nd SS Division Das Reich  · 3rd SS Division Totenkopf  · 4th SS Polizei Division  · 5th SS Panzergrenadier Division Wiking  · 6th SS Mountain Division Nord  · 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen  · 8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer  · 9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen  · 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg  · 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland  · 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend  · 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian)  · 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Galizien (1st Ukrainian)  · 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Latvian)  · 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS  · 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen  · 18th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Horst Wessel  · 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Latvian)  · 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian)  · 21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Skanderbeg (1st Albanian)  · 22nd SS Volunteer Cavalry Division Division Maria Theresia  · 23rd Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Kama  · 23rd SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nederland  · 24th Waffen Mountain (Karstjäger) Division  · 25th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Hunyadi (1st Hungarian)  · 26th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Hungarian)  · 27th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Langemarck (1st Flemish)  · 28th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Wallonien  · 29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Russian)  · 29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Italian)  · 30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Russian)  · 30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Belarussian)  · 31st SS Volunteer Grenadier Division  · 32nd SS Volunteer Grenadier Division 30 Januar  · 33rd Waffen Cavalry Division of the SS (3rd Hungarian)  · 33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne (1st French)  · 34th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Landstorm Nederland  · 35th SS and Police Grenadier Division  · 36th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS  · 37th SS Volunteer Cavalry Division Lützow  · 38th SS Division Grenadier Nibelungen Image File history File links Flag_Schutzstaffel. ... All divisions in the Waffen-SS were ordered in a single series, regardless of type. ... Waffen-SS recruitment poster; Volunteer to the Waffen-SS The Waffen-SS was the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Germany_1933. ... The Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (German for Adolf Hitlers Bodyguard Regiment) was a unit of the SS. It was a Waffen SS security and combat formation which saw action on both the Eastern and Western fronts during World War II. As its name suggested, the Leibstandarte started life in... SS-Division Verfügungstruppe SS-Division Deutschland SS-Division Reich SS-Division Das Reich 2. ... SS Division Totenkopf (Deaths Head or Skull) is also known as 3. ... The SS Polizei Division was one of the thirty-eight divisions fielded as part of the Waffen-SS during World War II. The division was formed in 1939 as part of the SS Police, and was transferred to the Waffen-SS in 1942. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Image:Wss-6. ... Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division SS-Freiwilligen-Division Prinz Eugen SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division Prinz Eugen 7. ... This page may meet Wikipedia’s criteria for speedy deletion. ... The official cuff title worn by men of 9. ... The 10. ... Kampfverband Waräger Germanische-Freiwilligen-Division SS-Panzergrenadier-Division 11 (Germanische) 11. ... The 12. ... The 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian) was one of the thirty-eight divisions fielded as part of the Waffen-SS during World War II. It was the largest of the SS divisions, with 21,065 men at its peak, composed almost entirely of non-German... 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Latvian) was formed 1943 when the newly formed Lettische SS-Freiwilligen Legion was upgraded to a division. ... 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS was formed Nov 1943 when volksdeutsche recruits were added to the Sturmbrigade Reichsführer-SS and it was upgraded to divisional status. ... The 17. ... This page may meet Wikipedia’s criteria for speedy deletion. ... Estnische SS-Legion - estnisches SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Bataillon Narwa Estnische SS-Freiwilligen-Brigade 3. ... The 22. ... 23rd Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Kama (Croat No. ... SS-Freiwilligen Standarte Nordwest SS-Freiwilligen Verband Niederlande SS-Freiwilligen Legion Niederlande SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Brigade Nederland 4. ... The 25th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Hunyadi, which really was SS Granadier Division Hunyadi, was a hungarian formed division of the SS. ... The 26th Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS was one of the thirty-eight divisions fielded by the Waffen-SS during World War II. Some sources cite it as having a proper name as well as a number, either Hungaria or Gömbös, or no proper name at all. ... SS-Freiwilligen Standarte Nordwest SS-Freiwilligen Verband Flandern (Landesverband Flandern) SS-Bataillon Flandern SS-Freiwilligen Legion Flandern SS-Freiwilligen Sturmbrigade Langemarck 6. ... Corps Franc Wallonie Wallonische Legion 373. ... Sleeve patch worn by men of the RONA. The Kaminski Brigade was an anti-Partisan formation made up of Russians and Belorussians from Lokot in Byelorussia. ... This page may meet Wikipedia’s criteria for speedy deletion. ... Category: Possible copyright violations ... 30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Belarussian) was a German Waffen SS Grenadier division recruited from Belarusian volunteers. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... SS-Grenadier-Regiment 1 Landwacht Niederlande SS-Grenadier-Regiment 1 Landstorm Nederland SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Brigade Landstorm Nederland 34. ... The 35th SS and Police Grenadier Division was one of the thirty-eight divisions fielded by the Waffen-SS during World War II. It owes its unusual name to the fact that it was created from SS-Police units transferred to the Waffen-SS. It was not formed until the... Wilddiebkommando Oranienburg Sonderkommando SS-Sonderbataillon Dirlewanger SS-Sonderregiment Dirlewanger SS-Sonderbrigade Dirlewanger 2. ... ...