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by Richard Landwehr
Source: http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v02/v02p-59_Landwehr.html
They called themselves the „assault generation“ and they had largely been born in the years during and after World War I. Coming from every nation of Europe, they had risen up against the twin hydra of communism and big capitalism and banded together under one flag for a common cause. Fully a million of them joined the German Army in World War II, nearly half of them with the Waffen-SS. And it was in the Waffen-SS, the elite fighting force of Germany, where the idea of a united, anti-communist Europe became fully developed.
It was also in the Waffen-SSwhere a new society emerged from among the „front fighters“ of thirty different nations. It was a society that had been forged in the sacrifice, sweat and blood of the battlefield and that propagated the concept of „one new race,“ the European race, wherein language and national differences counted for little, while the culture of each nation was taken for granted as a common heritage. Many countries sent more volunteers into the Waffen-SS than they could raise for their own national armies, so something truly phenomenal was taking place.
The Waffen-SS itself was something unusually special. It had started out as a small-sized personal bodyguard for Adolf Hitler but had gradually expanded into a full-scale military force under the guidance of a number of disgruntled former army officers who saw the Waffen-SS as a chance to break out from the conservative mold that the German Army had become mired in. The Waffen-SSwas designed from the start to be a highly mobile assault force whose soldiers were well versed in the art of handling modern, close-combat weapons. The training regimen therefore resembled that given to special commandos in other countries, but it pre-dated U.S. and British commando training by nearly a decade.
The soldiers of the Waffen-SSwere also the first to utilize the camouflage battle dress that was to later become so common. But in one field, that of internal personnel organization, the Waffen-SS has yet to be imitated much less surpassed. The Waffen-SSwas probably the most „democratic“ armed force in modern times. Rigid formality and class structure between officers and other ranks was strictly forbidden. An officer held down his position only because he had proven himself a better soldier than his men, not because of any rank in society, family connections or superior academic education. In sports-one of the vital cogs in the Waffen-SStraining programs -officers and men competed as equals in an atmosphere that sponsored team work and mutual respect and reliance. Non-German volunteers of whatever nationality were not regarded as inferiors; they were judged on their ability and performance as soldiers.
The idea to actively recruit foreign nationals into the Waffen-SS came shortly after the outcome of the Polish Campaign of 1939, when SS units were being formed and enlarged and it was noticed that a great many men (usually of German extraction) from foreign countries were volunteering for service. The fact that Waffen-SSrecruitment among Germans was restricted by the Wehrmacht, made these 44out country“ volunteers all the more desirable. Since Western Europe contained many sympathizers and admirers of Germany and its National Socialist government, the SS decided to create three new regiments („Nordland,“ „Westland“ „Nordwest“) for Dutch, Flemish, Danish and Norwegian volunteers in the spring of 1940. There was at this time, little in the way of a cohesive, Pan-European ideal to follow, but thousands of recruits turned up anyway, primarily out of disgust for the performances of their respective socialist/pacifist governments.
For many there was additional incentive. In Belgium, Holland and France, scores of populist and right-wing political figures had been arrested, incarcerated and beaten, and shot-out-of-hand. The most famous single incident occurred in Abbeville, France in May 1940, when French police lined up 22 leading Belgian right-wing leaders and executed them in a public park shortly before the arrival of the Germans. It was certainly a „war crime“-one of the first in fact to be committed and documented in World War II -- but try to find it in a history text book! The establishment historians have shied away from any discussion of this event. Following this massacre, many of the followers of the victims flocked to join the new volunteer regiments of the Waffen-SS.
The war with the Soviet Union, commencing in June 1941, brought a new direction to the effort to attract European volunteers in what can be called „The Legionary Movement.“
The Legionary Movement
The „Legionary Movement“ was an attempt to attract qualified military personnel from various countries who otherwise would not have considered engagement with the German Armed Forces, by appealing to their national pride and anti-communist convictions. The Waffen-SSundertook the task of forming Legions from „Germanic“ countries, while the Wehrmacht, or German Army proper, was given responsibility over Latin and Slavic Legions. The national Legions proved to be a success, but for a number of reasons -primarily „cost efficiency,“ redundancy with Waffen-SSelements and size factor-were not worth perpetuating in the same format. The primary West European Legions were as follows:
Volunteer Legion Norwegen: This was an 1150 man reinforced battalion that served with distinction on the Leningrad Front and around Lake Ilmen. It later served as the nucleus of the 23rd SS Regiment „Norge.“ On the home front it was supported by numerous political figures and celebrities including the famous opera singer Kirsten Flagstad and Nobel-Prize winning author, Knut Hamsun. Hamsun was an honorary member of the Legion and actually wore a Legion uniform. His son served with the Legion and the Waffen-SSand was decorated with the Iron Cross, second class.
