The glory of the "Normandy-Niemen" against the infamy of the SS division "Charlemagne". Almost from childhood, we were accustomed to the idea that France was a victim of Germany in World War II, that she fought heroically against the Nazis since 1939, that the best sons of the French people went into partisans and underground. Again, we can recall the “Fighting France” of General de Gaulle and the legendary Normandie-Niemen air regiment ...
Charles de Gaulle ( ookaboo.com)
However, it would be naive to assume that in the Second World War, in which almost all of Europe fought against the USSR, France became an exception. Of course, one should not belittle the merits of the Normandie-Niemen and Fighting France, but long before the French pilots took the first battle, their compatriots, and in much larger numbers, had long fought on the Eastern Front. And at the same time they fought shoulder to shoulder not with Soviet, but with German soldiers. And many fought voluntarily.
Banner of the air regiment "Normandie-Niemen" (ookaboo.com)
But how did the French get into the ranks of the Wehrmacht? After all, it is written in any history textbook that France was occupied by Germany in 1940, and many French subsequently died fighting for the independence of their homeland. So it is, but not entirely. At least no less, or even more, the French died and were captured, including the Soviet, fighting for the Third Reich. Some Frenchmen who served in the ranks of the Wehrmacht did not even hesitate to write their memoirs later.
Take, for example, one of the most famous works on this subject - "The Last Soldier of the Third Reich" (original title - "The Forgotten Soldier"). It would seem that only a German could write a book with such a title. Well, at worst, an Austrian. But the fact is that the author of this book is the Frenchman Guy Sayer, who very colorfully described his "exploits" at Stalingrad, on the Kursk Bulge, in the battles for Poland and East Prussia. This book is interesting not so much by the description of the battles as by Sayer's attitude. The most surprising thing, but even in 1943, he firmly believed that France would soon enter the war against the USSR, and did not find anything strange in this. And why should he be surprised when in his and in neighboring units, besides the Germans, there were many other Europeans - Czechs, Belgians, Poles, Croats, etc.? Not to mention the Italians, Romanians and Hungarians, who had their own "national" armies. The war on the Eastern Front was clearly perceived by Sayer (and not only by him) as a campaign of "united Europe" against Russia. Which, in fact, is completely true.
Postage stamp with "Legion of French Volunteers" (panzer4520.yuku.com)
Already in July 1941, the Legion of French Volunteers (LVF) began to be created in France, and in November 1941, near the village of Borodino, as in 1812, the Russians and the French again met in battle - the 32nd division of Colonel V. Polosukhin and 638th French Infantry Regiment. In 1942, the LVF, which suffered heavy losses in battles with units of the Red Army, was assigned to re-form, and then proceeded to punitive operations in the occupied territory of the USSR. After heavy fighting in the summer of 1944, the remnants of the LVF were transferred to the 8th SS Assault Brigade. But the 33rd SS Grenadier Brigade (later a division) "Charlemagne" won the greatest "fame" of the French volunteers. This combat unit had a very diverse composition - former soldiers of the LVF and the 8th assault brigade, Nazi accomplices who fled from the offensive of the Anglo-American troops, declassed elements, half-educated students, gendarmes and volunteers from the French colonies. The combat path of the division "Charlemagne" was short-lived, but bright. At the end of February 1945, the Wehrmacht command threw the French to plug a gap in the area of the Polish city of Charne, after which the division (or rather, what was left of it) was transferred to Berlin, where its combat path ended in May 1945. At the same time, according to the memoirs of the Germans, the French fought to the last, defending the Reich Chancellery together with the Danes and Norwegians from the SS Nordland division.
Commander of the 32nd Red Banner Saratov Rifle Division Colonel Viktor Polosukhin (kz44.narod.ru)
Even the pedantic Germans could not name the exact number of Frenchmen who fought in the ranks of the Wehrmacht, so it remains only to turn to the numbers of French citizens who were in Soviet captivity - 23,136 people. Some of the French who fought for the Third Reich were captured by their compatriots and the Anglo-American troops in 1944-45, or even simply returned home, as the aforementioned Guy Sayer did, who managed to still serve in the French army and even take part in the Paris parade of 1946.
