Reply With QuoteHalf of french fight for nazism.
Maybe all SS were higly considered by frenchs, as they used with the Stranger Legion to kill thousand upon thousand innocent peoples in Indocina and Algeria.
The fate of past Waffen SS from all over Europe
How are (or were) the former waffen SS from your countries considered since the end of WW2. I think in the Baltic countries some people still hold them in high regards for example.
For example, France had the 33rd SS Division "Charlemagne"; most were killed, some (the 3 that did) getting the Knight's Cross as late as April the 29th 1945 in Berlin. The reminding survivors went to jail or Indochina after the war.
Half of french fight for nazism.
Maybe all SS were higly considered by frenchs, as they used with the Stranger Legion to kill thousand upon thousand innocent peoples in Indocina and Algeria.
Sweden had some 100 or so men that volunteered for the Waffen-SS. If my figures arent completely off, about 40% made it back.
A bit put off by the big defeat they werw quite silent and didnt make all that much noise. One or two tried to start semi-nazi parties but that didnt turn out all that great either.
One of these volunteers designed the logo for Falcon, one of swedens biggest producers of bottled drinks, but thats about the extent of their success.
Overall there hasnt been too much talk about them. I had one as a patient and he told me quite a bit on his deathbed. He didnt regret that he had joined, but he regretted some of the things they had done.
There were about 5000 that fought on the German side during WW II. About a 1000 of them got killed.
Most of the survivors were later put on trial and sentenced to about 2-4 years imprisonment.
Some were caught by the Soviets, and did not come home untill 1955. Some died there aswell, since the Soviets did not run holiday camps.
To Stavka: Due to the information I have from the Swedish book "Ragnarök" there were about 200 Swedes, mainly serving in the Waffen SS. This book I will strongly recomend for those intersting in the history of the Scandinavian voulenteers that served in the German forces.
(Svensk TV 1 made a 4 episode documentary about these Swedes some years ago. A very good one, if I may say so.)
This is my speciality field in the WW II-history. Have been collecting books and documentarys on this subject for the last 15 years. Try to get my hands on anything written on this subject.
So to my Danish and Swede neighbours in this forum: please feel free to tip me on any litterature on this subject from your country.
Well, my figures were a bit off, but plucked directly from memory it wasnt all that bad.Originally Posted by Ichhabe
Rekommenderer till deg Bosse Schöns böker "Svenskarna som slogs för Hitler" og "Där järnkorsen växer".
Well since Stavka answered for Sweden I can answer for Finland.
"...Where a Finnish SS-man stood, enemy was always defeated."
Order of the day, 11 July 1943
Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler
Finns of 1.Kp./Finnisches Frw.Bn.d.W-SS at Gross Born Truppenlager, 1941
Finnisches Freiwilligen bataillon der Waffen-SS. Was formed after the Winter
War, the Finns qualities as fighters had been proven. Finns have (and that was
known already back in the days) in their blood a considerable amount of "siberian"
blood, but I guess that didn´t matter, blond and blue eyes as Finns have. The Finns
returned to Finland already in 1943 since the Finnish government didn´t allowe them
to serve longer, they returned and were enlisted in the Finnish army instead.
Finnisches Freiwilligen bataillon der Waffen-SS in the "Wiking division" suffered some
255 KIA and 557 WIA during its time in the Waffen-SS; a very high rate considering
that only some 2000 men served in the battalion.
http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/2130/
Many Finnish SS-pictures
And as for Fantassins question, well I haven´t really noticed much hatred or
anything against these men in Finland, but not much admiration either. Firstly
it would be very tabu, and secondly because Finland and German got in to a war
in 1944-1945, some of the SS-volunteers had to fight Germans in the 20th
Mountain army in Lapland, but now dressed in Finnish uniforms. I think the
feeling in Finland about these men is more like "them volunteering was nothing
political, it was just another step in the fight against Finlands arch enemy, Russia".
Also during the 1st world war Finland had volunteers with the German army, and
many of the SS-volunteers were actually the sons to these soldiers.
21. Waffen Gebirgid Division der SS Skenderbeg. Forgoten part of albanian history?
I believe ALBANIAN was referencing the fact that 2,000 Germans who served in the French Foreign Legion during the 'troubles' in Indo-Cina were former Waffen SS soldiers. They joined the Legion following the end of WW2 to escape trial or execution by the Allies or Soviets. They were specifically employed by the French in Battalion strength to use their anti-partisan experience against the Viet Minh.