Volunteer Legion Flandern: This was initially a 900 man battalion later increased to 1116 men that served around Lake Ilmen under the 2nd SS Brigade and at times with the 4th SS Police Division and the Spanish „Blue“ Division. It acquitted itself splendidly, obtaining mention in the Wehrmachtwar bulletin among other honors. Its supreme moment came in March 1943 when it recovered a lost regimental frontline sector from the Soviets in a bold attack and held onto the regained positions for a week against all odds. By the end of the engagement the „Legion Flandern“ had been reduced to a net strength of 45 men! Equal numbers of Flemings served with the 5th SS Division „Wiking“ and the Volunteer Regiment „Nordwest.“ Eventually these contingents were merged with new recruits to form the Storm Brigade „Langemarck.“
Volunteer Legion Niederlande: The was a 2600 man regiment and component of the 2nd SS Brigade on the Leningrad front. „Niederlande“ swiftly obtained a reputation for valor and achievement. In June 1942, Legionaires succeeded in capturing the commander of the 11th Soviet Army and 3500 of his soldiers. One enlisted man, Sturmann Gerardus Mooyman became the first West European volunteer to receive the Knight’s Cross decoration after singlehandedly destroying 14 Soviet tanks in one day in February 1943. The Legion later formed the basis for the „Nederland“ Brigade and division.
Freikorps Danmark: This was an 1164 man reinforced battalion that served with considerable distinction in the Demyansk Pocket alongside the 3rd SS Division „Totenkopf.“ For a time it was let by the swashbuckling Christian Frederick von Schalburg, a Ukrainian-Danish count who met a soldier’s death in the frontlines. The „Freikorps“ was authorized and fully supported by the government of Denmark. After the war, members of the „Freikorps Danmark“ were prosecuted as „traitors“ with the Danish government evading responsibility by saying that the volunteers should have known that the government was merely „acting under duress“ when it set up the „Freikorps“ and signed the Anti-Comintern pact. Later the „Freikorps“ formed the nucleus of the 24th SS Regiment „Danmark.“
Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS: This was a 1000 man unit that served as a component part of the „Nordland“ Regiment of the SS „Wiking“ Division. Its greatest moment came in October 1942, when the Finns were able to seize Hill 711 near Malgobek in the south Caucausus in a daring frontal assault. Other Berman units had repeatedly tried to do the same thing but had failed. The Finns served in the Waffen-SS at the discretion of their government, which in June 1943 thought it would be more discreet to transfer the Battalion from the Waffen-SS to the Finnish Army.
The principal Wehrmacht Legions were the following:
The French Volunteer Legion Against Communism: It served as the 638th Regiment with the 7th German Infantry Division, participated in the drive on Moscow and fought well whenever it was deployed. It was largely transferred into the Waffen-SS in 1944.
Legion Wallonie: This was organized as a mountain-infantry battalion. It was formed by the SS from the Frenchspeaking Belgians (Walloons) and was taken over by the Wehrmacht in late 1941 so as not to offend the „Germanic“ Flemings already serving in the Waffen-SS. It fought exceptionally well in the campaign through the Caucausus Mountains alongside the SS Division „Wiking.“ It contained many former Belgian Army Officers and the famous political leader Leon Degrelle, who exhibited a flare for death-defying heroics. It was finally re-transferred back into the Waffen-SSin June 1943 at Degrelle’s request and was reformed as an assault brigade.
Croatian Legion: This was a regiment that fought on the southern part of the eastern front with considerable valor and was totally annihilated in Stalingrad. It was later replaced by three full-scale divisions.
Spanish Legion: This was the independent 250th Infantry Division of the „Spanish Blue“ Division that fought with incredible heroism on the Lake Ilmen Front. After it was withdrawn from the eastern front in August 1943 by Franco, survivors carried on in a Spanish SS Legion that fought until the end of the war.