Propaganda poster urging the French to enlist in the SS division (ww2-charlemagne-1945.webs.com)
Despite the fact that the exact figures will never be named, it can be said with full confidence that France took an active part in the Great Patriotic War. Not in the Second World War, where its role is very insignificant, but in the Great Patriotic War. After all, French volunteers already appeared in Russia in September 1941, and this does not count those Frenchmen who, like Guy Sayer, were drafted into the Wehrmacht and from the very beginning participated in the campaign to the East. Of course, no one will ever forget the feat of the French pilots from the Normandie-Niemen, but we must not forget about other "exploits" of the French - "brave" volunteers from the same SS division "Charlemagne", punishers from the LVF and from other French units fighting the Red Army. It can be absolutely unequivocally stated that the French citizens very actively helped Hitler build the “new order”, only everyone knows what a sad end this “undertaking” itself and its “builders” had.
Pilot Semyon Sibirin congratulates his French colleague Albert Littolf with another victory (waralbum.ru/1627)
THIRTY-THIRD SS GREAT DIVISION "CHARLEMAGN"
The predecessor of this division was the "Volunteer French Legion", created in 1941 under the control of the German army. Initially, it was called the 638th Army Infantry Regiment and first entered combat on the Eastern Front during the winter 1941/42 offensive against Moscow as part of the 7th Infantry Division. The French unit suffered heavy losses and was withdrawn from the front from the spring of 1942 to the autumn of 1943, after which it was used mainly for anti-partisan operations. At this stage, it was divided to conduct operations in the rear against the partisans and was used in the form of units, in terms of their quantitative composition equal to a battalion.
In January 1944, another reorganization of the battalion took place, but it was still used to fight partisans.
In June 1944, the battalion returned to the central sector of the Eastern Front to take part in offensive operations against the Red Army. His actions were so impressive that the Soviet command considered that they were dealing with not one, but two French battalions, although in fact the number of legionnaires corresponded to about half a battalion.
In September 1944, French volunteers joined the Waffen-SS. In France, recruitment into the SS began in earnest only in 1943, in Paris. In August 1944, the first 300 volunteers were sent to Alsace for training as part of the French SS Volunteer Assault Brigade. In September 1943, about 30 French officers were sent to the SS military school in the Bavarian city of Bad Tölze, and about a hundred non-commissioned officers were sent to various junior officer schools in order to improve their training to the level of Waffen-SS standard requirements. At this time, a group of French volunteers was on the Eastern Front as part of the 18th SS Volunteer Panzer-Grenadier Division Horst Wessel. After fierce battles with units of the Red Army, they were recalled to the rear for rest and reorganization. At this time, a decision was made - given the combat track record of the French, to combine them with the remnants of the legion and French militia units to create a new Waffen-SS division.
This most unusual of all divisions also included a number of soldiers from the French colonies, including from French Indochina and even one Japanese. Eyewitnesses claim that several French Jews managed to escape Nazi persecution by hiding in the ranks of the Charlemagne division.
The division was formed in the winter of 1944/45 and sent to the front in Pomerania at the very beginning of 1945. Constant fierce battles against the numerically superior units of the Red Army badly battered the French division and split it into three parts. One of the groups, numbering a battalion, retreated to the Baltic states and evacuated to Denmark, after which it ended up in Neustrelitz, not far from Berlin.
The second group was completely exterminated by the furious volleys of Soviet artillery. The third managed to retreat to the west, where it was destroyed - its soldiers either died or were taken prisoner by the Russians. Those who remained in Neustrelitz were rounded up by the divisional commander, SS Brigadeführer Gustav Krukenberg, who released from the oath those who no longer wished to serve in the SS. Nevertheless, about 500 men voluntarily followed their commander to defend Berlin. Approximately 700 people remained in Neustrelitz. The 500 volunteers who participated in the defense of Berlin fought with exceptional integrity, despite the fact that they knew that the battle was lost. Their courage was awarded with three Knight's Crosses. One of them was awarded to SS Obersturmführer Wilhelm Weber, a German division officer, and two to French soldiers Unterscharführer Eugène Vallot and Oberscharführer Francois Apollo. All three awards were distinctions for personal bravery shown in the destruction of several Soviet tanks alone. Three days later, Vallo and Apollo were killed. Weber was lucky to survive the war.
