Among the approximately one million foreign volunteers and conscripts who served in the Wehrmacht during World War II were ethnic Belgians, Czechs, Dutch, Finns, Danes, French, Hungarians, Norwegians, Poles, [1] Portuguese, Swedes, [2] Swiss along with people from Great Britain, Ireland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the Balkans. [3] At least 47,000 Spaniards served in the Blue Division. [4]
Many Soviet citizens (Russians and other non-Russian ethnic minorities) joined the Wehrmacht forces as Hiwis (or Hilfswillige ). [5] The Ukrainian collaborationist forces were composed of an estimated number of 180,000 volunteers serving with units scattered all over Europe. [6] Russian émigrés and defectors from the Soviet Union formed the Russian Liberation Army or fought as Hilfswillige within German units of the Wehrmacht primarily on the Eastern Front. [7] Non-Russians from the Soviet Union formed the Ostlegionen (literally "Eastern Legions"). The East Legions comprized a total of 175,000 personnel. [8] These units were all commanded by General Ernst August Köstring (1876−1953). [9] A lower estimate for the total number of foreign volunteers that served in the entire German armed forces (including the Waffen SS) is 350,000. [10]
These units were often under the command of German officers and some published their own propaganda newssheets.
Unit name | Description |
---|---|
Armenian Legion | Mostly Soviet Armenians |
Azerbaijani Legion | Mostly Soviet Azeris |
Georgian Legion | Mostly Soviet Georgians |
Hiwi | Soviet civilians and prisoners of war |
XV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps | Until 1 February 1945 under command of the Wehrmacht, then the Corps was transferred to the Waffen-SS [11] |
Kalmykian Voluntary Cavalry Corps | Mostly Kalmyks |
Litauische Bau-Bataillonen | Mostly conscripted Lithuanians |
Fatherland Defense Force | Land unit composed of Lithuanians |
Luftwaffen-Legion Lettland | Air unit composed of Latvians. |
Nachtigall Battalion | Ukrainians of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists |
Ostlegionen | Consisting mostly of Caucasians |
Roland Battalion | A.k.a. Special Group Roland. Second Polish Republic citizens of Ukrainian ethnicity |
Russian Liberation Army | Mostly ethnic Russians |
162nd Turkoman Division | Formed in May 1943 and comprised 5 Azeri and 6 Turkestani artillery/infantry units. [12] |
Ukrainian Liberation Army | Ukrainians |
Ukrainian National Army | Ukrainians |
These German commanders also received honorary military or leading titles between their units at charge; for example Helmuth von Pannwitz received the title of "Ataman" from his Cossack units.
Non-Germans in the German armed forces during World War II were volunteers, conscripts and those otherwise induced to join who served in Nazi Germany's armed forces during World War II. In German war-time propaganda those who volunteered for service were referred to as Freiwillige ("volunteers"). At the same time, many non-Germans in the German armed forces were conscripts or recruited from prisoner-of-war camps.
The Tatar Legions were auxiliary units of the Waffen-SS formed after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.
The 22nd SS Volunteer Cavalry Division was a German Waffen-SS cavalry division which was active on the Eastern Front during World War II. The division was composed primarily of Royal Hungarian Army Volksdeutsche conscripts who were transferred to the Waffen-SS following an agreement between Germany and Hungary. The division is commonly known under the Maria Theresia name in publications, although no documents have been found to confirm this name.
The 25th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS "Hunyadi" was a short-lived infantry division of the Waffen-SS, an armed branch of the German Nazi Party that served alongside but was never formally part of the Wehrmacht during World War II. Established in November 1944 following the German overthrow of the Hungarian regime of Miklós Horthy, it consisted mainly of troops drawn from the Royal Hungarian Army's 13th Honvéd Division. It was never properly formed, trained, or equipped, and after being evacuated from its training camp in the face of the advancing Soviet Red Army, it surrendered to the United States Army in Austria in May 1945.
Azerbaijani SS volunteer formations were recruited from prisoners of war, mainly from the Soviet Union and the countries annexed by it after 1939. Nazi Germany organised them to fight against the Soviet Union.
The XV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps was a World War II cavalry corps of the Waffen-SS, the armed wing of the German Nazi Party, primarily recruited from Cossacks.
The 1st Cossack Cavalry Division was a Cossack division of the German Army that served during World War II. It was created on the Eastern Front mostly with Don Cossacks already serving in the Wehrmacht, those who escaped from the advancing Red Army and Soviet POWs. In 1944, the division was transferred to the Waffen SS, becoming part of the XV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps, established in February 1945. At the end of the war, the unit ceased to exist.
The 30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS(1st Belarusian), originally called the 30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS , was a short-lived German Waffen-SS infantry division formed largely from Belarusian, Russian, Polish, and Ukrainian personnel of the Schutzmannschaft-Brigade Siegling in August 1944 at Warsaw in the General Government.
The 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS , originally called the Latvian SS-Volunteer Division was an infantry division of the Waffen-SS during World War II. It was formed in February 1943, and together with its sister unit, the 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS formed the Latvian Legion.
The Azerbaijani Legion was one of the foreign units of the Wehrmacht. It was formed in December 1941 on the Eastern Front as the Kaukasische-Mohammedanische Legion and was re-designated 1942 into two separate legions, the North Caucasian legion and the Azerbaijani legion. It was made up mainly of former Azerbaijani POW volunteers but also volunteers from other peoples in the area. It was part of the Ostlegionen. It was used to form the 162nd (Turkistan) Infanterie-Division of the Wehrmacht in 1943. similar to other Ostlegionen, it was organised to replenish the dwindling German manpower on the Eastern front and to "save the German blood at the front."
The Estonian Legion was a military unit of the Combat Support Forces of the Waffen-SS during World War II, mainly consisting of Estonian soldiers.
The Maquis du Mont Mouchet were a group of French resistance fighters during the Second World War that were based at Mont Mouchet.
The Special Group Bergmann or the Bergmann Battalion was a military unit of the German Abwehr during World War II, composed of five German-officered companies of the Caucasian volunteers.
A large number of Soviet citizens of various ethnicities collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II. It is estimated that the number of Soviet collaborators with the Nazi German military was around 1 million.
The Free Arabian Legion was the collective name of several Nazi German units formed from Arab volunteers from the Middle East, notably Iraq, and North Africa during World War II.
The French SS Volunteer Assault Brigade, most commonly known as the Brigade Frankreich was a unit of the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II. It was formed in 1943 after a change in the admission standards of the Waffen-SS allowed Frenchmen to enlist for the first time. After training in Alsace, the brigade served on the Eastern Front before merging with the Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism to form the SS Division Charlemagne.
Israfil Israfilov, Israfil Muhammedbey, or in short Israfil-Bey was Russian, Azerbaijani and Polish military officer, Standartenführer of the Waffen-SS.
The 2nd Cossack Cavalry Division was a short-lived cavalry division of Nazi Germany's Waffen-SS during World War II. The division existed from November 1944 until May 1945. It was one of two Waffen-SS Cossack divisions, along with the 1st Cossack Cavalry Division.