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, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedes and British, 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 600,000 to 1,000,000 voluntary assistants) within German units of the Wehrmacht primarily on the Eastern Front. Non-Russians from the Soviet Union formed the Ostlegionen (literally "Eastern Legions"). These units were all commanded by General Ernst August Köstring (1876−1953) and represented about five percent of the forces under the OKH. Balkan StatesBaltic States |
Belgium
Total: 6,000[42]
- Free Corps Denmark (1941): 1,164[38]
- Danish volunteers in the Waffen-SS, the majority of them in the SS Division Wiking and the SS Division Nordland[43]
Hungary
- Polnische Wehrmacht (World War II) (White Eagle's Legion)
- Poles in the Wehrmacht
- Blue Division
- including one company (150 to 200 volunteers) of Portuguese
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.
- 162nd Turkoman Division: The very effective 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]
- Russian Corps
- Russian Liberation Army
- Turkestan legion: The battalions of the Turkistani Legion formed part of the 162nd Infantry Division and saw much action in Yugoslavia and Italy.
- Ukrainian Liberation Army
- Volga Tatar Legion
- Ostlegionen: By late 1943 the Eastern legions contained 427,000 volunteers and conscripts
- Armenische Legion
- Azerbaijani Legion
- Caucasian Muslim Legion
- Georgian Legion (1941–1945)
- Kalmykian Voluntary Cavalry Corps
- Nachtigall Battalion (Ukranian) predominantly foreign sub-battalion of the Brandenburgers
- Roland Battalion (Special Group Roland) predominantly foreign sub-battalion of the Brandenburgers
- Schutzmannschaft-Brigade Sieglung (Belorusia)
See also
- Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts
- Franz von Werra: Swiss pilot of the German Luftwaffe
- Brandenburgers: German Special Forces of the Wehrmacht (Abwehr)