Dragon's new "Germania" figure set looks excellent as usual, but I've had some trouble finding details about the history of the unit. The regiment fought under that name in Poland as part of the SS-Verfügungstruppe ("special purpose troops" that later became Das Reich), but seems to have formed the nucleus for the 5th SS Panzergrenadier Division "Wiking" for the French campaign and thereafter.

So my question is: did Germania in fact exist in France 1940 as a separate entity, and in which division did they serve? Were they still part of the SS-Verfügungstruppe serving under Bock in Army Group B? There is no listing, either for the Wiking or 5th SS Panzergrenadier division in the 1940 OoB. Did they see much action? They apparently weren't part of the armored spearhead through the Ardennes, and had very little armor.

Bill, the following info I got from "uniforms, organization and history of the waffen ss" authors bender & taylor.
Dec 1 1940 regiments (Nordland), (westland) and (Germania) were brought together to form the new SS division Germania. Due to the names Germania for division and regiments were the same the division name was changed to Wiking to lessen confusion.
The first field division of the SS was Das Reich, formed by Standarte's (Deuchland), (Germania) and (Der Fuhrer) Oct 10, 1939. Standarte Germania was transfered Dec 3, 1940 to (see above). Standarte Germania participated in the drive for Rotterdam, may 10, 1940. Later it was transfered to France to participated in the drive for Paris.
Bill i do not know the difference between Standarte Germania and Regiment Germania.
Joe

"Standarte" is what the SS called a regiment sized unit, so Regiment Germania & Standarte Germania are synonymous. The SS used the old Freikorps" nomenclature for their units to begin with, so a regiment was a "standarte" (as in Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler), a battalion was a "sturmbanne", & a company a "sturme". Likewise, this gave the officers ranks, so a Standartenfurer (full colonel) commanded a standarte, a Sturmbannfuhrer (major) a sturmbanne, & a Hauptsturmfuhrer (captain) or Obersturmfuhrer (1st lieutenant) a sturme. As Joe says, Germania was one of the original pre-war SS-VT units. In 1940 the three autonomous regiments, Germania, Deutschland & Der Fuhrer, which had fought seperately in Poland were combined with artillery & support units into a division first called "SS-VT Division", then "Reich" (n.b. not Das Reich, that came later). The adhoc nature of the unit was emphasised by the assortment of uniform worn, old pre-war earth grey, field grey SS style & army style tunics with the bottle green collar. The support units still in many cases, wore their pre-war collar patches with SS & a motif on the right (e.g. a spade for the Pionere Sturmbahnne, lightning flash for the signals). As a security measure, as well as for conformity, in France all collar patches were ordered removed. Germania had no armour, as it was a motorised infantry regiment in 1940. The only armour in "Reich" was armoured cars & some half tracks, but early Stugs began to be attached to infantry units towards the end of the campaign. Germania certainly saw plenty of action in Holland & France.
Later, when the Waffen SS began to expand, after the West campaign, the decision was taken to remove Germania & use it as the cadre for the new Wiking division. German infantry divisions had 3 regiments at the time, so the new division (originally to be called Germania) had 2 other regiments formed from European volunteers, Westland & Nordland. When the SS Panzergrenadier regiments were numbered consecutively in 1942, Germania became SS Panzergrenadier regiment 9 (I think, have to check that when I get home). From then on until the end of the war it fought exclusively in the East.

So if I read you correctly, a dio with these 4 figures beside a Pz. I would be fanciful, but perhaps beside an abandoned French tank would not?

Bill, the way I see it they could be near a Pz 1 as long as it had the markings of a unit that had them and was near Germania at the time. Some units got mixed a bit in the heat of battle and some could be assigned to help out where needed temporarily.
The French idea might be best. Just my 2 cents worth.
Joe