# 'Allies' fighting for Axis



## plan_D (Jan 24, 2005)

Since this was requested by our friend, Erich, here it is. 

All the information about Allied troops that fought for the Axis. This will mostly get on to W-SS Divisions. Such as the Muslim, Indian, British SS Divisions. Also, a little mention of the Indian and Burmese fighting for the Japanese for liberation from the British Empire.


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## evangilder (Jan 25, 2005)

Not so much a Waffen SS story, but one of the interesting aspects of WWII:

Some of the first soldiers captured by the allies on D-Day were Koreans! 

_Four such heroes taken prisoner in Normandy proved to be Koreans. It seems that the Japanese, who had conquered Korea, drafted them into their army in 1938 and sent them to Manchuria, where they were taken prisoner by the Russians in the border clashes between Russia and Japan. The Russians drafted them, but didn’t trust them that near Korea, so they sent them to defend their western frontier. When the Germans invaded Russia they captured the Koreans, and not trusting them on the Russian Front, they sent them to defend Normandy, where the Koreans were captured by the Americans._ 

The Americans sent them to a POW camp in the states. The Koreans took it all in stride! I guess by then, they could be considered mercenaries!


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## plan_D (Jan 25, 2005)

Certainly, that's a very interesting story. Thank you, evan. 8)


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## evangilder (Jan 25, 2005)

No problem. I just thought it was pretty fascinating. Those poor guys had been conscripted into 3 armies. I wonder if they are eligible for veteran benefits from all of them?


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## plan_D (Jan 25, 2005)

If they're still alive maybe we should go find them and ask them. 

There were a lot of Indian and Burmese fighting for the Japanese in 1941 and 1942, so much so there were new armies created for them. By early 1942, a lot had just become propaganda and by the time the British started moving back into Burma they had almost ceased to exist. 
Those that still did exist moved on to the British/Indian side again, or just disappeared back into the jungle villages. 

During the march out of Burma, during Britains longest retreat in history, a lot of lives were lost to Burmese murdering the British soldiers while they slept. 

And seeing as this seems the right kind of area. I'll inform on the greatest British mutiny in history too, 191 troops from the Tyne Tees and Highland Divisions moved to Salerno Bay under the British 46th Division refused to fight after being tricked to fight alongside the US 5th Army which had landed on Salerno bay with 1500 British troops. While these men had been fighting in Africa and Sicily with the British 8th Army they had been injured, recovered and sent back to a transit camp awaiting to be sent back to their units. Instead they got sent to Salerno Bay, and there, refused to fight. All were sentenced to between 6 and 10 years in prison, except the two leading Sergeants who were sentenced to death by firing squad.


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## Napier Sabre (Jan 29, 2005)

Quite interesting, the Idea of British SS divisions. Never heard about them before a couple of days ago and I can't find much info. Any idea about what happened to those involved after the war?


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## Medvedya (Jan 29, 2005)

There were only forty odd members of the British Free Corp. A division?!!
God forbid! The leader was a guy called John Amery.

Read about 'em here.

http://members.aol.com/sturmpnzr/BFChistory.html


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## Napier Sabre (Jan 29, 2005)

Cheers, I would have been surprised if there were that many! 8)


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## HealzDevo (Jan 30, 2005)

I thought the British were more loyal to King and Country than all that. I suppose there are a few different in every race.


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## plan_D (Jan 30, 2005)

I heard there was only 15. But the thing is, these people were PoWs and they didn't actually do anything. They just partied in France all the time, until they got captured.


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## Medvedya (Jan 30, 2005)

Here's some of their badges. I think there were some Australians in the corps at one time or another as well.


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## glennasher (Jul 2, 2007)

Burma. A lowlying country inhabited by a Low, Lying People, according to a book of the time.


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## Njaco (Jul 2, 2007)

I'm curious. Wouldn't their armbands and badges have been in German rather than English? Something like Englander Freie Korps? Where are those badges from?


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jul 3, 2007)

No they would be in the native language. They were made in Germany however.


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## RAGMAN (Jul 4, 2007)

I red of the one of the last battles of WW2 where the SS charlamaine (i spelled it wrong,sorry) fought the "free" german division at Hitlers door,so to speak.Hitler didnt like entrusting his life to Frenchmen,but had little choice.The French fought with little to lose as they were going to be executed if caught and sent back to France.I have the book some place I'll try to find it.


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## RAGMAN (Jul 5, 2007)

Ah, found it.The french were called the SS Charlemagne division,the Germans were the Von Seydlitz division.the SS division was formed in 1941 in the army but transferred to the SS in august of 43.General Walter Von Seydlitz commanded the division,it was formed after the fall of Stalingrad and opposed to facism,of course.


