SS
Meierdrees was born in Wesel in Rhenish Prussia into a middle class family. His father was a Customs Tariff Secretary. When the Nazi Party came to power in 1933, Meierdrees was still in school. He joined the Hitlerjugend when all Scout organizations were dissolved and replaced by the Nazi-run organization. As soon as he was old enough, Meierdrees applied for NSDAP membership, which he was granted on 4 April 1934 (Nr.3 601 911). Soon after, he applied to join the SS, to which he was admitted on 1 August 1934 (Nr.265 243). He was posted to the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, the SS' élite guard formation, serving as an enlisted man.
In April 1938, Meierdrees was given the opportunity to attend the SS-Junkerschule (the SS officer training school) at Braunschweig. He performed well during the intensive study and training, showing particular interest in the artillery and panzer parts of the course. On 20 April 1939, he graduated as an SS-Untersturmführer (Second Lieutenant) specializing in artillery. On 1 May 1939, he was posted to command of a platoon in the 13th (Infantry gun) company of the newly formed SS-Standarte Der Führer.
In mid 1939, Adolf Hitler authorized the formation of an SS-Verfügungs-Division, comprising all three SS-VT Standartes, SS-Standarte Deutschland, SS-Standarte Germania and SS-Standarte Der Führer (The Leibstandarte was to form its own unit). Meierdrees was assigned to command of an artillery battery SS-Verfügungs-Artillerie-Regiment under SS-Sturmbannführer (Major) Herbert Otto Gille. The Polish Crisis of August 1939 put these plans on hold, and the SS-Standarten were deployed for action during the upcoming offensive, Fall Weiss. The SS-Verfügungs-Artillerie-Regiment was subordinated to Panzer-Division Kempf, based in East Prussia.
Read more about this topic: Hubert-Erwin Meierdress, Early Life, Hitlerjugend