Volunteer Legion Norway
The Volunteer Legion Norway (Norwegian: Den Norske Legion ) was a Norwegian formation of the Waffen SS during World War II . It was founded on June 29, 1941 in German-occupied Norway to support the war aims of National Socialist Germany. The unit was disbanded in 1943.
history
The unit was made up of volunteers who were assured that it would be a Norwegian unit with Norwegian officers, uniforms and languages and that the operational area would be Finland . Instead, the unit was sent to Northern Russia in the occupied Soviet Union to Army Group North . This was done by the Germans in order to avoid strengthening Norwegian territorial claims to the Kola Peninsula and the Finnish Petsamo region, which were desired by the Quisling regime. Quisling originally hoped to send over 30,000 Norwegian legionaries to Finnish Lapland, but this was rejected by both the Germans and the Finns.
In February 1942, the Legion was stationed in Krasnoye Selo near Pushkin . In May 1942 the unit was withdrawn and returned there in June 1942. The Legion left the occupied Soviet Union in 1943 after suffering great losses. During this time it was reinforced by the 1st SS and the police under the command of the head of the Norwegian General SS, Jonas Lie . The Legion was disbanded in March 1943. The personnel who wanted to continue the SS service were transferred to the 11th SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Division "Nordland" .
literature
- Gerd R. Ueberschär : Strategy and Policy in Northern Europe. In Horst Boog ; Jürgen Förster ; Joachim Hoffmann ; Ernst Klink ; Rolf-Dieter Müller ; Ueberschär, Gerd R. (eds.). The Attack on the Soviet Union. Germany and the Second World War. IV. Translated by McMurry, Dean S .; Osers, Ewald; Willmot, Louise. Military History Research Office (Germany). Clarendon Press, Oxford 1998, ISBN 0-19-822886-4 , pp. 941-1020.