Changes

The division was named Handschar, after a local fighting knife or scimitar carried by [[Ottoman]] [[police]]men during the centuries that the region was part of the [[Ottoman Empire]]. It was the first non-Germanic Waffen-SS division, and its formation marked the expansion of the Waffen-SS into a [[multiculturalism|multi-ethnic]] military force. Composed mainly of [[Bosnian]] [[Muslims]] and mostly German Yugoslav ''Volksdeutsche'' officers and non-commissioned officers, the members of the division took an oath of allegiance to [[Adolf Hitler]] and the Croatian ''Poglavnik'' Ante Pavelić.

The division was named Handschar, after a local fighting knife or scimitar carried by [[Ottoman]] [[police]]men during the centuries that the region was part of the [[Ottoman Empire]]. It was the first non-Germanic Waffen-SS division, and its formation marked the expansion of the Waffen-SS into a [[multiculturalism|multi-ethnic]] military force. Composed mainly of [[Bosnian]] [[Muslims]] and mostly German Yugoslav ''Volksdeutsche'' officers and non-commissioned officers, the members of the division took an oath of allegiance to [[Adolf Hitler]] and the Croatian ''Poglavnik'' Ante Pavelić.

The division earned a reputation for brutality and savagery, not only during [[combat]] operations but also for atrocities committed against [[Serb]] and [[Jew]]ish civilians. Most of the members became [[prisoners of war]] of the [[British]]. Subsequently, 38 officers were extradited to communist [[Yugoslavia]] after the war to face criminal charges, and ten were executed. Hundreds of former members of the division fought in the 1947–48 [[jihad]] in [[Mandatory Palestine]] and against the [[1948 Israeli War for Independence]].<ref>Seth J. Frantzman, [https://www.jpost.com/magazine/features/strange-bedfellows Strange bedfellows], ''JPost'',  May 7, 2008</ref><ref>[https://www.rootsmetals.com/blogs/news/nazism-in-the-1947-1949-arab-israeli-war?_pos=11&_sid=227e2f83f&_ss=r Nazism in the 1947-1949 Arab-Israeli War], Rootsmetal, April 13, 2022</ref>

The division earned a reputation for brutality and savagery, not only during [[combat]] operations but also for atrocities committed against [[Serb]] and [[Jew]]ish civilians. Most of the members became [[prisoners of war]] of the [[British]]. Subsequently, 38 officers were extradited to communist [[Yugoslavia]] after the war to face criminal charges, and ten were executed. Hundreds of former members of the division fought in the 1947–48 [[jihad]] in [[Mandatory Palestine]] and against the [[1948 Israeli War for Independence]].<ref>Seth J. Frantzman, [https://www.jpost.com/magazine/features/strange-bedfellows Strange bedfellows], ''JPost'',  May 7, 2008.<blockquote>Muslim Bosnians trained by the Nazis later volunteered to fight against Israel in 1948.</blockquote></ref><ref>[https://www.rootsmetals.com/blogs/news/nazism-in-the-1947-1949-arab-israeli-war?_pos=11&_sid=227e2f83f&_ss=r Nazism in the 1947-1949 Arab-Israeli War], Rootsmetal, April 13, 2022</ref>

===Operation Bagration and the Vistula front===

===Operation Bagration and the Vistula front===