- "Herr Himmler shares my interest in the old ways. And the Schutzstaffel is more than happy to oblige."
- ―Johann Schmidt[src]
The Schutzstaffel, abbreviated SS, was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.
History
1930s
- "Lay down your arms! In the name of the Reich! The S.A. is no more! This facility in now property of the S.S.!"
- ―An SS soldier to the SA troopers[src]
When Adolf Hitler formed the Nazi Party, he also made the paramilitary organization known as the Sturmabteilung, also known as the SA. The main job of the SA was to protect the rallies of the Nazi Party. However, Hitler also needed a permanent guard unit to protect him. Thus, the Schutzstaffel was born, composed of the most loyal members of the SA. The Schutzstaffel was also known as the SS. The commanding officer of the SS was Heinrich Himmler, one of Hitler's most loyal men.
When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, the SS grew in numbers. The next year, at the Duetsches Opernhaus in Berlin, Himmler met the German physicist Johann Schmidt. Himmler was interested in Schmidt's theory that Norse gods and their magic could be more than a myth, and took him under his wing, allowing him to join the SS.
Johann Schmidt and his men attack the SA weapons facility.
The same year, to gain support from the German Army for his regime, Hitler ordered the assassinations of almost all higher officers of the SA. The SS troops were used in that task, with Schmidt personally participating in the killings. He personally killed Ernst Kaufmann, head of the SA's special weapons research. That purge later became known as the Night of the Long Knives. Himmler used the situation to transform the SS from the SA branch to one of the largest and most powerful organizations in the Third Reich.
In July 1934, Schmidt led the SS troops to attack the SA weapons testing ground at Kummersdorf. Almost the entire personell of the base was eliminated, except for the scientist Arnim Zola, who agreed to work for Schmidt. The SA's facility at Kummersdorf became property of the SS. Soon, Schmidt formed his own SS research division and named it HYDRA.
1940s
The two SS officers at HYDRA Headquarters.
- "Your HYDRA division has failed to deliver so much as a rifle in over a year. And we had learned through local intelligence you had mounted a full-scale incursion into Norway."
- ―Roeder to Johann Schmidt[src]
When Hitler started World War II, the SS participated in the Nazi conquest of Europe. However, by the end of 1942, the tide of war turned against the Nazis. When the SS intelligence learned that Schmidt led an attack on Tønsberg, Norway, Hitler sent three SS officers to Schmidt's base to question him about HYDRA's inability to deliver promised weapons to the German Army.[1]
During the tour over the base, Schmidt's visitors were intrigued by the unusual uniforms and equipment used by the soldiers of HYDRA, by they were still sceptical about Schmidt's claims that his weapons could destroy his enemies in a few hours, no mattter how many forces they posess. Schmidt showed them his Tesseract powered laser cannon, but when he said that he harnessed the power of the gods, they thought that he's mad. But when they saw Berlin marked as target on Schmidt's map, Schmidt vaporized them all.[1]
Paraphernalia
Weapons
Before and during World War II, soldiers of the SS were armed with standard weapons of the German armed forces of the time. Most of them were armed with the MP 40 submachine guns. Officers of the SS used the Luger P08 pistols.[1]
Uniforms
The SS mostly used black and grey uniforms of the same desing as those of the regular German Army. However, to distinct themselwes from other military forces of the Third Reich, they used the unique ranks and insignia. The collars of the SS uniforms were decorated with the SS rune patches. Their caps had the Totenkopf (death's head) badge under the German Reichsadler badge.[1]
