Held, W. Bei der 6. SS-Gebirgs-Division "Nord"

The deployment of the 6th SS Mountain Division was different from that of many German units fighting, for example, in the Central Section or in the Balkans. The geographical location in the farthest north of Europe brought with it a special use on the edge of the land of a thousand lakes with its climatic peculiarities (midnight sun and polar lights) and primeval forest-like areas. For about four years it was a secondary theatre of war, which, apart from a few fierce battles, was mainly characterised by almost daily patrols and a static war of position.

Born in Markgröningen, Swabia, in 1924, Willi Held volunteered for the Waffen-SS in 1940 after his already eventful stint in the patrol service of the Hitler Youth at the age of 16. He was drafted into the SS in May 1941 after receiving his journeyman's certificate as a painter and his mother's declaration of consent. Held was trained as a machine gunner in a heavy company with the SS Replacement Battalion "East" in Breslau. Assigned to the 6th Company of SS Infantry Regiment 6 of the 6th SS Mountain Division as a machine gunner at the beginning of September 1941, Willi Held, only 17 years old, arrived at the Karelian front, where Finnish and German units were engaged in combat against the Soviets. After being wounded during a scouting mission in October 1941, Held was transferred to the regimental staff's Krad reconnaissance platoon. In contrast to the years 1941 and 1942, with their cruel and heavy losses, 1943 was relatively quiet in Karelia. In 1944, fierce retreat battles took place, which were given an additional bitter note by the special armistice of the former Finnish brothers-in-arms, which they concluded with the Soviets and which was perceived as a betrayal. The German troops retreated via Norway and Denmark into Reich territory, where Willi Held survived the final battle against the Americans on the Western Front and became a prisoner of war at the end of March 1945. Held suffered through American, French and Belgian camps as a prisoner until 1948. The author was not only a mountain soldier of the first hour, but also after the war, together with the former commander of the SS Mountain Infantry Regiment 12 "Michael Gaißmair", Franz Schreiber, very active as its chauffeur in the search for missing and fallen soldiers.