Perhaps when the German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS of ww2 is mentioned, images of blond-haired blue-eyed well dressed Aryan-looking men come to mind, as Germanys racial policies come into question. However, the Wehrmacht and German war machine as a whole was far more diverse than many might think. Volunteers from all corners of the globe fought in the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS to a lesser extent. From Belgium and Croatia to India and even the United States, volunteers fought along side the Germans during the war. One of the most famous foreign units was the Freies Arabian (Free Arabian Legion), a Wehrmacht unit formed at the request of Haj Amin al-Husseini. Hitler accepted this request and the unit was formed in 1941, hosting mainly Arabian Muslims such as Syrians and Iraqis. The unit was based in Syria but when Syria fell to the British, it was moved to Greece. After that, they received more Arab volunteers, some also being prisoners of war. The Germans also wanted to use the unit to help station an Iraqi exiled state in the Caucasus to conquer mainland Iraq from the British but this never happened. Similar in principle to the Freies Arabian, the Indische Legion (India Legion) was created as a way to get Indian volunteers into German service to retake mainland India and liberate it from British control. If only they had waited for Gandhi. Originally, the Legion was part of the Heer, the German land component of the German Army (Wehrmacht) but in 1944 it switched hands to the Waffen-SS, the elite armed force that answered strictly to the Nazi Party. There were other foreign units as well, such as the Charlemagne Regiment, a French Werhmacht, and later, Waffen SS unit comprised of French volunteers. Some of the last soldiers still fighting at the end of ww2 in Europe were soldiers of this unit. Another is the Britisches Freikorps or British Free Corps which, you guessed it, were actual British volunteers fighting for the Waffen SS. There were only ever 27 men at most, though. After all is said and done, the Germans had many volunteers and POWs impressed into service from all over. Not only just Germany and German-ally countries. - Alex
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 23:16:16 +0000
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