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30 January 1945, Niederaußem-Rheydt area, the 28. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division "Wallonien" recived order to transport by rail to Stettin (Szczecin in Poland at present) and marched to Stargard (Stargard in Poland at present) (1). The deployment of SS Wallonien was a response to the situation of East Front when the Soviet 1st White Russian Front advanced south of Posen (Poznań in Poland at present) and aimed at Frankfurt/Oder since 12 January 1945. The back bone of the division came from the 5. SS-Freiwilligen-Sturmbrigade "Wallonien" which had spend years on Eeast Front and was ordered to upgrade to division (although only in name not in combat strength) on 18 October 1944 in southern Hannover (2). According to several sources the divisional commander was SS-Oberführer Nikolaus Heilmann (aged 42) and he was either killed or missing in action in late January 1945 (1, 3). SS-Obersturmbannführer Léon Degrelle (aged 39) took command of the division (1, 4). The division was reorganized as type "Division 45" according to the order issued on 18 January 1945 (2, 5). The division should have a divisional HQ, three grenadier regiments each with two grenadier battalions, one artillery regiment with four battalions, one Füsilier-Bataillon just like the grenaider battalion but transport on bicycle, one anti-tank battalion, one pioneer battalion and other supportive troops. But in fact the division had only two regiments: SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Regiment 69 under the command of SS-Sturmbannführer Jules Mathieu (aged 34), SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Regiment 70 under the command of SS-Sturmbannführer Georges Tschekoff (6, 7). The SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Regiment 71 never received field post number and should never been built (2). The SS-Artillerie-Regiment 28 under SS-Hauptsturmführer Jean Malherbe (aged 59) probably had only two battalions (II. and III.) because only these two battalions received field post number. Both the II. and III. battalion had only two batteries with light field howitzer (2). Later the regiment was down grade to SS-Artillerie-Abteilung 28 under SS-Hauptsturmführer Jean Malherbe (aged 59) with four batteries.
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5 February 1945, Stettin Station (Szczecin in Poland at present), the 28. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division "Wallonien" detrained and prepare to march toward Stargard (Stargard in Poland at present) along the northern border of Lake Madue (Lake Miedwie in Poland at present) in the snow. The division was subordinated to XXXIX Panzerkorps under the command of General Karl Decker (aged 47) (2). Their order was to protect Stargard at all cost until German reinforcement arrived. They arrived at Stargard on 6 February 1945 and immediately despatched troops to the south of Stargard to confront Russian advance (8). The I. battalion/SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Regiment 69 deployed to Kremzow (Krępcewo in Poland at present) and Repplin (Rzeplino in Poland at present). The first clash between the 28. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division "Wallonien" and Russian was about to happened.
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It happened here: I. battalion/SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Regiment 69 from Stargard to Repplin
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Reference:
3. Nikolaus Heilmann/Wikipedia. According to this source he was killed by Russians while went on search for V. SS Gebirgskorps (V. SS Mountain Corps) on 29 January 1945. The question is: V. SS Gebirgskorps was stationed in Mostar/Bosnia and transferred to Frankfurt/Oder in Febuary 1945. It was very unlikely he was killed in Bosnia because the SS Wallonien transferred to Stettin. The most likely situation could be he went on to search for III. (germanisches) SS-Panzerkorps which was on the way to Pomerania by sea.
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