History of the Norwegian SS volunteer Hans Christian Rommerud

In the first photo, dated 1942, the Norwegian SS volunteer Hans Christian Rommerud holds in his hands the skull of a fighter of the Red Army, from which, according to eyewitnesses, he was going to make a candlestick or an ashtray. North Karelia.

Hans Christian Rommerud cooks a skull in a pot to separate human meat from bones

In the next photo, the skull of Rommeroud himself, discovered on June 25, 2006, 62 years after his death. On June 24, 1944, when injured, Rommenrud shot himself in order not to be captured by the soldiers of the 571th regiment of the 205th Infantry Polar Division, who on that day drove the Essmans from the height of Caprolat. Then, after a fierce battle of 300 people in the SS battalion Nord, less than half remained alive.

The photo shows a bullet hole in the right temple and a fired cartridge case and a personal identification mark (soldier token).

Remains of Hans Christian Rommerud

Obituary

Death record

The battalions of the 571st regiment stormed the height of Caprolat in the forehead from the western direction, and it helped our fighters to run the minefield exposed by the mine because the mines were clearly visible. The Germans put them back in the winter, but in the spring they didn’t. With a furious onslaught, the Norwegians were knocked out of the fortifications, some of the Essovites randomly moved towards Zasheyk (they fled so far that they hardly found them and returned to service with the help of the Finns). About 25 people by night made their way to their own on the nearby Hasselman hill.

The assault on this hill, in Soviet documents called "Abrupt", began at 15 hours on June 26. Parts of the Polar Division launched several bloody attacks from different slopes. According to the report of one of the few Norwegians who survived that battle, non-commissioned officer Yader, the battalion commander Major Axel Steele and company commander Lieutenant Olaf Magnuson were out of order in the first minutes of the battle, which, in his opinion, made the position of the defenders hopeless. In addition, Yader, who took command, faced disobedience: a group of Norwegian huntsmen, seated in a warehouse dungeon, refused to take weapons three times, claiming that “this war was over” for them.

According to Yader, the Russians, in the ranks of which “were soldiers of the Mongoloid race,” attacked despite losses: on the steep, forty-five degrees, eastern slope of heights, under the destructive fire of nine machine guns, more than 200 attackers were killed.

The assault on the hill came from different directions with interruptions for three hours and ended in brutal hand-to-hand fighting: in the trenches, pillboxes and dugouts of the enemy they finished off with bayonets, grenades and jets of flamethrowers. According to the same Yader, part of the Norwegians, using military cunning, as if rushed to the breakthrough, shouting in Russian: “Hurray! Long live Stalin! ”, While the Russians allegedly shouted in the attack:“ Niht Shissen! Vir Zind Deutsche Holdaten! ” The cores with three comrades escaped by a miracle, rushing to swim across the lake.

According to researchers and search engines, more than 600 people fell on both sides of the battlefield on an area of ​​about three square kilometers: about 400-450 fighters of the Polar Division, 142 Norwegian volunteers died and went missing (38 people were captured). The Germans suffered significant losses, trying to help the besieged.