#5th SS Wiking

[warruins]

[davidcashuk]

Waffen SS soldiers of the 5th SS Wiking Division, drawn mostly from Scandinavian countries. Fought solely on the Eastern Front against the Red Army. One of the few SS Divisions to have no war crimes accusations against them.

Quite an achievement really...

[captain-price-unofficially]

5th SS Panzer Division Wiking Panther tanks as seen from the periscope of another Panther, summer 1944, Eastern front.

[jefferylorangerstuff-blog]

Germany's Fearless Italian Panzer Ace: 5th SS Wiking Division | Karl Nic...

[mega-valiant]

Herbert Otto Gille (born March 8, 1897 in Gandersheim, † December 27, 1966 in Stemmen) was a German SS Obergruppenfuhrer and General of the Waffen-SS. (5th SS Panzer Division "Wiking")

[hjmarseille]

Finnish-Swedish volunteer Ola Olin.

Photo and caption featured in TWILIGHT OF THE GODS: A Swedish Waffen-SS Volunteer’s Experiences with the 11th SS Panzergrenadier Division Nordland, Eastern Front 1944-45 Edited by Thorolf Hillblad

[airmanisr]

Jagdpanther Command vehicle ’01 black’ – IWM Duxford by Alan Wilson Via Flickr: German WW2 era Tank Destroyer. Official designation:- Sd.Kfz.173 Built 1944 to 1945 with a total production of 415. Main armament:- 88mm Pak 43/3 L/71. The Jagdpanther combined the long-barrelled 88mm gun from the Tiger II with the Panther chassis, giving it a good power-to-weight ratio. This early production example was later converted to a command vehicle with additional radio equipment and an extra star antenna. Some ten or eleven Jagdpanthers survive, of which this is the only command vehicle. It was built by Mühlenbau-Industrie AG (MIAG) in Braunschweig during July 1944 and is believed to have had the chassis No 300054. It was evidently knocked out by four 75mm or 76mm shells, one in the engine compartment and three in the fighting compartment, the holes for which can still be seen towards the rear of the hull. Where and when it was knocked out, however, has been much debated and details are given below. What is known is that it joined the Imperial War Museum collection from the Royal Military College of Science (RMCS) at Shrivenham in 1969. It seen on display in the Land Warfare Hall at Duxford Airfield, Cambridgeshire, UK. 23rd May 2021 The following comments on the history of this Jagdpanther are from the IWM website:- “Service history unverified - vehicle identity unknown with accuracy. The vehicle production number was on the piece of armour plate removed and disposed of by the Army when the vehicle was in the care of RCMS Shrivenham (no records kept). However, the Department of Tank Design report on the vehicle (M.6815A/8 No 1) states it is 300054 - an early 1944 production number. On at least two occasions the vehicle has been claimed as the one destroyed by Lieutenant Hugh Griffiths (later Lord Griffiths) 2nd Armoured Reconnaissance Battalion Welsh Guards, Hechtel, 1944. Indeed the IWM caption currently with the vehicle states this. This is a dubious claim. The identification is based purely on the location of the three shot grouping which knocked out the vehicle. A Mr Spielberger, a veteran of Panzergruppe Lex, part of 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking, makes a more convincing case that the vehicle was from his unit and was abandoned in northern Germany, near Gifhorn in April 1945 after an engine fire (there is evidence of such a fire). Two photographs (possibly taken by US Signal Corps photographers) in a book published by Spielberger called 'Sturmartillerie' definitely show the vehicle after abandonment. However, another correspondent (C S Layton) points out that the number of early production details on the vehicle mitigates against this claim (because Spielberger claims vehicle came to the unit in March 1945 straight off the production line).”

[ww2photoarchive]

5th SS Panzer Division Wiking in the USSR

[warpicshistory]

Machinegunners of the 5th SS Panzer Division ‘Wiking’ with a Hiwi volunteer on the East Front. [Original Color] https://www.instagram.com/p/CEFX5K8JPwU/?igshid=1aa10fvs21ngk

[voxerver]

Panzerkampfwagen V Ausf A from Waffen SS 5th panzer division (Wiking) on Kovel,Ukraine april 1944

[bloodsteel]

A grenadier of the 5th Panzer Division "Wiking" of the Waffen SS, in a trench protected by two Panzer V Panthers, in late summer 1944 in Poland.

[warruins]

[pattern-53-enfield]

Soldiers of the 5th SS Division “Wiking” in the distinctive “Kharkov Parka”, 1943.

[captain-price-unofficially]

Panther of 5th SS Panzer Division "Wiking", Zimmerit coating visibly damaged from a ricochet to the upper glacis plate, Eastern Front, Summer 1944

[scentedkryptoniteballoon]

Members of the Polish resistance with a battlefield trophy- the division cuff band from an SS trooper of the 5th SS Panzer Division “Wiking” Colorized by Mikołaj Kaczmarek

[mega-valiant]

SS-Gruppenführer und Generaleutnant der Waffen-SS and commander of 5. SS Panzer Division Wiking Otto Gille