foreign fighters for germany?

[RAGMAN]

i have been trying to find info on how many americans and canadians fought for germany in ww2... i have read east indians serving for the SS. i wondered wat other citizens of other countries fought for germany (albeit as a private citizen)

 

[Njaco]

Italy
Romania
Hungary
Lithuania

actually, a lot of nationalities.

 

[Capt. Vick]

Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[GrauGeist]

They had French SS, Dutch SS, Norwegian SS and so on.

As far as Americans go, there were quite a few that served in various units including the SS...one good example would be the Germans that were part of the deception during the Battle of the Bulge where the SS grenadiers were posing as U.S. Army MPs, many were American born or educated.

 

[A4K]

one good example would be the Germans that were part of the deception during the Battle of the Bulge where the SS grenadiers were posing as U.S. Army MPs, many were American born or educated.

Didn't know that Dave! I always assumed they were 'regular' Germans, if you know what I mean (more proof of how wrong assumption can be!)

Read too that the identifying feature of jeeps used by such units was the use of German type slitted lamp covers. Having only seen one photo myself of a jeep in that configuration, can't confirm or deny that.

 

[Marcel]

There were around 25,000 Dutch volunteers in German service, of which around 7000 really had a combat function.

 

[meatloaf109]

Quite a few Volksdeutch came from the new world back to Germany. If my grandmother would have had her way, my father would have been one. This was a major factor in his leaving home at 14.

 

[Njaco]

Remember the scene in "Band of Brothers" with Malarky and the German prisoner - just before they were **** by Lt. Spears?

 

[meatloaf109]

Exactly. Also the 1st W.O. in "Das Boot". I know that they were composite characters, but the idea is the same.

 

[stona]

Very few British and Commonwealth citizens served the Reich,despite some determined efforts by the Germans to recruit them. They would have been used more for propaganda than combat. There's a decent resume here:

British Volunteers in the German Wehrmacht in WWII

Steve

 

[al49]

Not mentioned before, if I'm right, there was also a Spanish fighter group, the "Blue Squadron"; more details here:
http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/aircraft-pictures/spaniards-russia-blue-squadron-29703.html
Cheers
Alberto

 

[vinnye]

Their were quite a few Belgians who fought for Germany, some in the SS - who fought fiercly in the Russian campaigns.

 

[davebender]

A bunch of nations and ethnic groups fought against Bolshevism during 1936 to 1956. They were not necessarily fighting for Germany.

 

[RAGMAN]

i have not heard of canadians involved but i imagine some must have went back to germany to fight for the fatherland .... but i have not seen anything that says otherwise

 

[stug3]

Russian Cossacs who fought with the Wehrmacht.

German image of a Russian 'volunteer' in the Wehrmacht.

 

[Njaco]

The Cossacks freakin' HATED the Soviets.

 

[davebender]

Cossacks fought against Bolsheviks during Russian Civil War. Afterward Bolsheviks made an effort to exterminate the various Cossack groups. That sort of thing breeds hatred. So does 1930s Holodomor which killed millions in Ukraine and left the remainder in so much agony they wished they were dead.

 

[GrauGeist]

The Cossacks freakin' HATED the Soviets.

If you think the White Russians hated the Reds before the war, you can be rest assured that the hate was amplified afterwards...well, the ones that were left, at least.

At the close of the war, Stalin demanded the White Russians be turned over to him from the Allies...and they were.

They didn't last long...