103rd SS Heavy Panzer Battalion

103rd SS Heavy Panzer Battalion (abbreviated s.SS-Pz. Abt. 103) was originally formed on 1 July 1943 as the II.Battalion, 11 SS Panzer Regiment and sent to Yugoslavia to fight as infantry, however, at the end of November, the battalion was converted back to the Tanks.

The Battalion was then issued six Tiger I tanks in February for training, but then ordered to give them to another unit in March 1944. Another six Tiger Is arrived at the training grounds on 26 May and four more in August. On 20 October, all ten Tigers were given to the training unit and the 103rd was outfitted with the Tiger II before being ordered to the Eastern Front, as part of the III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps. On 14 November 1944 the 103rd SS Heavy Panzer Battalion was Redesignated 503rd SS Heavy Panzer Battalion (abbreviated s.SS-Pz. Abt. 503). The 503rd had a total of 39 (instead of the full complement of 45) Tiger IIs and was loaded on to trains on 27 January 1945, and sent to the Eastern Front in the Army Group Weichsel sector. By 15 April 1945, the 503rd reported a total of 12 Tiger IIs, of which 10 were still operational. The 503rd ended the war fighting in the Battle of Berlin as part of Kampfgruppe Mohnke.

2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich

The 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich was an elite division of the Nazi Waffen-SS during World War II. It was one of the thirty-eight divisions fielded by the Waffen-SS; its symbol was the wolf's hook, or Wolfsangel.

Das Reich served during the invasion of France and took part in several major battles on the Eastern Front (particularly in the Battle of Prokhorovka against the 5th Guards Tank Army at the Battle of Kursk). It was then transferred to the West and took part in the fighting in Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge, ending the war fighting in Hungary and Austria. Das Reich committed the Oradour-sur-Glane and Tulle massacres.

History

Early war and the SS-VT – 1939/1940

20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian)

20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian) (German: 20.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (estnische Nr.1), Estonian: 20. eesti diviis) was a unit of the Waffen SS established on 25 May 1944 in German-occupied Estonia during World War II. Formed in Spring 1944 after the general conscription-mobilization was announced in Estonia on 31 January 1944 by the German occupying authorities, the cadre of the 3rd Estonian SS Volunteer Brigade, renamed the 20th Estonian SS Volunteer Division on 23 January 1944, was returned to Estonia and reformed. Additionally 38,000 men were conscripted in Estonia and other Estonian units that had fought on various fronts in the German Army, and the Finnish Infantry Regiment 200 were rushed to Estonia.

Estonian officers and men in other units that fell under the conscription proclamation and had returned to Estonia had their rank prefix changed from "SS" to "Waffen" (Hauptscharführer would be referred to as a Waffen-Hauptscharführer rather than SS-Hauptscharführer). The wearing of SS runes on the collar was forbidden, and these formations began wearing national insignia instead.