Units and Commands of the Schutzstaffel

Units and commands of the Schutzstaffel were organizational titles used by the SS to describe the many groups, forces, and formations that existed within the SS from its inception in 1923 to the eventual fall of Nazi Germany in 1945.

The SS unit nomenclature can be divided into several different types of organizations, mainly the early titles used by the SS, SS unit titles of the Allgemeine SS, the military formation titles used by the Waffen-SS, titles of commands associated with the SS Security Police, and special units titles used by such SS organizations as the mobile death squad units of the Einsatzgruppen.

From 1920 through 1925, several early paramilitary terms were used to describe the various groups which would eventually become the SS. Among the most were:

In September 1925, the then fledgling SS established its first organizational structure, using the following titles:

In January 1929, after Heinrich Himmler took over leadership of the SS, old organizational titles were done away with and the following terms came into being:

In 1931, as SS membership began to surpass 100,000, Himmler again reorganized the SS and created these new command titles:

The core of the "General-SS" were the mustering formations spread throughout Germany, divided into several division sized formations and extending downwards into brigade, regiment, battalion, company, and squad like formations. Most of these formations were "part time" and mustered weekly or monthly without pay. The Allgemeine SS used unique names for these formations which were different from standard military terms in use by the German military.

Initially, General-SS formations were operated strictly in Germany and Austria but were later formed in occupied countries during World War II. Most often, Allgemeine SS units in occupied territories were "paper commands", formed under the authority of an SS and Police Leader (who would serve as a dual commander) in order to give senior SS officers in occupation commands a command billet within the General-SS.

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