30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS

30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS
30. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (German) 30-я вафэн-грэнадзёрская дывізія СС (Belarusian) 30-я добровольческая пехотная дивизия СС (Russian)
Divisional insignia
Active	1 August 1944 – 15 April 1945
Country	Nazi Germany
Branch	Waffen-SS
Type	Infantry
Size	10,000 (1944) 4,400 (1945)
Part of	LXIII Army Corps, 19th Army SS Führungshauptamt Reserve
Nickname(s)	1st Belarusian Division 2nd Russian Division
Engagements	World War II Siegfried Line campaign
Commanders
Notable commanders	Hans Siegling

The 30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Belarusian),^[a] originally called the 30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Russian),^[b] was a short-lived German Waffen-SS infantry division formed largely from Belarusian, Russian, Polish, and Ukrainian personnel of the Schutzmannschaft-Brigade Siegling in August 1944 at Warsaw in the General Government.

In the summer of 1944, the SS decided to form Russian divisions. The 30th Waffen Grenadier Division had two iterations. The first was as the 2nd Russian division, which was formed in August 1944. In January 1945, the Russian personnel of the division were transferred to Andrey Vlasov's Russian Liberation Army, and became part of the 600th Infantry Division (the 1st Division of the Russian Liberation Army). The remaining members of the unit were reorganized as the Waffen Grenadier Brigade of the SS (1st Belarusian) (German: Waffen-Grenadier-Brigade der SS (weißruthenische Nr. 1)). In March 1945, the brigade was once again renamed the 30th Waffen Grenadier Division, this time designated as the 1st Belarusian division.

Many former members of auxiliary police units and the Belarusian Home Guard that were created by the Germans in occupied Belarus fled westward as the Soviets advanced in mid-1944. These, along with some Ukrainian, Russian, and Cossack units, were combined into a brigade commanded by Hans Siegling in Poland, which was reorganized as the 30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS before going to France. Division personnel included new recruits as well as older veterans of the Russian Imperial Army, the interwar Polish Army, or the Red Army. The division was commanded primarily by German officers, with non-German officers serving as assistants.

Throughout the entire history of the division there were tensions and distrust between the German and non-German personnel, and desertions began early on as the unit was being formed in early to mid-August 1944. Even though the division's members took an oath to fight against Bolshevism, the unit was transferred from Poland to the Western Front in late August, which undermined morale further. Shortly after their arrival, two battalions of the division murdered their German officers and defected to the French resistance, and more desertions followed. Despite this, the 30th division fought in combat against partisans and later against French and American forces during the Allied advance to the German border, being noted for destroying several tanks. In January 1945, it was withdrawn to Germany and did not see any more combat, before surrendering at the end of the war to the U.S. Third Army.
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