Those members of the Charlemagne division who chose not to go to the front made their way to the west, where they voluntarily surrendered. They undoubtedly expected the Western Allies to treat them better than the Russians. Those of them who surrendered to their compatriots from the Free French army had to be very disappointed in their illusion. It is known that when they encountered the Free French soldiers, when asked by the latter why they wished to wear German uniforms, the French SS soldiers inquired about the uniforms of the American troops worn by the de Gaulles. Enraged by such a question, the commander of the de Gaulle troops on the spot, without any trial or investigation, shot his fellow SS men. As for the Free French, it is itself guilty of the most terrible war crimes. It makes no sense to say that the killers of the French SS went unpunished. Ironically, the French SS men who took part in the brutal destruction of Oradour in 1944 were treated much more leniently. They were considered people subjected to forced mobilization and thus "victims". The French court acquitted them. The reason for this surprising verdict seems to be purely political. The French SS men who appeared before the court were from Alsace, which over the years of its history has repeatedly passed either to France or to Germany. There was an opinion that a guilty verdict against the perpetrators of the tragedy that broke out in Oradour could cause unrest in Alsace.
Wolfgang Akunov
Oleg Cherkassky - as a sign of deep respect
"My beloved wife,
Sergei Krotov.
(From the last letter of Sergei Krotov to his wife).
After the attack of the German Wehrmacht on the USSR in June 1941, calls were made in France to take part in the deadly struggle that flared up in the east of Europe, which, according to French anti-communists, did not concern only Germany. On August 5, 1941, with the consent of the French government, the Legion des Volontaires Francais contre le Bolchevisme, abbr. .: LVF. Enlisted in the ranks of the German Wehrmacht, this volunteer corps, which consisted exclusively of French (or rather, of French citizens, including numerous Russian white émigrés, including veterans of the Civil War of 1917-1922 in Russia), received the name "638th" in the Wehrmacht regiment of ground forces" (German: Infanterieregiment 638 des Heeres).
Young people predominated among the LVF volunteers (as an exception, even 15-year-olds were taken into the Legion - see the photo in the title of this military-historical miniature), but there were also older people who had the experience of the First World War (and some also the experience of the Civil War) 1918-1922 in Russia, French colonial wars in Syria and Morocco, and even a short "strange war" between France and Germany in 1939-1940).
The French LVF volunteers wore the German army uniform in grey-green "feldgrau". Their only difference from other servicemen of the German Wehrmacht was a sleeve shield with three vertical stripes in the colors of the French national (state) flag - the "Tricolor" (blue, white and red). The only soldier of the French Volunteer Legion who did not want to wear this stripe of the colors of the French Republic and the Bonapartist Empire was the legion's confessor, Cardinal Monsignor Count Jean Mayol de Lupe, who adhered to strong royalist convictions and hated the French republican blue-white-red flag no less than the "sickle "hammered" red flag of world communism. The royalist prelate managed to obtain from the Wehrmacht High Command (and later, after joining the Waffen SS, from the SS Headquarters) the right to wear a special patch with gold lilies of the French royal dynasties of Capet, Valois and Bourbon on a blue field on the sleeve. However, this was a special case.
Having joined the ranks of the German Wehrmacht, the "Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism" received the name "638th Infantry Regiment (French)". In November 1941, the regiment, also referred to as the "Tricolor Regiment" (French: Regiment Tricolore), as part of the 7th Wehrmacht Infantry Division, took part in the battle near Moscow. The author of these lines, while still a student, back in 1972, being sent for autumn agricultural work ("labor semester", and colloquially - "for potatoes") in the village of Vaulino, for the first time heard from a local old collective farmer about how in the forty-first, they had the French part of the German army, in which ... Russians also served. One of the Russian officers of the French part of the German army, according to the memoirs of the old man, lodged in his parents' hut and often told them about his life in Tsarist Russia, "under the old regime." However, this is so, by the way ...
