Fates of All Waffen SS Divisions

I found a great picture showing the fate of all Waffen SS Divisions.
The picture is huge so I will post a link rather than uploading it.

http://orig02.deviantart.net/17a0/f/2015/134/1/2/fates_of_all_waffen_ss_divisions__1945_by_tounushifan-d8ta5sg.png

 

Well done. A bit short concerning the list of atrocities though. You'd almost think they were nice guys with one or two fallen angel here and there. If you use it as a guide to find out more about each unit , then it could be a good start, but it could misguided a rookie.

 

At least there's a note for the 36th Grenadier Division. "The most disgusting and criminal division of the Waffen SS." No wonder since it was composed of criminals who were expected to die on the front-line.

 

Since German had many more divisions in the East than West how is it that more Waffen SS divisions surrendered in the West.

One: I could me wrong in my assumption above.

Two: By war's end the shift of divisions was greater than I realized. ( Perhaps eager to surrender to the Western Allies)

Three : The percentage of Waffen Divisions was greater in the West relative the entire German Artmy.

Can someone better informed than I straighten me out on this . Perphaps there are more reasons .



Oh, YugoslavPartisan, Many thanks for this outstanding chart.

Gaines

 

My guess is that they surrendered to Americans because they expected a milder punishment.

 

Interesting chart. I see the 38th Waffen SS Grenadier is missing but it's existence has been disputed since it never really had a commander and it never really achieved full operational size/strength. Fought in Czechoslovakia and made it's way to Austria to surrender to Americans. It was suppose to fight against the Soviets but local "commanders" decided to head towards the American lines.

 

Thanks for the fill in PzJgr.

 

From reading a few books on SS formations two factors played in the fact more Waffen-SS surrendered in the west. The first is of course they had very much to fear in surrendering to Soviet forces, the second i believe is that they almost always had a priority in supply and re-equipment. This plus a reputation for utter ruthlessness probably allowed them to get fuel and motor transport that conventional units lacked.

OK, maybe three things.

 

At least I got one right.

 

Not on subject.

Belasar