Hitler's Baby Division

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training and transferred to the Waffen SS they were ordered to recruit personally their friends for the division while on furlough, a device that was probably more effective than some other forms of persuasion. These belated volunteers went directly to the reserve units of the division. At the end of July the RJF allowed the regions to recruit from the second half of the 1926 class. They were allowed to skip premilitary training as well. In all WELs recruiting meanwhile continued at least through the middle of August. 13 Despite formal safeguards against the use of force many boys must have been driven to volunteer under extremely coercive circumstances. Army reserve authorities in Stuttgart, for instance, complained to OKW that “illegal means” were being used to recruit for a “so-called HJ <strong>Division</strong> to be presented to the Fuhrer on his birthday.” lt would be erroneous, however, the report went on, if the Führer were to be “under the impression that he was dealing with purely voluntary recruits.” Incidents were cited where Hitler youths had been forcefully “moved” to volunteer. They had been imprisoned in rooms guarded by SS soldiers until volunteer papers were signed and even had their ears boxed for failure to respond to SS appeals. The SS Recruiting Station at Stuttgart denied these charges when Berger was forced to investigate and claimed it could not find allegedly responsible persons because the army had given “imprecise information.” one of the incidents apparently took place at Achern where 220 boys had been assembled for recruiting purposes. But, since only eighteen had signed volunteer certificates and a mere thirteen of them were later found to be suitable, the SS “certainly could not be accused of using force.” Berger dismissed the whole affair as Just another example of the army “raising a stink against the SS.” 14 SS General Kurt Meyer subsequently implied, however, that some youths had not come voluntarily and SS General Frltz Witt, the first 12
commander of the division, ordered an investigation in November 1943 to determine how many men had been inducted against their will. lt is quite apparent that many forms of official influence and pressure were used to compel “volunteering,” at a time when the critical military situation had top priority. 15 Securing the required number of NCOs for the division proved to be equally difficult. Originally Axmann had asked regional leaders to enlist at least 10 percent of their eligible unit leaders as divisional NCO candidates. Swabia was thus expected to furnish 26 and send them to WEL Kuchberg near Geislingen in Württemberg for training. The initial response was not encouraging; only 13 mustered men went to Kuchberg. Most eligible leaders it appears chose to go to the Labor Service, refused to surrender their officer-candidate status with the air force and the army, or wanted to finish formal education first. Recruiting results in Swabia must have reflected national efforts because at the end of March Axmann issued renewed calls for NCO candidates. While some regional leaders were afraid their staffs would be depleted, Axmann no longer cared whether local HJ organizations collapsed when the need for troops to face military crises was overwhelming. What clearly also was on Axmann's mind had something to do with ah elite division which would glorify the martial tradition of the Hitler Youth with his peculiar stamp on it. 16 Hitler Youth districts already faced severe manpower shortages in 1943. At Kempten, for instance, seven leaders had become officer candidates for the air force, two had been transferred to a children's camp, one was employed part time in the local civil administration, one wore corrective glasses, and a couple of others were too short to qualify for the Waffen SS. While two leaders were NCO candidates with the SS, they refused 13
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Page 3 and 4: others. It was in the forefront of
Page 5 and 6: The idea of creating a Waffen SS ar
Page 7 and 8: temporarily for HJ Division candida
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Page 11: 400 before examinations, since thes
Page 15 and 16: Ziegler. Although the course had to
Page 17 and 18: Hitler had originally ordered that
Page 19 and 20: Commander SS Brigadier General Frit
Page 21 and 22: emphasis had been placed on trainin
Page 23 and 24: percent of the required vehicles -
Page 25 and 26: the conquest of Poland he volunteer
Page 27 and 28: done because the planners believed
Page 29 and 30: Ludwig (Stabsleiter of Gebiet Schwa

Hitler's Baby Division

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