The Winter Battle West of Moscow, 1941–1942

Abstract

In late 1941, the frame of reference changed a final time, this time to a military character, which the SS Cavalry Brigade was to retain until the summer of 1942. During the nine months spent in the Toropets-Rzhev area, the unit experienced both fighting against partisans and deployment at the front. This time was also a transition between both extremes of its ‘dual role’: whereas the unit had been a killing squad in Belorussia for the most part, it was to become a military unit from the last month of the year onwards. The SS Cavalry Brigade was also expanded in size whilst being based at Toropets. What Heinrich Himmler and Hermann Fegelein had in mind was to build up a strong combat unit they termed a ‘reinforced cavalry brigade’, but it was never intended that it should be used for combat missions before this process was completed. The SS cavalry nevertheless got drawn into the fighting as the Reichsführer’s grip loosened: the influence of the army on this unit became stronger when the situation at the front turned against the Germans. The order for the first real combat mission caught the men off guard: despite the fact that many of them had originally volunteered for the Waffen-SS to fight, they were in no state to confront the Red Army. First behind the lines, then at the focal point of battle, SS soldiers had to be deployed, as no other troops were available in many cases.