Already on March 3, 1943, the recruitment of French volunteers into the ranks of the Waffen SS began. It should be emphasized that (as before - service in the German Wehrmacht) service in the Waffen SS was completely officially allowed to the French by a special decree of the French government of July 22, 1943. On September 18, 1943, the formation of the French SS volunteer regiment / 1 / began "French SS Volunteer Assault Brigade". The field of participation of the 1st battalion of the French SS brigade in battles with Soviet troops on the Sanok sector of the Carpathian Front in August 1944, the French brigade was replenished with new volunteer contingents, including personnel of the German Wehrmacht (included in the brigade August 10, 1944), as well as the French ranks of the Waffen SS (who previously served in the SS individually), French volunteers of the German Navy ("Kriegsmarine"), Organization Todt (OT), French militia. After replenishment, the French SS brigade was reorganized into the 33rd Grenadier Division of the Waffen SS "Charlemagne" / 3 / (as it was officially called from February 10, 1945).
French Waffen SS volunteers wore the usual SS field uniform. Their only difference was the shield of the colors of the French state (national) flag - "Tricolor" (three vertical stripes - blue-white-red) sewn on the left sleeve. In contrast to the sleeve shield of the LVF volunteers, in the black "chapter" (that is, on the black vertical stripe at the top of the coat of arms) of the heraldic shield of the French SS men (who usually wore it "SS-style", on the left sleeve - in contrast to the Wehrmacht volunteers who wore their national shields on the right sleeve) in most cases (though not always) there was an inscription "France" (France) made in white block letters. On black SS buttonholes, the "Charlemagne" wore either the common SS double rune "Sig" ("Sovulo", "Sovelu", "Salt"), or the image of the "solar (Celtic) cross" (a cross inscribed in a circle), also white. The ranks of the SS division "Charlemagne", who previously served in the French militia, wore a special sign on their buttonholes - "the sword of St. Joan (Joan of Arc)" framed by two oak leaves.
The king of the Germanic tribe of the Franks, who took possession at the end of the 5th century. n. R.H. the Roman province of Gaul, Charlemagne, in 800 was crowned by the pope with the crown of the Roman emperor and founded the so-called "Holy Roman Empire" (Sacrum Imperium Romanum), covering the territory of later France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, parts of Italy and some other states of medieval Europe. Since Charlemagne - in French Charlemagne (Charlemagne from the Latin Carolus Magnus) was considered a great sovereign (comparable to our Vladimir the Red Sun) in both German and French historical traditions, the emblem of the SS division "Charlemagne" (French No. 1) was a heraldic shield, in the right half of which a German eagle was depicted, and in the left half - three French lilies (this coat of arms was depicted on a portrait of Charlemagne hanging in the town hall of Frankfurt am Main by the German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer).
In February 1945, the Charlemagne division entered into battle with units of the Red Army on the territory of the German region of Pomerania. Its units fought with the Soviet troops until the end of the war. The SS assault battalion "Charlemagne" defended Berlin to the last drop of blood. During the battles for Berlin, the French SS commander of the assault battalion of the 33rd SS Grenadier Division Charlemagne (French No. 1), Hauptsturmführer Henri Fene (who managed to knock out eight tanks from the Panzerfaust anti-tank grenade launcher), Untersturmführer Eugene Volo ( also destroyed eight tanks) and Oberscharführer Francois Appollo (who had six enemy tanks on his account). The total number of Soviet tanks destroyed in the battles for Berlin by the fighters of the assault battalion "Charlemagne" was, according to some sources, 62, and according to others - "more than 60").