Per Sorensen: Portrait of a Legionary
The 27 year old Danish Army Lieutenant Per Sorensen (formerly Adjutant of the Viborg Battalion) was the ideal model of what the Germans were looking for when they launched the Legionary Movement. On 1 July 1941, Sorensen volunteered for service with the „Freikorps Danmark“ motivated by anti-communist feelings and a vague sort of National Socialist attitude. In the autumn nonths he attended the Waffen-SSOfficer School at Bad Toelz and in the spring of 1942, rejoined the „Freikorps“ as commander of the 1st Company.
During the summer months he led his company in the tough back-and-forth fighting that raged in the relief corridor to the Demyansk Pocket. After several engagements, 1st Company had been reduced from over 200 men to only 40. They had to hold a long stretch of front against strong communist forces. On the afternoon of 16 July 1942, Sorensen telephoned „Freikorp’s“ HQ that he didn’t know whether his troops could survive another strong attack but they would stay in position no matter what. That night a Red Army infantry battalion attacked with tank support. The communists were soon in 1st Company’s trenches. From sundown to midnight hand-to-hand fighting raged for possession of the positions. Then suddenly it was all over with the Russians either dead or driven out. Thanks to Sorensen’s leadership, 1st Company held.
In the years to come, whether in White Russia or Estonia, Lativia or Pomerania, the troops under Sorensen’s command would always do the job. Before every action, the tall, slender Dane would make a personal reconnaisance of the terrain and during the fighting he was always as the hottest spots with a machine-pistol dangling from his neck.
To his soldiers, Sorensen had the uncanny habit of attracting the enemy. They passed around the phrase: „Wherever Sorensen is -the Russians will come!“ And they usually were right. For his endless solicitude and patience, he received the nickname „På Sorensen“ from his men. Time and time again, Sorensen provided the special qualities so vital in ji leader. In January 1944, he took over an en-
trapped battalion near Vitino in northern Russia and literally led it to safety by staying at the point of the column on a I ourney through thick, snow shrouded forests.
After commanding battalions and battlegroups, Sorensen received command of the 24th SS Regiment „Danmark“ just to the east of Berlin in April 1945. Finally, the Regiment was reduced to trying to defend a street-car station in the heart of Berlin. While climbing a telephone pole to try and survey the terrain, Sturmbannführer (Major) Sorensen was picked off by an enemy sniper. On the next day, in the midst of the desperate, last battle for the German capital, Sorensen was given a military funeral in the Ploetzensee cemetery by Germans and Danes from the „Nordland“ Division.
With shells detonating all around, the body of Sorensen was taken to the cemetery in an armored troop carrier. Over the open grave, Sturmscharführer (Sgt.) Hermann gave a brief eulogy:
We are standing here by the graveside to take our last departure from a courageous Danish comrade, the foremost officer and leader of the Regiment „Danmark“: Per Sorensen! I must, even in this hour give the thanks of my people for you and your many Danish comrades who have stood so loyally beside us. I would like to express from my heart: may you find peace at last in our bleeding city!
As Hermann spoke, the coffin (constructed from ammunition crates by „Nordland“ engineers) was lowered into the grave. Two of the Danish officers attending struggled to contain their emotions. Hermann led a last salute and the eight man honor guard fired three salvos over the grave. A woman flak helper tossed flowers into the grave, and each of the Danish and German soldiers attending passed by throwing in a handful of earth. As the great city shook under rumbling artillery fire and great clouds of smoke obscured the sky, the haunting strains of „I had a Comrade“ echoed over Sorensen’s grave as the funeral reached its conclusion. The tragic symbolism was complete and fitting: in the very heart of Europe, on its last battlefield, a prototypical representative of the European Volunteer Movement had met his end.
The European Movement takes Shape
In 1943, the European Volunteer Movement which had been individually developing in the Legions and the Waffen-SS was finally amalgamated and consecrated within the ranks of the Waffen-SS. The spiritual citadel of the „Movement“ now became the SS Officers’ School at Bad Toelz in Bavaria, which in 1943 established its first „class’ (or „inspection“) exclusively for West European Volunteers. Previously the volunteers had received no specialized treatment but were treated like Germans. Now all of that changed and a sense of European unity with respect for all nationalities and cultures was openly fostered. Within the next two years, SS-JS Toelz would produce more than 1000 highly motivated European officers from 12 different countries exclusive of Germany.
