World War II Today

World War II Today

Army Group South marches on

9th October 1941: Blitzkrieg tactics continue to bring success as the Waffen-SS make a high risk attack on the city of Mariupol

Oct 09, 2026
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The Waffen-SS in Mariupol, Ukraine, 1941

While conditions in the south of the Soviet Union allowed it, German Army Group South continued to push forward rapidly, surprising and alarming ill-prepared Russian defence lines.

Kurt Meyer1 led a Reconnaissance Battalion of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. He describes how the large industrial city of Mariupol was taken on the 9th October.

Waffen-SS gun crew with a PAK 36 on the Eastern Front.

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