Wehrmacht foreign volunteers and conscripts
Among the approximately one million foreign volunteers and conscripts who served in the Wehrmacht during World War II were ethnic Germans, Belgians, Czechs, Dutch, Finns, French, Greeks, Hungarians, Norwegians, Poles,[1] Portuguese, Spanish, Swedes and British,[2] along with people from the Baltic states and the Balkans.
Russian émigrés and defectors from the Soviet Union formed the Russian Liberation Army or fought as Hilfswillige (approximately another 800,000 to 1,000,000 voluntary assistants) within German units of the Wehrmacht primarily on the Eastern Front.[3] Non-Russians from the Soviet Union formed the Ostlegionen (literally "Eastern Legions"). These units were all commanded by General Ernst August Köstring (1876−1953)[4] and represented about five percent of the forces under the OKH.
Contents
List of volunteer units
Soviet Union
- 162nd Turkoman Division: The 162nd Turkoman Division was formed in May 1943 and comprised 5 Azeri and 6 Turkestani artillery/infantry units.[5]
- XV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps: Until 1 February 1945 under command of the Wehrmacht, then the Corps was transferred to the Waffen-SS[6]
- Kalmykian Voluntary Cavalry Corps
- Nachtigall Battalion
- predominantly foreign sub-battalion of the Brandenburgers
- Ostlegionen: By late 1943 the Eastern legions contained 427,000 volunteers and conscripts
- Roland Battalion (Special Group Roland)
- predominantly foreign sub-battalion of the Brandenburgers
- Russian Liberation Movement
- Russian Corps
- Russian Liberation Army
- Ukrainian Liberation Army
- Ukrainian National Army
- Belarusian Home Defence
- Luftwaffen-Legion Lettland
- Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force
Croatia
- 369th (Croatian) Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)
- 373rd (Croatian) Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)
- 392nd (Croatian) Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)
- 369th Croatian Reinforced Infantry Regiment (Wehrmacht)
- Croatian Naval Legion
- Croatian Air Force Legion
Other Europe
- Poles in the Wehrmacht
- Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism
- Blue Division[7]
- including one company (150 to 200 volunteers) of Portuguese
- Blue Legion
Asian states
See also
- Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts
- Schutzmannschaft
- Selbstschutz
- Hiwi
- Kapo
- Brandenburgers: German Special Forces of the Wehrmacht (Abwehr)
References
- ↑ Ryszard Kaczmarek: Polacy w Wehrmachcie. Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków 2010. ISBN 978-83-08-04488-9
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ M. V. Nazarov, The Mission of the Russian Emigration, Moscow: Rodnik, 1994. ISBN 5-86231-172-6
- ↑ Dermot Bradley, Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Markus Rövekamp: Die Generale des Heeres 1921–1945. Band 7: Knabe–Luz. Biblio Verlag, Bissendorf 2004, ISBN 3-7648-2902-8.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Rolf Michaelis: Die Waffen-SS. Mythos und Wirklichkeit. Michaelis-Verlag, Berlin 2001, p. 36
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