Bad Toelz was considered the premier officers’ training school in World War II and in addition to a thorough training program that featured live ammunition in most field exercises, it offered well-rounded athletic, cultural and educational opportunities. The great opera, musical and theatrical troops of central Europe made frequent visits while the athletic facilities were unsurpassed in Europe. Twelve different coaches, each one either an Olympic or world class champion in his field, supervised a vast sports program that even included golf and tennis. In the academic arena, freedom of speech was not only permitted but encouraged and the writings of such disparate souls as Marx, Hitler, Jefferson and Churchill were openly discussed and debated.
What Bad Toelz produced was literally a „Renaissance man“ who was also a top-notch military officer, In early 1945, the staff and students were mobilized into the newly authorized 38th SS Division „Nibelungen,“ and one of the great ironies of the war took place: a mostly German division was officered by non-German Europeans (the officer cadets) instead of the other way around. Once in action against the Americans in southern Bavaria, the Scandinavians, Lowlanders and Frenchmen found themselves opposing an enemy whom they thought could only have existed on the Eastern Front. Like all of the Waffen-SS units to serve in the west in 1945, „Nibelungen“ was soon victimized by numerous „war crimes.“ Entire companies and battalions were bludgeoned and shot to death after going into U.S. captivity. To date this grisly story has only been revealed in bits and pieces and has-naturally enough-been largely suppressed by the Allied side. However, it is interesting to note that some former members of the Waffen-SSconsider it likely that more of their comrades were killed in American captivity than on the battlefield itself!
1944-45: A European Army at War
The year 1944 opened with the Flemish SS Storm Brigade „Langemarck“ fighting a savage retrograde action near Zhitomir in southern Ukraine. Simultaneously the Scandinavian „Nordland“ Division and Dutch „Nederland“ Brigade were desperately trying to stem a massive Red Army offensive in the Leningrad sector, and the European „Wiking“ Division and Belgian Brigade „Wallonien“ were going into the „sack“ west of Cherkassy. The breakout from the Cherkassy Pocket on the southern Eastern Front was a true epic of heroism: a sacrificial struggle that bound troops of different nationalities firmly together. In the post-war years the survivors have held annual rememberence meetings so that to this day „Cherkassy“ remains a living symbol of the European Voluntary Movement.
The spring of 1944 saw the three Baltic SS Divisions fighting with steadfast courage on the eastern boundaries of their countries. In Lithuania, the nucleus for a new SS Division began taking shape under the guidance of former Lithuanian Army generals, but the country was overrun by the communists before the project could be brought to fruition. Against the Anzio beachhead in Italy, the first combat ready Italian SS battalion grimly held its ground against all American breakout attempts. All over Europe, manpower was being voluntarily mobilized into the Waffen-SSto participate in what many people saw as the forthcoming, decisive struggle for the freedom of the continent.
The summer of 1944 saw the „battle of the European SS“ on the Narva Front in Estonia. Here, nationals from Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Flanders, Holland and Estonia shared the trenches and fought shoulder-to-shoulder to throw the Bolsheviks back off „Orphanage Hill“ and „Grenadier Hill.“ Leon Degrelle personally led a battalion from his „Wallonien“ Division in a brilliant defensive action near Tartu on the west shore of Lake Peipus. Near Brody in Ukraine, the 14th Ukranian SS Division fought a life-or-death battle to escape from a Soviet encirclement; only about one-fourth of the Division survived the fighting, but they had acquitted themselves well.
As the year went on, more and more foreign volunteer divisions were formed. This meant that flexible leadership was needed to handle the different cultural distinctions and surprisingly, the Waffen-SS was equal to the task. Although organized religion was kept separate from the Waffen-SS, volunteers from devout Catholic, Moslem, Greek Catholic and Orthodox countries were given total freedom to practice their religions with their own clergy. For morale purposes, ethnic cultural activities were actively encouraged. It was quite a contrast to the way some minority groups were treated in the Allied armies at the time.
