28th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Wallonien - Transfer To The Waffen SS - Dnieper Battles

Dnieper Battles

In June 1943, after arranging the transfer with Heinrich Himmler, the Battalion was transferred to SS command. Around 1,600 volunteers who had been assembled in Meseritz to form the second Army battalion were also transferred to the SS training area at Wildflecken. Over the next few months, the Army Battalion was transformed into the SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Wallonien, commanded by Oberst (now SS-Sturmbannführer) Lucien Lippert with SS-Hauptsturmführer Leon Degrelle as second-in-command. In October, the Wallonien was redesignated 5th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Wallonien, and was to be equipped as a fully motorized brigade with a complement of 250 vehicles. By November 1943, the Wallonien was deemed fit for combat and was sent to Ukraine to fight alongside the Wiking, now designated 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking.

On December 24, 1943 the Soviets launched the Dnieper-Carpathian Offensive, an operation aimed at clearing the area west of the Dnieper of German forces. Involving four Ukrainian Fronts and one Byelorussian Front, these operations would last until April 24, 1944. The Wallonien and the Wiking, along with eleven other German divisions of 1. Panzer Army and 8. Army were positioned in a salient based on the western bank of the river, and so were naturally the first target for the Soviet operations.

Soviet forces occupied the strategically important forest near Teklino, and threatened to sever communication lines between Smila and Cherkassy. After three failed assaults by Wiking's Germania and Narwa SS-Panzergrenadier Regiments, the Wiking's commander ordered the Wallonien into action. The day before the assault, skeptical Wiking veterans posted signs around the assembly area:

The Wallonia Circus. Free Shows tomorrow from 06:00 to 08:00.

In temperatures below freezing, with 2 feet of snow on the ground, Wallonien attacked across an open field towards the forest, clearing the treeline and advancing into the forest, being halted just short of their objective. Realising that enemy reinforcements were reacting quickly to any attack and stalling the Wallonien's attacks, Lippert ordered a dozen three man machinegun teams to infiltrate the enemy lines and take up positions covering the route the Soviets used to bring up reinforcements. He then ordered the Wallonien to attack again. Over 700 Soviet log-pits and bunkers were destroyed during the attack. Despite this victory, the Soviets soon encircled the forces of XLII and XI Army Corps near Korsun.