Hitler's Baby Division

400 before examinations, since these were postponed. While postponement
produced more volunteers, many of them were washed out when
examinations were conducted. Augsburg reported 35 volunteers, but SS
examiners found only twelve suitable. District leaders complained that all 35
should have been suitable and accused the SS Recruiting Station officers in
Munich of assigning some of these boys to other SS armed formations. The
Station chief denied this and counter-charged the HJ Regional Directorate
with packing HJ Division recruits with previously mustered volunteers already
assigned to other SS units. As demonstrated by numerous other incidents of
a similar nature, organizational pride and loyalty was deeply ingrained and
frequently interfered with the overall purposes of the HJ-SS alliance. At
Sonthofen some 35 boys volunteered, but only 20 reported for mustering
and a mere 14 eventually marched off to the Premilitary Training camp at
Harburg. 11
Recruiting problems soon forced the RJF to shorten premilitary
training from six weeks to four and postpone the starting date to May. This
became necessary despite the fact that Hitler had meanwhile exempted HJ
Division volunteers from compulsory labor service, an expedient adopted so
frequently after 1943 that it practically became a general rule. When
training finally began at Harburg, Swabia furnished only eighty mustered
recruits and eleven “training assistants,” 45 men short of the stipulated
quota. Additional volunteers became available later so that camp director
Kurt Ziegler eventually had around 100 HJ Division trainees under his wing, a
fact that gave him no little satisfaction. 12 While premilitary training sessions
got underway the RJF ordered a “supplementary recruiting campaign” for
May. In WEL camps as well as in individual HJ dens the siren calls of strident
SS and HJ recruiters were heard once more. When recruits completed WEL
11