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## Cyrano (Jul 6, 2007)




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## RAGMAN (Jul 6, 2007)

ya the french navy fought well at least some of the battleships did anyways


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## rogthedodge (Jul 10, 2007)

Technically the Vichy French weren't allies, the Free French were, so the Vichy forces were fighting on the 'right' side. The French Govt now views Vichy as a traitorous regime but at the time they were probably the more legitimate of the two French Govts.

On foreigners in the SS:
The Danes and the Dutch provided lots of troops for the SS - particularly 5SSPz ('Wiking') and 11SSPzg ('Nordland'). Loads of other countries contributed troops to Germany's forces too Hitler's Foreign Legions


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## Negative Creep (Jul 10, 2007)

In Max Hasting's work Armageddon he states the Dutch made up the largest foreign contingent of the SS, but seeing as he didn't index it, I can't find the exact quote. He does however mention one interesting episode



> One of the most extraordinary episodes of the war, still scarcely know in the West, began on 4 April 1945 on the Dutch offshore island of Texel. Its garrison, the 882nd Battalion of the Wermacht, comprimised some 500 Georgians captured on the Eastern Front. They mutinied and ran amok, killing every German they found. A local resistance leader consulted with the Georgians, and set off with three of them in a local lifeboat to seek aid from the British...........they were subject to six days of interrogation, at the end of which the Georgians were dispatched to a POW camp. No action was taken to assist the Texel mutineers
> 
> Hitler signaled personally that 'an example should be made of the rebels.' Some 3600 men of the Wermacht were committed in a battle that lasted more than a fortnight.....a total of 117 local Dutch, 550 Georgians and 800 Germans perished


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## Marcus Wendel (Aug 4, 2007)

RAGMAN said:


> Ah, found it.The french were called the SS Charlemagne division,the Germans were the Von Seydlitz division.the SS division was formed in 1941 in the army but transferred to the SS in august of 43.General Walter Von Seydlitz commanded the division,it was formed after the fall of Stalingrad and opposed to facism,of course.



Not correct, General der Artillerie Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach did not command any fighting force against the regular German forces, his organization was just a propaganda unit.

/Marcus


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## RAGMAN (Aug 5, 2007)

REALLY? i read it in my book WW2 4139 strange and facinating facts by don mc combs and fred l worth....if it is wrong i apologize...


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## Stupid (Aug 5, 2007)

Some Russians that opposed stalin flew Me-262's for the germans that were painted in the colors of Imperial Russia.


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## mosquitoman (Aug 6, 2007)

Really! You got any info or pics of them?


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## David Jones (Jan 10, 2017)

Much surprised by the lack of mention to the 5th SS "Wiking" Division, which enjoyed a large number of Nordic troops, i.e. Norwegian, Danes, volunteer Swede and Finns. The Blues from Spain in the Eastern Front, as well


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## parsifal (Jan 10, 2017)

Foreign Waffen-SS units recruited by Nazi Germany
(note: many of the recruits into the SS, particularly those from the east were not volunteers. They were often forcibly and brutally conscripted 

Albania
Total: 6,500 to 7,000
21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Skanderbeg

Belgium

Total: 40,000 (about "evenly divided between Flemings and Walloons")
SS-Freiwilligen Legion Flandern (1941)

SS-Freiwilligen-Standarte Nordwest
27th SS Volunteer Division Langemarck
6th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Langemarck
28th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Wallonien
5th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Wallonien
28th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Wallonien

Bulgaria]


Waffen Grenadier Regiment of the SS (1st Bulgarian)

Croatia


13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian)
23rd Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Kama (2nd Croatian)

Denmark

Total: 6,000


Free Corps Denmark (1941): 1,164
Danish volunteers in Waffen-SS, the majority of them in the SS Division Wiking and the SS Division Nordland

Estonia

Total: 20,000


Estonian Legion
20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian)


Finland

Total: 1,180 to 3,000


Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS

France

Total: 20,000


Französisch SS-Freiwilligen-Sturmbrigade[40] a/k/a 8th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade France
28th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Wallonien
33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne (1st French)
Bretonische Waffenverband der SS

Hungary

Total: 20,000


22nd SS Volunteer Cavalry Division Maria Theresia
25th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Hunyadi (1st Hungarian)] 
26th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Hungarian)
33rd Waffen Cavalry Division of the SS (3rd Hungarian)

India

Total: 2,000


Indisches Freiwilligen Legion der Waffen-SS (Tiger Legion) 
Italy

Total: 15,000


_Italienische Freiwilligen Legion_ (1943): 6,000
1st Sturmbrigade, Italienische Freiwilligen Legion
24th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS
29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Italian)

Latvia

Total: 80,000


Latvian Legion
15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Latvian)
19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Latvian)