On May 8, 1945, after the signing of the act of unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany, in the area of the German resort town of Bad Reichengall, they were without trial or investigation, by order of the French General Leclerc, commander of the 2nd Panzer Division "Fighting (de Gaulle - V. A.) France", thirteen young French volunteers from the regiment "Gershe" /4/ (the former SS division "Charlemagne") were shot. French volunteers of the Waffen SS (including one of our compatriots - the Russian Waffen-Standartenunker SS Sergey Krotov, the commander of a battery of anti-tank guns; he was not the only Russian in the ranks of the French volunteers - history has preserved the names of the Waffen-Scharführer SS Nikolai Shumilin, a veteran of the LVF and commander 4th platoon of the 1st Battalion of the 58th SS Waffen-Grenadier Regiment "Charlemagne", LVF veteran and commander of the 4th company of the SS assault battalion "Charlemagne" SS Waffen-Standartenführer Sergei Protopopov, Alexei Pronin, SS Waffen-Obersturmführer Yevgeny Pikarev, Waffen -Untersturmführer SS Nikolai Samosudov and others) /5/, who fought mainly on the Eastern Front and did not shed a drop of blood of their French fellow citizens, laid down their arms on the day of surrender, surrendered to the Americans, but were handed over by the warriors of "Uncle Sam" to the Leclerc division that had pulled up (uniformed, like all the troops of General de Gaulle, in American military uniforms).
General Leclerc, leaning on a stick, walked in front of the French SS, after which he asked one of them: "Why are you wearing German uniforms?" The answer of the prisoner of war was in no way inferior to the question: "My general, why are you wearing an American uniform"?
As you can see, Leclerc (unlike other Frenchmen) had absolutely no sense of humor. Not appreciating the comedy of the situation, the brave de Gaulle general immediately ordered the execution of not only the impudent prisoner, but also twelve of his comrades in arms. The bodies of the executed lay unburied at the place of execution for three days. The French military priest who was present at the conversation and execution did not take care not only of the spiritual consolation of the young men before the execution, but also of their not only Christian, but even more or less human burial. Finally, after three days, the dead were "buried in the earth's globe" by order of the American military authorities.
The author of the book happened to visit Bad Reichenhall. In the vicinity of the town, many years after the war, a modest memorial was erected in honor of those killed. To date, it has been possible to establish the names and surnames of only 5 of these victims of the bloodthirsty French military justice. These are the names:
Paul Briffaut, Robert Doffa, Sergei (Serge) Krotov, Jean Robert, Raymond Payra, and eight unknown soldiers.
According to the memoirs of Lieutenant Ferrano of the Armed Forces of the "Free French" Ferrano, who commanded the execution, the convicts behaved courageously.
True, just before the execution, Sergei Krotov lost his nerve and said: "You have no right to shoot me! I'm married! After all, I'm not even a Frenchman!" However, then he pulled himself together and held on courageously to the end, having managed to shout before his death: "Long live France!" (Vive la France!)
In a last letter to his wife Simone (the mother of his five children), Krotov wrote:
"My beloved wife,
I did my duty by fighting the Bolsheviks and the atheists. This morning I surrendered to the Americans, the French soldiers are leading me to be shot. My dear wife, forgive me, take care that our children remember that their father was always just and loved them very much. My dear wife, my dear Simone, I kiss you with all my heart, kiss my poor mother and children. Always believe in God and forgive the evil that is unjustly done to us. Goodbye,
Sergei Krotov.
Soon after the execution, the burial place of the "Charlemagne" was consecrated by Monsignor Jean Count Mayol de Lupe.
The surviving French Waffen SS volunteers were sentenced in France to lengthy prison terms and many to death for "treason." Those who were even less fortunate fell victims of extrajudicial reprisals. Some veterans of "Charlemagne" managed to atone for their guilt before their homeland, fighting in the ranks of the French Foreign Legion against the national liberation movements of the former French colonies, in vain attempts to suppress the legitimate aspirations of the oppressed peoples of Indochina, which enjoys the support of the countries of victorious socialism, the international communist movement and all progressive mankind, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria to free themselves from French colonial rule.
Their names are not forgotten - including by Russian poets. The fate of the French volunteers inspired, for example, our contemporary skald Yevgeny Bobolovich to make the Charlemagne rondelle, which we present below:
RONDEL CHARLEMAGNE
Storms sweep away Charlemagne
But their glory flies above the mountains.
The Celtic oak grove also sings
That it is not a pity to fall in battle,
Beyond the horizon and vertical.
Aryan sagas lava hardens ...
Storms sweep away Charlemagne
But their glory flies above the mountains.
Christ is with you companion - stand up!
And the death of the path is only the beginning
But sorrow is as light as a veil...
