6th SS Mountain Division Nord

6th SS Mountain Division Nord
Divisional insignia (Hagall rune)
Active	September 1941 – May 1945
Country	Nazi Germany
Branch	Waffen-SS
Type	Gebirgsjäger
Role	Mountain warfare
Size	Division
Commanders
Notable commanders	Matthias Kleinheisterkamp Lothar Debes

The 6th SS Mountain Division Nord was a German unit of the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II, formed in February 1941 as SS Kampfgruppe Nord (SS Battle Group North).

The division was the only Waffen-SS unit to fight in the Arctic Circle when it was stationed in Finland and northern Russia between June and November 1941. It fought in Karelia until the Moscow Armistice in September 1944, at which point it left Finland. It fought in the Operation Nordwind in January 1945, where it suffered heavy losses. In early April 1945, the division was destroyed by the U.S. forces near Budingen, Germany.

The division was formed from the units of the SS-Totenkopfverbände (concentration camp guards) to guard the border with the Soviet Union following the 1940 German occupation of Norway. In the spring of 1941, the newly formed division was moved into positions at Salla in northern Finland with General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst in command.

During the invasion of the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa, the unit took part in Operation Arctic Fox. The Brigade got a new unit attached, SS Gebirgsjäger (Mountain) Artillery Regiment 6, and was now designated as a Division, the SS Division Nord. In September 1941 the division was attached to the Finnish III Corps under General Hjalmar Siilasvuo, and took up new positions at Louhi, Kiestinki. By the end of 1941, it had suffered heavy casualties. Over the winter of 1941–42 it received replacements from the general pool of Waffen-SS recruits.