The Grossdeutschland division (which my SIG is named in honor of) was originally formed as Wachregiment Berling, back in the 1920's. It had no polticial affiliation with the Nationalist Socialist German Worker's Party at all, and was simply incorperated into the army as a regular division. Albeit touted as "The pride of the German people", Grossdeutschland was in fact formed of young men who had barely any training. However, it eventually got it's act together and proved itself time and time again, becoming one of the most experienced non-Waffen SS units avalible to the German army. It was eventually whittled down to almost nothing by 1945 after almost continous combat on the Eastern front, and eventually surrendered. While it was true some SS tank commanders served in the GD, none of them committed atrocities until long after they had been transfered out.
Just a fun little history lesson, and while I'm not saying that the GD soldiers were knights in shining armor, they were originally created to defend their nation, and in a sense were mislead and used by for his own schemes.
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Grossdeutschland Division.
