Himmler’s Bosnian Division : The Waffen-SS Handschar Division, 1943–1945

Raised in 1943, when Nazi germany was facing a manpower shortage, the 'handschar division' was the first Waffen SS unit, in a nazi point of view, made of 'racially inferior' elements (as Slavs were considered to be...). Thus, this mountain division (13th of the armed SS) was combining an 'all german' staff (officers and ncos) with a muslim-slav infantry (some muslim-albanians from kosovo were also accepted although). The fact that the nazis, known for their strict atheism (Hitler was the only 'God' they were encouraged to praise...) were willing to accept in their ranks, for the first time, some very religious muslim-slavs is another evidence of how bad the military situation had turned for them...

Fully trained and well equipped, the unit, according testimonies of some of its german officers, could not be compared to a german division of a similar nature. In spite of that, the Handschar was involved from february to september 1944 in several anti-partisan operations in which, it gained many successes but also some serious setbacks... In overall, that unit, thanks to its superior german leadership and its heavy armament, was a deadly opponent to the partisans. Lepre doesn't hide the atrocities the unit was accused to commit against christian-serb civilians and partisan members during some operations... Needless to say, such ugly things probably happened (for further details concerning war crimes commited by some of its members, see 'the Waffen SS' by George H. Stein), and were made by all sides, as usual in a civilian and ethnical conflict. It has to be told that counter-insurgency operations are often characterized by such excesses