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The 23rd ''Waffen'' Mountain Division of the SS ''Kama'' (2nd Croatian) was a German mountain infantry division of the ''Waffen-SS'', the armed wing of the German Nazi Party that served alongside but was never formally part of the Wehrmacht during World War II. It was composed of German officers and Bosnian Muslim soldiers. Named ''Kama'' after a small dagger used by Balkan shepherds, it was one of the thirty-eight divisions fielded by the ''Waffen''-SS during World War II. Formed on 19 June 1944, it was built around a cadre from the 13th ''Waffen'' Mountain Division of the SS ''Handschar'' (1st Croatian) but did not reach its full strength and never saw action as a formation. Elements of the division fought briefly against Soviet forces in southern Hungary in early October 1944 alongside the 31st SS Volunteer Grenadier Division. They were soon disengaged from the front line in Hungary and had begun a move to the German puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia, to join the 13th SS Division when the Bosnian Muslim soldiers of the ''Kama'' division mutinied on 17 October 1944. The cadre quickly regained control, but the mutiny resulted in the division being formally dissolved on 31 October 1944. ==Background== After the invasion of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers on 6 April 1941, the extreme Croat nationalist and fascist Ante Pavelić, who had been in exile in Benito Mussolini's Italy, was appointed ''Poglavnik'' (leader) of an Ustaše-led Croatian state – the Independent State of Croatia (often called the NDH, from the (クロアチア語:Nezavisna Država Hrvatska)). The NDH combined almost all of modern-day Croatia, all of modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina and parts of modern-day Serbia into an "Italian-German quasi-protectorate". NDH authorities, led by the Ustaše Militia, immediately launched a campaign of mass killings, expulsions and forced religious conversions to Catholicism targeting the Serbian Orthodox population living within the borders of the new state. Despite Pavelić's assurances of equality with the predominantly Catholic Croats, many Muslims quickly became dissatisfied with Ustaše rule. An Islamic leader reported that not one Muslim occupied an influential post in the administration. By early 1942, fierce fighting had broken out between the Ustaše, Chetniks and Partisans in NDH territory. Some Ustaše militia units became convinced that the Muslims were communist sympathizers, and burned their villages and murdered many civilians. The Chetniks accused the Muslims of taking part in the Ustaše violence against Serbs and perpetrated similar atrocities against the Muslim population. The Muslims received little protection from the Croatian Home Guard, the regular army of the NDH, whom the Germans described as "of minimal combat value". Local militias were raised, but these were also of limited value and only one, the Tuzla-based Home Guard "Hadžiefendić Legion" led by Muhamed Hadžiefendić, was of any significance. The Bosnian Muslims sought protection and independence from the NDH, and saw German support as a means to achieve those aims. Prominent Bosnian Muslims were friendly towards Germany, and Bosnians were generally nostalgic over the former period of Habsburg (Austro-Hungarian) rule. This push was strongly opposed by Pavelić as counter to the territorial integrity of the NDH. By November 1942, these Muslim autonomists were desperate to protect their people and wrote to Adolf Hitler asking that he annex Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Reich. While this idea did not receive Hitler's approval, possibly because he did not want to create problems for Pavelić, ''Reichsführer-SS'' Heinrich Himmler saw this as an opportunity to create a ''Waffen-SS'' recruiting zone in the NDH to attract Bosnian Muslims. In early 1943, Hitler authorised the raising of the first SS division to be recruited from a non-Germanic people, the 13th ''Waffen'' Mountain Division of the SS ''Handschar'' (1st Croatian). The division was to be raised primarily from the Muslim population of the NDH. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「23rd Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Kama (2nd Croatian)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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