23rd Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Kama (2nd Croatian)

About 23rd Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Kama (2nd Croatian) in brief

The 23rd Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Kama was a German mountain infantry division. It was formed on 19 June 1944 but never saw action as a formation. The division was composed of German officers and Bosnian Muslim soldiers. It fought briefly against Soviet forces in southern Hungary in early October 1944 alongside the 31st SS Volunteer Grenadier Division. They were soon disengaged from the front line in Hungary and had begun a move to the German puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia, to join the 13th SS Division. The Bosnian Muslims of the Kama division mutinied on 17 October 1944. The mutiny resulted in the division being formally dissolved on 31 October 1944, and the division was never formally part of the Wehrmacht. The Kama Division was one of the thirty-eight divisions fielded by the WAffen-SS during World War II. Its name was taken from a small dagger used by Balkan shepherds. It served as the armed wing of the German Nazi Party that served alongside but was never officially part of the Wehrmachtswehr during the Second World War. It did not reach its full strength and was disbanded in October 1944 after a mutiny by Bosnian Muslim soldiers in the Kamas.

It is the only division to have been formed from a non-Germanic ethnic group during the war. Its disbandment was followed by the creation of the 23rd SS Division, with its formation to be complete by the end of 1944. It would be raised primarily from the Muslim population of the NDH, as part of Himmler’s plan to recruit a second SS division from the Muslims of Bosnia. The NDH was to form two corps with one corps to operate in the Bosnian region of the region of Croatia and the other in Albania. These corps would be combined with the 7th SS Volunteer Volunteer Division Prinzen and together would form a Balkan SS mountain army. Hitler gave his formal approval of this plan on 28 May 1944, with the division to be formed on 10 June 1944. In early 1943, Hitler authorised the raising of the first SS Division to be recruited from anon- Germanic people, the 13 fourth SS Handschar. The 13th Division was to be raised with the aim of forming a two corps of two divisions in the Balkans, with two corps each operating in Croatia and Albania. The 23rd Division was the first to be created and trained to be completed by theend of 1944, followed by a second division in July.