The 5th SS "Wiking" Mechanized Infantry (later Armored) Division formed in December, 1940 as a multinational division under the command of the "Germania" Regiment commander, Felix Steiner. It consisted of the 9th "Germania" Regiment, and the 10th and 11th SS "Westland" and "Nordland" Regiments, which contained the bulk of the Flemish, Dutch, Danish and Norwegian volunteers recruited before the Russo-German War. It also added later a tank regiment to the usual artillery regiment and battalions of reconnaissance, antitank, antiaircraft, engineer and signal troops. Considered one of the elite SS divisions, the "Wiking" took no key role in the opening year of the Russian Campaign, but by 1942 was performing on a par with its elite sister divisions. Damaged at Kursk in 1943, it reformed as an armored division and was almost trapped at Cherkassy (Korsun) in 1944. It played key roles in fighting around Budapest and Vienna before surrendering to US forces at the end of the war.
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