A book called "Devil's Guard" by George Elford claims that the French formed a battalion consisting PURELY ex-German soldiers. Nobody cared what they had been, whatever branch. The battalion operated 1243 days destroying 7466 enemy (counted by the dead in the field), 221 Viet Minh bases, camps and storage areas, releasing 311 military and civilian prisoners and marching roughly 11,000 kilometers in the jungles.
The commander, former SS partisanjäger Hans Josef Wagemüller was the so called "kopfjäger" or headhunter. The Viet Minh posted 'wanted posters' with rewards of up to 200,000 piasters for these SS Legionairres.
Look Here and Here for listings of Foreign Volunteers in the German Armed Forces ...
I know, but it was a unit of 3000 persons, half of them albanians, created at the march of 1945, and nevre fought out of albanian lands (including Kosova), and the most had guard duties.21. Waffen Gebirgid Division der SS Skenderbeg. Forgoten part of albanian history?
compare here the serb and albania SS
Alternate Names:
Serbian Volunteer Corps (Srpski Dobrovoljacki Korpus)
Serbian Volunteer Command
Serbisches Freiwilligen Korps
DESCRIPTION
The Serbian Volunteer Corps was military force of the German-controlled puppet state of Serbia formed in 1941. It may have been formed in part due to Nazi HSSPF Dr. Kaltenbrunner's efforts to create more pro-German idgenous forces in the Balkans to fill the vacuum left by the wavering Bulgarians. The Serbian Volunteer Corps fought primarily against Tito's partisans. The Germans considered it one of the few effective Serbian anti-partisan units. The German Army transferred the corps to the Waffen-SS in late 1944, but it is unclear if this was just a administrative change rather than a tactical/operational change.*
* According to Relja Knezevic, the reason that some authors consider SVC a part of the SS is due to the fact that a former "ljoticevac" (meaning: member of SVC) named Strahinja Janjic formed something that was called Serbian Volunteer Corps of the SS. It was, however, little more than a group of a few thugs. Janjic's idea was to form a Serbian division for the eastern front (because the SVC did not want to go) but he was unsuccessful. The Serbian Volunteer Corps of the SS held (operated from?) a prison in Belgrade where they tortured people, often their former comrades from the SVC.
COMMANDERS
General Kosta Musicki 12/1944?
COMPOSITION
5 Regiments of 1,200 men each
Artillery Battalion of 500 men
Alternate Names:
21st Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS Skanderbeg (alban. Nr. 1)
DESCRIPTION
Short-lived unit of Kosovo Albanian Waffen-SS volunteers of minimal combat value, although elements of the division did fight rear-guard actions to allow for the 1944 German retreat from the Balkan peninsula.
COMMANDERS
Brigadeführer August Schmidhuber 5/1944 - 8/1944
SS-Obersturmbannführer Graaf 8/1944 - 10/1944
COMPOSITION
Waffen-Gebirgs Division der SS Regt. 50
Waffen-Gebirgs Division der SS Regt. 51
Waffen-Gebirgs Artillerie Regiment 21
SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 21 SS-Panzerjäger-Abteilung 21
SS-Pionier-Bataillon 21
SS-Versorgüngs-Abteilung 21
SS-Gebirgs-Nachrichten-Abteilung 21
SS-Sanitäts-Abteilung 21
there are simple things to point about SS :
in the whole WW2 700 000 men have wear the SS uniform , 300 000 were killed ( estimation) .among the total (700 000 )SS there were :
4000 finnish
6000 danish
10 000 from norway
10 000 frenCH
10 000 italian
100 british
and many others (uzbeks , indians , swedish ...)
actually there have been more nationality under the uniform of the SS than the UN troops now......... that makes the SS the troop composed with the highest number of nationality ever made in the world .... interesting ?
Yeah well I suppose every occupied country had some nutbusters joining the Waffen SS... There were some here as well, and if I remember correctly most served a couple of years in jail after they came back. Don't know about any numbers.
What about the Waloon devision.?
great book to read about the Eastern front.
Is this book available in english ?
There are stories about a mixed unit of former Dutch Volunteers in the German Army (imprisoned at the end of the War in the NL) that were offered a pardon in fighting alongside the UN contingent in Korea. Is there any thruth to this?
Related:
28th SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier Division Wallonien (Belgian)
British Nazis
Officially that figure for the British Legion was less then 30, where are your figures from?
They also did not (unlike other foreign SS formations) cover themselves in glory.
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