The 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland () was a Waffen-SS division recruited from foreign volunteers and conscripts. It saw action, as part of Army Group North, in the Independent State of Croatia and on the Eastern Front during World War II. Formation In February 1943, Hitler ordered the creation of an SS division which would be officered by foreign volunteers. In March 1943, the SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment Nordland, a Scandinavian volunteer regiment, was separated from the SS Division Wiking to be used as the nucleus for the new division. The Nordland's two Panzergrenadier regiments were also given titles that referenced the location where the majority of the regiment's recruits were from, SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 23 Norge (Norway) and SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 24 Danmark (Denmark). Both regiments had additional men made up of conscripts from Hungary. After its formation in Germany, the division was attached to the III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps under the command of Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner and was moved to Croatia, where the SS Volunteer Legion Nederland (Netherlands) was attached to it. The division began combat operations against Yugoslav partisans in September 1943. In mid-October 1943, the division burned and looted several Serb villages in the Banija region of Croatia, and helped organize a local collaborationist Chetnik militia. 1944–1945 The division, along with the rest of the III SS Panzer Corps arrived at the front near Leningrad and was put into action against the Soviet Red Army attacks aimed at breaking the German encirclement of the city. The Red Army forced Nordland to withdraw to Oranienbaum. On 14 January 1944, the Soviet Krasnoye Selo–Ropsha Offensive succeeded in collapsing the German front. The follow-on Kingisepp–Gdov Offensive pushed the German forces to the city of Narva in northeastern Estonia to a new defensive line. From 27 July 1944, Nordland fought alongside the 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian) and elements of the Grossdeutschland Division In the Battle of Tannenberg Line. During these battles, the commanders of two regiments were killed. While visiting the front line, the division's commander, Gruppenführer Fritz von Scholz was caught in an artillery barrage and received a head wound. Scholz died on 28 July 1944. Thereafter, Brigadeführer Joachim Ziegler took over command of the division. It retreated into what was known as the Courland Pocket. From late October to December 1944, the Nordland remained in the pocket; by early December the divisional strength was down to 9,000 men.