Flemish Legion
The Flemish Legion was an association of Flemish volunteers of the Waffen-SS that was deployed on the German side during World War II .
Soon after the occupation of the Netherlands and Belgium by German troops in May 1940, Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler began looking for Dutch and Flemish volunteers there to strengthen his newly created SS regiment "Westland". Men between the ages of 18 and 25 were recruited for so-called "police duties". They were promised to be able to carry out these activities within their home country. In this way, the SS regiment could be set up at full strength within a few weeks. It soon became apparent, however, that this promise was broken by assigning the "Westland" regiment to the SS "Wiking" division .
Spurred on by his great success in recruiting, Himmler announced on April 3, 1941 that a further regiment of Dutch, Flemish and Danish volunteers would be set up. Like the “Westland” regiment, this new SS volunteer regiment “Northwest” was supposed to be used for “police duties”.
During the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, many of the volunteers in the “Northwest” regiment were ready to join a newly created “Flemish Legion”, also known as the Flemish Volunteer Legion , which was to fight in the war against the Soviet Union . Men between the ages of 17 and 40 could join the Legion regardless of their political views. Preferably, ex-officers of the Belgian army were taken on, who were promised to receive a rank in the Legion that corresponded to their original army rank.
On August 6, 1941, the first 405 Flemish volunteers marched in Brussels in front of the “Palais des Beaux Art” to receive their troop flag. They then went to a Polish military camp, where they met members of the former “Northwest” regiment.
By the end of September 1941, a total of 875 Flemings had undergone hard training in Poland, which, contrary to the expectations of the Flemish volunteers, was practically exclusively carried out by German officers or NCOs.
In November 1941 the Legion was transferred to the " Leningrad Front" as part of the 2nd SS Infantry Brigade (motorized) . In heavy fighting on the Eastern Front, the Legion, which despite its name was part of the Waffen SS , suffered great losses.
Up until May 31, 1943, the Flemish Legion was deployed on the Eastern Front with minor interruptions, until it was reorganized into the 6th SS Volunteer Assault Brigade Langemarck and on October 19, 1944 into the 27th SS Volunteer Grenadier -Division "Langemarck" (Flemish No. 1) was converted. During the reclassification into a division, parts of it formed a combat group of around 2,000 men, which was moved to the Eifel on December 24, 1944 to defend the Urfttalsperre . At the end of January 1945 this combat group left the Eifel and was relocated to Pomerania . In the retreat battles that followed, the division lost around 75% of its original strength. The division's last fighting took place between April 26 and 27, 1945 in Prenzlau . The remainder of the division came in the room Schwerin in British captivity and were delivered as collaborators to Belgium and sentenced there.
Designations
- July 1941: SS Volunteer Legion "Flanders"
- May 1943: SS Volunteer Assault Brigade "Langemarck"
- October 1943: 6th SS Volunteer Assault Brigade "Langemarck"
- October 1944: 27th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division "Langemarck" (Flemish No. 1)
literature
- Davis, McGregor: Flags of the Third Reich , Vol. 2: Waffen-SS, Men-at-Arms-Series No. 274, Osprey, London, 1994. ISBN 1-85532-431-8 .
- Karl Unruh: Langemarck. Legend and reality . Bernard and Graefe, Koblenz 1995, ISBN 3-7637-5949-2 .