And embraced sadness like ice
Storms sweep away Charlemagne
Evgeny Bobolovich.
Military unit name = 33rd SS Grenadier Division "Charlemagne" (French No. 1) 33. Waffen Grenadier Division der SS "Charlemagne" (französische Nr. 1) image = signature = Symbols of the division years = 1944 May 9, 1945 country = ... ... Wikipedia
This term has other meanings, see 20th division. 20th SS Grenadier Division (1st Estonian) 20.Waffen Grenadier Division der SS (estnische Nr.1) ... Wikipedia
26.Waffen Grenadier Division der SS (ungarische Nr.2) ... Wikipedia
30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Belorussian) German. 30.Waffen Grenadier Division der SS (weissruthenische Nr. 1) Symbols of the 30th SS division (1st Belarusian) Years of existence ... Wikipedia
Symbols of the 30th SS division (2nd Russian) Stylized Lithuanian cross Years of existence August December 1944 Country Third Reich Type ... Wikipedia
SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division "Nordland" 11.SS Freiwilligen Panzergrenadier Division "Nordland" ... Wikipedia
17.SS Panzergrenadier Division "Götz von Berlichingen" ... Wikipedia
This term has other meanings, see 29th SS Grenadier Division. 29th SS Grenadier Division (Italian Nr.1) German. 29.Waffen Grenadier Division der SS (italienische Nr. 1) ... Wikipedia
This term has other meanings, see 29th SS Grenadier Division. The word "Ron" has other meanings: see Ron (meanings). 29th SS Grenadier Division RONA (Russian Nr.1) 29. Waffen Grenadier Division der SS "RONA" (russische Nr ... Wikipedia
15th Waffen Grenadier Division der SS (lettische Nr. 1) ... Wikipedia
So, Belle France was trampled by a Teutonic boot, but some of the locals found this boot to their liking and even taste. It is about such Frenchmen (let's call them collaborators) that we will talk about ...
I want to briefly tell some units and organizations where French citizens are armed or with working tools in their hands. They served the Reich. I do not draw any conclusions, but I present the material purely informative.
Legion of French Volunteers - Fighters against Bolshevism
On June 22, 1941, the leader of the French fascist party PPF (Parti Populaire Francais), Jacques Doriot, announced the creation of the Legion of French Volunteers to participate in the war against the USSR. On July 5, Ribbentrop approved this idea in telegram No.3555.
The leaders of the pro-Nazi French organizations created the Central Committee of the Legion of French Volunteers (LVF), under which a recruiting center was established, housed in the former office of the Soviet travel agency Intourist.
Since July 1941, more than 13,000 volunteers have applied to the committee. The first combat French unit, formed in September 1941 in Poland, was called Franzosischer Infantry-Regiment 638 (French Infantry Regiment 638). 2,500 legionnaires wore German uniforms with the French tricolor on the right sleeve. The regimental colors were tricolor French and orders were also given in French. But all volunteers had to take an oath of allegiance to Adolf Hitler.
Marshal Petain sent a pompous message to the legionnaires: "Before you go into battle, I am glad to know that you do not forget that part of our military honor belongs to you" (the old man turned around sharply).
The battle near Moscow took a heavy toll on the legionnaires. The total loss of personnel reached 1000 people. German military inspectors reported to the Wehrmacht Joint Command about the French allies: “People showed, in general, good morale, but their level of combat training is low. The sergeants, in general, are not bad, but do not show activity, since the senior staff does not show effectiveness The officers are of little use and have clearly been recruited on a purely political basis." The conclusion was: "The Legion is unfit for combat. Improvement can only be achieved through the renewal of officers and forced training."
In 1942, the legion was reorganized, brought to the strength of 2700 bayonets and was already used only for anti-partisan actions. The descendants of the sans-culottes and the Marquis de La Fayette became ordinary punishers. On June 22, 1944, the legion was sent to the front to cover the German retreat along the Minsk highway, where it suffered heavy losses. The rest of the personnel were poured into the 8th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade France.
