SS Charlemagne: The 33rd Waffen-Grenadier Division of the SS

The Inspectorate headquarters, completely German, supervised the Brigade’s headquarters, which was entirely French, until it became the Divisional headquarters at the front in February 1945.

At first the Brigade at Wildflecken was commanded as follows:

Brigade: W-Oberführer (Brigadier) Puaud (LVF)

57th Regt: Major Gamory-Dubourdeau (SS)

58th Regt: Major Bridoux (LVF)

Heavy Bn: Captain de Vaugelas (Milice)

Soon after their arrival at Wildflecken, as a result of their French Army qualifications the senior Milice Française officers obtained the main command posts within the Brigade. There was considerable upheaval among the officers at this stage, and during February 1945. A total of fifteen officers, including Lieutenant Coutray, a friend of Darnard, were returned to France for various reasons.

To everyone’s surprise Major Bridoux suddenly resigned and left the Brigade at the beginning of December 1944 following a visit by his father, General Bridoux, the Vichy Minister of War. Before leaving, he tried to encourage other officers to follow his example. His departure suited Brigadier Puaud, who saw him as a potential rival for command of the Charlemagne, and tried to camouflage Major Bridoux’s departure as leave. Indeed, some of the Waffen-SS liaison staff would have liked to have seen Bridoux in command. His upright character had not only made him many friends, but he was held in high esteem by the Germans, to whom he would recite extracts from Hindenburg’s memoirs.

Then Major Paul-Marie Gamory-Dubourdeau, a former lieutenant-colonel in the French Army, was posted to the SS Main Office to head the French Department under SS-General Berger, and the two vacant regimental commands were taken over by Captains Victor de Bourmont and Emile Raybaud.

De Bourmont, a captain serving with the Tirailleurs Algériens, a prisoner of war released after volunteering for service in Syria, but too late for action, had then commanded the Milice in Lyon. Straightforward, reasonable and well-loved by his men, he was given command of the 57th Regiment of former SS men but, in contrast to de Vaugelas, Raybaud and Boudet-Gheusi, was not promoted Major until going to the front.

Raybaud, born in 1910, formerly an officer with the Chasseurs Alpins, who had served with the Milice at Limousin, a particularly devoted and courageous officer, was given command of the 58th Regiment of former LVF personnel.

Captain Jean de Vaugelas, born in 1915, a French Air Force captain in 1940, commander of the 2nd Cohort of the Milice at Glières in the Limousin, became Brigade chief-of-staff.

Captain Monneuse, former chief of the 5th Cohort of the Milice at Dijon, a 50-year-old of little military appearance, but patriotic, honest and courageous and with a good military grounding, was given command of the 1st Battalion of the 58th.

Then the Milice officers Captain de Bourmont and Bassompierre (an earlier transfer from the LVF to the Milice) were sent on a battalion commanders’ course. In all the Miliciens received a good number of command posts, in particular that of Captain de Vaugelas as chief-of-staff to the Brigade.

During the harsh winter of 1944–1945, while the grenadiers trained under the difficult conditions imposed by the cold, snow, sparse rations and lack of clothing and equipment, the future specialists were trained at the Waffen-SS special military schools.

The Charlemagne sent two batches of candidates to the officer-cadet school at Neweklau. Some thirty potential officers, mainly LVF, went from Saalesch, while others went direct from their officers’ prisoner-of-war camp. The course lasted three terms, and concentrated on the training of leaders and directing small units on exercise as Panzergrenadiers, using captured Russian T-34 tanks to work with. It also focused on the training of platoon and even company commanders and dealing with tactical problems.

Then in December 1944, a group mainly consisting of former Miliciens plus some former LVF that had already attended the first part of the course either at Deba or at Greifenberg attended just the second part of the Neweklau course. Several old firebrands from the LVF like Walter, Vincenot and Bellanger joined this course voluntarily, not wanting to go back to basic training after two or three years combat experience in Russia. Several of these individuals were to lead companies in Pomerania.