7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen | |
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7. SS-Freiwilligen Gebirgs-Division "Prinz Eugen" | |
Active | 1942–45 |
Country | Nazi Germany |
Branch | Waffen-SS |
Type | Gebirgsjäger |
Role | Counter-insurgency Mountain warfare |
Size | Division |
Nickname(s) | Prinz Eugen |
Motto(s) | Vorwärts, Prinz Eugen! (Forward, Prinz Eugen!) |
Engagements | |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders |
The 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen" (7. SS-Freiwilligen Gebirgs-Division "Prinz Eugen"),[1] initially named the SS-Volunteer Division Prinz Eugen (SS-Freiwilligen-Division "Prinz Eugen"), was a mountain infantry division of the Waffen-SS, an armed branch of the German Nazi Party that served alongside but was never formally part of the Wehrmacht during World War II. At the post-war Nuremberg trials, the Waffen-SS was declared to be a criminal organisation due to its major involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity. From 1942 to 1945, the division fought a counter-insurgency campaign against communist-led Yugoslav Partisan resistance forces in occupied Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1941 from both Reich Germans and Volksdeutsche – ethnic German volunteers and conscripts from the Banat, Independent State of Croatia, Hungary and Romania. The division surrendered on 11 May 1945 to Yugoslav Partisan forces, with thousands of stragglers surrendering by the 15th near the Austrian border.