8th French Brigade of the Waffen SS (SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade France)
Within a month after the battle on the Beaver River (in Belarus), the recruitment of volunteers was activated. Due to heavy losses on the Eastern Front in Vichy France, about 3,000 more people were recruited from the collaborationist Militia and university students. From the remnants of the Legion and from these reinforcements, the 8th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade France was created. The brigade was led by a former officer of the Foreign Legion, Obersturmbannführer Paul Marie Gamory-Dubourdeau.
The brigade was included in the SS division Horst Wessel and sent to Galicia. In the battles against the advancing Red Army, the French suffered heavy losses.
SS Division Charlemagne (Waffen-Grenadier- Division der SS Charlemagne)
In September 1944, a new French military unit was created - the Waffen-Grenadier-Brigade der SS Charlemagne (französische Nr.1, also known as the "Französische Brigade der SS"). It also included the remnants of the LVF and the French Sturmbrigade, which by that time had been disbanded.
The unit was joined by collaborators who fled from the Allied forces advancing from the west, former volunteers from the Kriegsmarine, NSKK, Todt organizations and others. Some sources claim that the unit had volunteers from the French colonies and Switzerland.
In February 1945, the status of the unit was officially raised to the level of a division, which received the name 33. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS "Charlemagne". The number of the division was 7340 people.
The division was sent to Poland on the Soviet-German front and on February 25 entered into battle with the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front near the town of Hammerstein (now Czarne, Poland). Then the remnants of the division, which lost 4800 people, were sent to the city of Neustrelitz for reorganization.
In early April 1945, about 700 people remained from the division. The division commander Krukenberg seconded 400 people to the construction battalion, and the rest, about 300 people, chose to participate in the defense of Berlin.
On April 23, Krukenberg received an order from the clerk's office to arrive with his people in the capital. 320 - 330 French, bypassing Soviet checkpoints, arrived in Berlin on April 24.
The French unit, called Sturmbataillon "Charlemagne", was seconded to the command of the 11th SS Division Nordland, in which many Scandinavians served. After the removal of the previous commander Joachim Ziegler (Joachim Ziegler), Brigadeführer Krukenberg was appointed Sector Commander.
On the first day of fighting, the regiment lost half of its personnel. On April 27, the remnants of the Nordland division were pushed back to the area of government buildings (defense sector Z). Ironically, the French were among the last defenders of Hitler's bunker...
In total, after the last battles, about 30 French remained alive. Some of them managed to escape from defeated Berlin and return to France, where they ended up in prisoner of war camps controlled by the Allies. They were expected by the court, the death penalty or long prison terms. Many were shot simply without much delay.
According to one version, General of the Free French troops Leclerc, faced with a group of 10 - 12 French SS prisoners of war, asked them why they were wearing German military uniforms. According to some testimonies, they answered him: "Why are you wearing an American one?"
The witty SS men were shot on the spot. However, they shared the fate of many Waffen-SS soldiers and officers who suffered this fate on the Soviet-German and Western fronts. Neither the Soviet soldiers, nor the Anglo-Americans, nor, especially, the Poles, were particularly ceremonious with this kind of SS men. The SS was seen primarily as punishers. Regardless of the color of the uniforms.
Bretonishe Waffenverband der SS "Bezzen Perrot"
The nationalist party PNB (Parti National Breton), seeking independence from "colonial France", was favorably received by the Germans. Under the SD, the Bezen Perrot (Perrot Group) division was created, registered by the Germans under the name Bretonishe Waffenverband der SS. 80 volunteers were recruited there. They began to wear the SS uniform and the Celtic cross as a patch.
The unit took part in operations against French partisans starting in March 1944. Subsequently, they were included in the special detachments of the SD.
21st Panzer Division (21 Panzer Division)
In the technical park of the 21st Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht, there were about 50 French trucks and a number of Somua and Hotchkiss armored vehicles. For their maintenance, French mechanics were required. The 2nd company of the Werkstattkompanie (supply, repairs) consisted of 230 French volunteers who did not have any patches on their German uniforms indicating their nationality.
Division Brandenburg
Division Brandenbourg (formerly regiment) - was a special reconnaissance and sabotage unit of the Abwehr.
