Editing Schutzstaffel (section)

===SS Cavalry===
Shortly after Hitler seized power in 1933, most horse riding associations were taken over by the SA and SS.{{sfn|Krüger|Wedemeyer-Kolwe|2009|p=34}} Members received combat training to serve in the ''Reiter-SS'' (SS Cavalry Corps).{{sfn|Krüger|Wedemeyer-Kolwe|2009|p=35}} The first SS cavalry regiment, designated ''SS-Totenkopf Reitstandarte 1'', was formed in September 1939. Commanded by then SS-''Standartenführer'' [[Hermann Fegelein]], the unit was assigned to Poland, where they took part in the extermination of Polish intelligentsia.{{sfn|McNab|2013|pp=224–225}}{{sfn|Pieper|2015|p=38}} Additional squadrons were added in May 1940, for a total of fourteen.{{sfn|McNab|2013|p=225}}

The unit was split into two regiments in December 1939, with Fegelein in charge of both. By March 1941 their strength was 3,500 men.{{sfn|Miller|2006|p=308}}{{sfn|Pieper|2015|pp=52–53}} In July 1941, they were assigned to the [[Pripyat Marshes massacres]], tasked with rounding up and exterminating Jews and partisans in the [[Pripet Marshes|Pripyat swamps]].{{sfn|Pieper|2015|pp=81–90}} The two regiments were amalgamated into the [[SS Cavalry Brigade]] on 31 July, twelve days after the operation started.{{sfn|Pieper|2015|pp=81–82}} Fegelein's final report, dated 18 September 1941, states that they killed 14,178 Jews, 1,001 partisans, and 699 Red Army soldiers, with 830 prisoners taken.{{sfn|Pieper|2015|pp=119–120}}{{sfn|Miller|2006|p=310}} Historian Henning Pieper estimates the actual number of Jews killed was closer to 23,700.{{sfn|Pieper|2015|p=120}} The SS Cavalry Brigade took serious losses in November 1941 in the [[Battle of Moscow]], with casualties of up to 60 per cent in some squadrons.{{sfn|Pieper|2015|pp=146–147}} Fegelein was appointed as commander of the [[8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer|8th SS Cavalry Division ''"Florian Geyer"'']] on 20 April 1943. This unit saw service in the Soviet Union in attacks on partisans and civilians.{{sfn|McNab|2013|p=182}}{{sfn|Stockert|1997|p=229}} In addition, SS Cavalry regiments served in Croatia and Hungary.{{sfn|McNab|2013|pp=225–230}}