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The Waffen-SS (Armed SS) was created as the militarised wing of the Schutzstaffel (SS; "Protective Squadron") of the Nazi Party.Its origins can be traced back to the selection of a group of 120 SS men in 1933 by Sepp Dietrich to form the Sonderkommando Berlin, which became the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH). [4]
The SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade France (SS-Freiwilligen Sturmbrigade "Frankreich") was formed in July 1943 as the first French formation permitted within the Waffen-SS.It was led by SS-Obersturmbannführer Paul-Marie Gamory-Dubourdeau who had formerly served in the Foreign Legion. [3]
The 21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Skanderbeg was a division of the German Waffen-SS that was developed around a nucleus of Albanian volunteers, named after Albanian medieval lord George Kastrioti Skanderbeg. It was better known for murdering, raping, and looting in predominantly Serb areas than for participating in combat operations ...
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.
Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts (22 C, 9 P) F. Foreign conscript units of the Waffen-SS (2 C, 5 P) L. Legions of the Waffen-SS (1 C, 7 P)
The BFC did not have a "commander" per se as it was the intention of the SS to appoint a British commander when a suitable British officer came forward. However, three German Waffen-SS officers acted as the Verbindungsoffizier ("liaison officer") between the SS-Hauptamt Amtsgruppe D/3, which was responsible for the unit and the British volunteers, and in practice they acted as the unit ...
The 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian) was a foreign infantry division of the Waffen-SS that served alongside the Wehrmacht during World War II.According to some sources, the division was under Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler's overall command but was not an integral part of the Schutzstaffel (SS).
[5] Many of the foreign volunteers fought in either the Waffen-SS or the Wehrmacht. Generally the non-Germanic troops were permitted into the Wehrmacht, whereas the Germanic volunteers were recruited into the service of the Waffen-SS as part of propaganda-driven "pan-Germanic army" of the future. [6]