Some of the foreign SS divisions composed of Russian and Moslem volunteers had to be disbanded, since the time and personnel needed to develop these units were lacking. By the autumn of 1944 the Waffen-SS European volunteer tally sheet contained the following elements: 2 Dutch brigades, 2 Belgian brigades, 1 French brigade and 1 Italian brigade, (all being transformed into divisions), 2 Croat Moslem divisions, 1 Albanian Moslem division, 2 Hungarian divisions with 2 more in the works that never panned out, 2 Scandinavian/German divisions, 2 Latvian divisions, 1 Estonian division, 2 Russian divisions (both of which would later be transferred to the Vlasov Liberation Army), 1 Ukranian division, 1 Italian/German division, 1 Hungarian/German division, 1 Balkan/German division, 1 Serbian division, numerous ethnic brigades from the Soviet Union, and small detachments of Spaniards, Britons, Greeks, Romanians, Bulgarians, Arabs and Indians. The foreign SS units were all suitably supplied with national badges, insignia and unit distinctions. And while there were many volunteers from such neutral countries as Ireland, Sweden and Switzerland they could not be openly designated as such so as not to offend their respective governments.
On the Eastern Front, the war raged with unending intensity. In White Russia, part of the French SS Storm Brigade fighting with the 18th Hungarian/German SS Division „Horst Wessel,“ sacrificed itself completely in hard defensive action, losing two-thirds of its personnel in the process. In Estonia, a regiment of Estonian soldiers who had been serving in the Finnish Army returned home to fight for their country. They were reformed into a battalion of the 20th Estonian SS Division and in desperate combat on the Latvian frontier, were virtually annihilated. With grim determination the Latvian 15th and 19th SS Divisions fought the communists for every square foot of their homeland, while in the Carpathian Mountains, the Ukranian Volunteer Division was reassembled.
In Slovenia and Hungary, the brave Moslems of the 13th SS Division „Handschar“ performed well against both Tito’s partisans and the Red Army, but in France the 30th White Russian SS Division had virtually collapsed while in action against the Americans and French Maquis. These soldiers had only wished to fight the communists and saw no point in what they were doing in the west.
This was not the case in regard to both the 29th Italian SS Division and the 34th Dutch SS Division „Landstorm Nederland.“ The Italian SS troops fought both the Americans and the rear area communist partisans, and they distinguished themselves as perhaps the best troops that Italy produced during the war. „Landstorm Nederland“ first battled the British at Arnhem as part of a hurriedly organized self-defense brigade, but during the winter of 1944-45 it was enlarged into a full-scale 12 000 man infantry division. In the spring of 1945, the almost exclusively Dutch „LN“ SS Division gave the British and Canadians fits as they tried with little success to advance into northwest Holland. None of the Allies could figure out why so many Dutchmen chose to join the „Landstorm“ Division, so to avoid embarrassment, the story of this unit has been largely suppressed ever since. For the Dutch volunteers, there was no motivation problem. The Allies had joined with the Bolsheviks against not only their homeland but what they perceived to be European civilization as well. Like their fellow countrymen on the Eastern Front, the men of „Landstorm Nederland“ fought with a dedicated resolve.
The Belgian and French SS Divisions were brought up to strength in the fall of 1944 from among the many refugees that had fled to Germany plus veterans of the war with Russia. In Holland, volunteers flocked to the Waffen-SS recruiting offices like never before and not because they had to. It didn’t take a clairvoyant to see that Germany was virtually finished, but still the European volunteers rushed to join the battle.
The establishment historians have never been able to understand this phenomenon, perhaps because it involved an abstract concept alien to most of them: conscience. There was a great desire for many people, who had until this point sat out the war, to finally be „true to themselves“; to make the ultimate sacrifice out of loyalty to their beliefs, their homelands and their fellow countrymen who had already done so much. This was Europe’s moment of crisis and many young men made the decision to leap into the crucible. It was a manifestation of spiritual honesty.
The Waffen-SS also managed to project a certain natural attractiveness. Littlejohn, in his book The Patriotic Traitors (p123), described the pull of the Waffen-SS as follows: „The Runic Flag evoked a heroic pagan spirit, a swaggering defiant attitude to life equally contemptuous of bourgeois timidity and of communist anarchy.“ The far-sighted Leon Degrelle, who had almost obtained political power in prewar Belgium also saw a powerful attraction and purpose in the Waffen-SS. In his words: „True elites are formed at the front ... the young leaders are born there ... the emblem of the SS shows Europe where political and social truth is to be found ... We are preparing the political cadres of the post-war world in the Great S