{"id":2818,"date":"2026-05-20T13:05:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T11:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fkdanmark.simsoft.dk\/litteratur_og_kilder\/letter-from-ss-obergruppenfuehrer-walter-krueger-to-heinrich-himmler\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T13:05:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T11:05:45","slug":"letter-from-ss-obergruppenfuehrer-walter-krueger-to-heinrich-himmler","status":"publish","type":"litteratur_og_kilder","link":"https:\/\/fkdanmark.simsoft.dk\/en\/litteratur_og_kilder\/letter-from-ss-obergruppenfuehrer-walter-krueger-to-heinrich-himmler\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter from SS-Obergruppenf\u00fchrer Walter Kr\u00fcger to Heinrich Himmler"},"content":{"rendered":"<pre>To the Reichsf\u00fchrer. <b>SECRET.<\/b>\t\nBerlin, Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse 9\n\nRegarding this matter, I enclose a letter from the commander of the Free Corps\nDenmark. Letter from SS-Obergruppenf\u00fchrer Walter Kr\u00fcger to Heinrich Himmler \nReport by Lieutenant Colonel (SS-Obersturmbannf\u00fchrer) Kryssing of 11.2.42, in which he complains that  \nKriegsschule (officers\u2019 school) for his further training \nthe officers\u2019 school in T\u00f6lz. (Kryssing and J\u00f8rgensen have jointly exercised the leadership of  \nthe Free Corps). The consequences of this leadership have, in the opinion of Sturmbannf\u00fchrer Massell, \nhas resulted in the unit, in its current condition, not being ready for combat deployment against the enemy.\nThe Free Corps has existed since July 1941 and ought to be ready for operational deployment.\n<i>[Massell was assigned by the Waffen-SS as coordinator between German and Danish training for the Free Corps. Trans. note.]  <\/i>\n\nThe reasons why this has not been achieved may lie in:\n 1. The lack of military training, as a result of which discipline within the unit is\nsuch that it is unable to withstand combat operations against the enemy.<br\/> <br\/> <br\/>\n 2. The fact that training within the battalion framework does not allow for effective\ncombat effectiveness against the enemy.\n\nThe responsibility for this condition rests solely with the commander, Obersturmbannf\u00fchrer Kryssing, and\nthe Sturmbannf\u00fchrer J\u00f8rgensen assigned to him. It may be noted that the commander, \nto supervise the training of his companies in any way, nor been able\nto provide his officers\u2019 corps with the necessary training and discipline, or to take charge of\nhis battalion. This is evident from the fact that he has not yet found any opportunity to influence \nthat he has not engaged the officers\u2019 corps in discussions aimed at promoting concern for the welfare of his unit, which has resulted in \na surprising breakdown of discipline and order, with thefts having taken place,\nboth inside and outside the premises.\n\nIn this connection, several records are available concerning lost and destroyed\nequipment items.\n\nIt is thereby proven that the Free Corps, under this leadership, in military terms has no\nthat progress will be achieved, even though the commander in his report of 2 February 1942 claims that\n\u201cthat the Free Corps is now capable of standing on its own feet and therefore requests to be given\nthe training staff be dissolved.\u201d\n\nIn accordance with your order, Reichsf\u00fchrer (Himmler, translator\u2019s note), SS-Sturmbannf\u00fchrer\nvon Schalburg is to take over command of the battalion. This is also the wish of a large part of the \nmajority of the Free Corps, both officers and enlisted men.\n\nThe current commander opposes this intention because Schalburg is\na National Socialist, and he fears that a National Socialist upbringing will be introduced into\nthe Free Corps. This position is opposed by SS-Obersturmbannf\u00fchrer Kryssing, with \nin his report of 11.2.1942, where he supports the position that this Free Corps\nshould fight impartially against Bolshevism and therefore does not need to adhere to \nNational Socialism.\n\nThe commander and his SS-Sturmbannf\u00fchrer at the staff are further\na political matter, as the commander proposes Hauptsturmf\u00fchrer Schock, who\nin the unit is known as a Freemason. His military abilities are, according to  \ninformation from Sturmbannf\u00fchrer Massell, limited to technical knowledge as a machine-gun\ncompany commander. He is not capable of tactical leadership of a battalion. \n\nI request clarification as to whether it is to remain under your decision of 8.2.1942,\nthat Sturmbannf\u00fchrer von Schalburg is to take over the battalion, so that I may\nhand over command to him, and that Obersturmbannf\u00fchrer Kryssing is for the time being to be employed\nat the SS leadership headquarters, and subsequently to assign him to the newly formed \nRegiment Thule (Regt. 9).\n\nIn view of the report of 11.2.1942, I propose that Obersturmbannf\u00fchrer Kryssing\nbe immediately marched to Division Wiking, in order there to give him the opportunity to \nto engage in practical troop leadership. Whether this assignment will succeed is a question. \n\n\n14 Feb. 1942 \u2013 Kr\u00fcger. \n<\/pre>\n<pre><em>Translation and commentary by Magnus M\u00f8ller, dispatch rider in the Free Corps for as long as it existed.<\/em><\/pre>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2817,"template":"","personer":[114],"class_list":["post-2818","litteratur_og_kilder","type-litteratur_og_kilder","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","personer-magnus-moeller"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fkdanmark.simsoft.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/litteratur_og_kilder\/2818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fkdanmark.simsoft.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/litteratur_og_kilder"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fkdanmark.simsoft.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/litteratur_og_kilder"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fkdanmark.simsoft.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fkdanmark.simsoft.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"personer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fkdanmark.simsoft.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/personer?post=2818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}