In 1943, the 8th company of the 3rd regiment was formed from 180 French, stationed in Eaux-Bonnes at the foot of the Pyrenees (Southwestern France). Operating in southern France, the company imitated resistance units using captured radio stations and intercepted many transports of weapons and war materials, which led to numerous arrests.
The company also took part in the battles against the forces of the Resistance, which went down in history under the name "Battle of the Vercors" (June-July 1944). According to the materials of the historian Vladimir Krupnik, in these battles, significant forces of the Germans and collaborators (more than 10,000 people) suppressed a major partisan action on the isolated Vercors mountain plateau, responding to de Gaulle's call to support the Allied landing in Normandy. Of the 4,000 partisans who took part in the fighting, 600 were killed.
German Navy (Kriegsmarine)
In 1943, the Kriegsmarine opened recruitment centers in several major French ports. Volunteers were enrolled in German units and wore German military uniforms without additional stripes.
The German summary of February 4, 1944 on the number of Frenchmen working in the ports of Brest, Cherbourg, Lorient and Toulon at the bases of the Kriegsmarine, gives the following figures: 93 officers, 3,000 non-commissioned officers, 160 engineers, 680 technicians and 25,000 civilians.
In January 1943, the Germans began to recruit 200 volunteers for guard duty at the naval base in La Rochelle. The unit was called Kriegsmarinewerftpolizei "La Pallice" and was commanded by Lieutenant Rene Lanz, a World War I and LVF veteran.
On June 30, 1944, the German command of the La Rochelle base gave the French volunteers a choice: to remain guarding the base or join the Waffen-SS. A similar offer was made to other Frenchmen who were serving in the Kriegsmarine at that time. About 1,500 of them were transferred to Greifenberg, where they joined the SS division Charlemagne.
Organization Todt (OT)
In France, OT was busy building submarine bases and coastal fortifications. 112,000 Germans, 152,000 French and 170,000 North Africans participated in the work. Approximately 2,500 French volunteers served in the armed protection of construction sites after being trained in the town of Celle Saint Cloud near Paris.
At the end of 1944, a certain number of the French were transferred to the construction of coastal facilities in Norway. Several hundred of them were sent to Greifenberg, where they joined the SS division Charlemagne.
NSKK (Nationalsocialistische Kraftfahrkorps) Motorgruppe Luftwaffe
The NSKK is a Luftwaffe logistics unit.
The NSKK had about 2,500 Frenchmen who served with the 4th NSKK Regiment in Vilvorde, Belgium. The non-commissioned officers of the regiment were represented by the Alsatian Germans.
In early 1943, the regiment took part in the fighting near Rostov.
In 1944, a battle group was formed from among the French who served in the NSKK, which took part in anti-partisan operations in northern Italy and Croatia.
In July 1943, 30 French NSKK soldiers, led by a man named Jean-Marie Balestre, deserted and joined the Waffen-SS. Most of them fought in the SS-Waffen until the end of the war.
African Phalanx (Phalange Africaine)
On November 14, 1942, the idea of creating an African unit, the African Phalange, was proclaimed in Paris.
In December, the German occupation authorities approved the plan and scheme for the material support of the unit. 330 volunteers were recruited, from which, after training, they formed a company of 210 people called Franzosische Freiwilligen Legion, which was included in the 2nd battalion of the 754th regiment of the 334th Panzer-Grenadier Division (5 Panzerarmee).
On April 7, 1943, the company entered the battle against the British (78th Infantry Division) in the Medjez-El-Bab area in North Africa. The Africans showed themselves well and the German General Weber presented Iron Crosses to several servicemen.
After 9 days, the allies launched a general offensive in this sector. Under artillery fire, the African Phalanx lost half of its people killed and wounded in one hour ... 150 surviving Africans were captured after the fall of Tunisia. Ten people who were captured by the Gaullists were shot, the rest were sentenced to long prison terms. About 40 Falangists, who were lucky enough to be captured by the Anglo-Americans, were later enrolled in Free French units and ended the war victorious in Germany ...
The article uses materials from the book J. Lee Ready. World War II. Nation by Nation. 1995
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There were also other French people. But you need to remember both.
Captain Albert Littolf. Posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War.
