SS Panzergrenadier Brigade 51
Active1944
Disbanded8 September 1944
Country Nazi Germany
Branch Waffen-SS
TypeMotorized Infantry
SizeBrigade
EngagementsBattle of France

SS Panzergrenadier Brigade 51 was a short-lived Waffen-SS unit formed in June 1944 from SS Kampfgruppen (Combat Group) 3. Although designated as panzergrenadier (mechanized infantry) the unit was only equipped with wheeled vehicles. The SS Main Office ordered it redesignated as the 27th SS Panzer Division on 10 August, but this was strictly notional. It played a minor role in the Battle of France before it was merged into the 38th SS Panzergrenadier-Regiment of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen on 8 August.[1]

These units were specially formed as quick reaction forces that could be speedily deployed to any area in the West to repel Allied invasion attempts.

War crimes

Soldiers from the Brigade 51 was responsible for the massacre in Buchères, France, 24 August 1944 when 68 civilians (68 people, of whom 10 children under ten year old, 5 elderly above seventy years, 35 women and three infants of 18, 11 and 6 months)[2] were killed in a reprisal following an ambush by partisans against the unit.[3]

It was also involved in several other atrocities against civilians in the Troyes area. [4]

Notes

  1. ↑ Tessin, p. 173
  2. ↑ (in French) Bruge, Roger (1994) 1944 Le temps des Massacres, les crimes de la Gestapo et de la 51e Brigade SS, Albin Michel, ISBN 2-226-06966-6
  3. ↑ Notice on Maitron-fusilles-40-44.univ-paris1.fr
  4. ↑ James Pontolillo, Murderous Elite: The Waffen-SS and its complete record of war crimes, page 140-141

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