Title: Prinz Eugen: The History of the 7 SS-Mountain Division “Prinz Eugen”
Author: Otto Kumm
Year: 1995
Media Type: Book
Lending Status: Borrow
How Acquired: ZVA purchase for SGS
Review/Description: Prinz Eugen: The History of the 7 SS-Mountain Division “Prinz Eugen” by Otto Kumm. In early 1942 the German war machine ordered the creation of a division from among the Germans of Yugoslavia. Although originally planned and designated as a volunteer division, the number of volunteers was insufficient and the ranks had to be filled by arm twisting. The division was recruited from Banat and Siebenburgen, trained through 1942 and entered combat in January 1943. For the next two and a half years it marched through forests, up and down mountains, and across rivers and streams through Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Dalmatia, Montenegro, and Serbia south of the Danube in pursuit of Tito’s Partisans. Although most of our ancestors came to North America almost fifty years before these events, many of our distant relatives and many more recent immigrants were quite close to these events. (Zichydorfer Karl Kaiser was one of the regimental commanders.) This book is an excellent opportunity to better understand the times these people faced. It also contains a beginning chapter on the tradition of the Hungarian Military Border settlement area and an ending chapter about Prinz Eugen himself. It is a difficult read, full of unit designations and foreign-language place names. The maps are all at the back, necessitating frequent page flipping to follow the narrative and many of the smaller place names are not on the maps. If you are a serious reader, it would be a good idea to have another detailed map at hand.