the cadre of a new division, SS-Division Germania. It was made up of mostly "Nordic" volunteers from the newly conquered territories, Danes, Norwegians, Dutch and Flemings. By the start of 1941, Germania was renamed Wiking with command given to then Brigadeführer Felix Steiner, the former commander of the SS-VT regiment Deutschland. The Verfügungs-Division was also renamed Reich (in 1942 Das Reich). The Polizei division was brought under Waffen-SS administration. The Leibstandarte was expanded to a division for Operation Barbarossa. When the Waffen-SS divisions were assigned numbers much later in the war these first formations, Leibstandarte, Das Reich, Totenkopf, Polizei and Wiking were recognized as SS divisions 1 through 5. Notes References Nazi SS German words and phrases