Netherlands

Total: 50,000 to 55,000


SS Freiwilligen Legion Niederlande (1941): 2,559
SS Volunteer Grenadier-Brigade Landstorm Nederland
23rd SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Division Nederland
4th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Brigade Nederland
SS-Freiwilligen-Standarte Nordwest
34th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Landstorm Nederland

Norway

Total: 6,000


SS Freiwilligen Legion Norwegen (1941): 1,218
SS-Schijager-Batalljon Norwegen

Romania

Total: 50,000


Romanian volunteers in the Waffen-SS
Waffen Grenadier Regiment of the SS (1st Romanian)
Waffen Grenadier Regiment of the SS (2nd Romanian) 

Spain


Spanische-Freiwilligen-Kompanie der SS 101
Spanische-Freiwilligen-Kompanie der SS 102

Soviet Union]


29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS RONA (1st Russian)
14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician)
30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Belarussian) 
Kaukasische Waffen-Verbände der SS
Osttürkische Waffen-Verbände der SS
Tataren-Gebirgsjäger-Regiment der SS
Waffen-Sturm-Brigade Kaminski
Waffen-Sturm-Brigade RONA

United Kingdom

Total: 54


British Free Corps of the Waffen-SS. 

Yugoslavia


21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Skanderbeg

Fates
During the Nuremberg Trials, the Waffen-SS was declared a criminal organization for its major involvement in war crimes and for being an "integral part" of the SS. Conscript units, however, were not deemed to be criminal as these individuals had no choice in becoming members. A number of volunteers were executed, while others were tried and imprisoned by their countries. Still others either lived in exile or returned to their homeland. The majority escaped any punishment from the Nuremberg trials.

However after the German Instrument of Surrender, many volunteers were tried and imprisoned by their countries. In several cases, volunteers were executed. Henri Joseph Fenet, one of the last recipients of the Knight's Cross was sentenced to 20 years of forced labour and released from prison in 1959. Some were far less lucky and were shot upon capture by the French authorities. General Leclerc was famously presented with a defiant group of 11 or 12 captured 33rd SS _Charlemagne_ men. The Free French General immediately asked them why they wore a German uniform, to which one of them replied by asking the General why he wore an American one; the Free French wore modified US Army uniforms. The group of French Waffen-SS men was then promptly executed without any form of military tribunal procedure.

Walloon leader Leon Degrelle escaped to Spain, where, despite being sentenced to death _in absentia_ by the Belgian authorities, he lived in exile until his death in 1994. 

Some 146 Baltic soldiers from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia who fought against Soviets and escaped to Sweden were extradited to Soviet Union in 1946.

The men of the XV SS Cossack Corps found themselves in Austria at the end of the war and surrendered to Britishtroops. Even though they were given assurances that they would not be turned over to the Soviets, they nevertheless were forcibly removed from the compound and transferred to the USSR. This event became known as the Betrayal of the Cossacks. Most of the Cossacks were executed for treason. Stalin it should be noted ordered the execution of all Red army PoWs because they were deemed traitors to the USSR. 

After the war members of Baltic Waffen-Grenadier Units were considered separate and distinct in purpose, ideology and activities from the German SS by the Western Allies. Subsequently in the spring of 1946, out of the ranks of Baltic conscripts who had surrendered to the Western allies in the previous year, a total of nine companies were formed with a mission to guard the external perimeter of the Nuremberg International Tribunal courthouse and the various depots and residences of US officers and prosecutors connected with the trial. The men were also entrusted with guarding the accused Nazi war criminals held in prison during the trial up until the day of execution.

Of the 54 known members of the British Free Corps, I am aware of only one that was actually executed during his post war trial and only 15 or 16 sent to trial at all. John Amery had mounted an initial defence of insanity but on the very first day of the trial abandoned this defence to plead guilty. In making that change of plea, Justice Humphreys made certain that Amery be made aware that he would be executed as with no mitigation the law prescribed this penalty. Amery did not deviate, I suspect he felt enormous personal guilt for his actions though this is not evident from the trial transcripts.

Justice Humphreys was true to his word, delivering the following comments in his judgement

_John Amery ... I am satisfied that you knew what you did and that you did it intentionally and deliberately after you had received warning from ... your fellow countrymen that the course you were pursuing amounted to high treason. They called you a traitor and you heard them; but in spite of that you continued in that course. You now stand a self-confessed traitor to your King and country, and you have forfeited your right to live_

Other members of the corps were spared the death penalty but of the 15 sent to trial, all were found guilty and received lengthy gaol terms

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## swampyankee (Jan 11, 2017)

One thing which should give people pause: in all these countries, the resistance required the sorts of skills law-abiding citizens don't normally have, such as hiding from police, evading capture, functioning in an underground economy, and forging papers,

I'm also going to hunt up some population statistics for those countries.


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