30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Belarussian)

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30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Belarussian) was a German Waffen SS Grenadier division recruited from Belarussian volunteers. It saw action on the Eastern Front during World War II.

January 1945: Forming of the Waffen-Grenadier-Brigade der SS (weißruth. Nr. 1) with some 2000 men in Grafenwöhr.

1 Rgt (3 Btls) [Waffen-Grenadier-Regiment 75 (weißruth. Nr. 1)]

Arty Btl

Armored Btl (1 Armored Recce Coy & 1 Anti-Tank Coy)

Recce Btl (1 Füsilier Coy & 1 Mounted Recce Esc)

Field-Replacement Btl

Engineer Coy

Radio/Signal Coy

9 March 1945: Renaming of the Waffen-Grenadier-Brigade der SS (weißruth. Nr. 1) into 30. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (weißruth. Nr. 1) without any changings of the strength or OOB.

April 1945: Dissolution of the 30. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (weißruth. Nr. 1)

[edit] Short history

The SS assigned a special train to carry 800 collaborators and their families to the Germany on June 28, 1944. Radasłaŭ Astroŭski left two days later since he was organizing the evacuation. Most of the recruits conscripted to Biełaruskaja Krajovaja Abarona stayed in Belarus and were later scrutinized by Stalin's NKVD. But the 20,000 members of Francishak Kushal's polizei earned special notoriety and knew that there would be no amnesty for them. They marched a thousand miles to their new home. These units were absorbed into the 30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Russian). This infantry division was formed from the remnants of the 29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Russian), which included Belarusian and Ukrainian units. It was not unusual since there were French, Dutch, Romanian, Hungarian, Croat and even Muslim Waffen SS units. The 30th Division was considered experienced in fighting partisans, so it was immediately transferred to Alsace-Lorraine to fight members of the French Resistance. Astroŭski persuaded Himmler to place the Belarusian forces of 30 Division under Belarusian command. Astroǔski had set up an officers' school and issued uniforms with the "Waffen Sturm-brigade Belarus" designation. The symbol chosen was an ancient double cross of St. Euphrosyne of Polatsk with two bars equal in length and parallel to each other. Soon the fresh Belarusian cadets were thrown into battle against the advancing U.S. Third Army of George S. Patton. Orders were issued for Belarusian forces to be absorbed by Andrey Vlasov's Russian Liberation Army. But Astroŭski sabotaged it. He also prevented being joined with the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia, since he did not want to align himself with Russians.