Wehrmacht foreign volunteers and conscripts

Among the approximately one million foreign volunteers and conscripts who served in the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS during World War II were ethnic Germans, Belgians, Czechs, Dutch, Finns, Danes, French, Hungarians, Norwegians, Poles,[1] Portuguese, Swedes,[2] and British, along with people from the Baltic states and the Balkans. At least 47,000 Spaniards served in the Blue Division.[3]

Andrey Vlasov and General Shilenkov (center) of the Russian Liberation Army meeting with Joseph Goebbels (February 1945)

Some estimates state anywhere between 600,000 and 1,400,000 Soviets (Russians and non-Russians) joined the Wehrmacht forces as Hiwis. (or Hilfswillige)[4] The Ukrainian collaborationist forces were composed of an estimated number of 180,000 volunteers serving with units scattered all over Europe.[5] 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.[6] Non-Russians from the Soviet Union formed the Ostlegionen (literally "Eastern Legions"). The East Battalions comprized a total of 175,000 personnel.[7] These units were all commanded by General Ernst August Köstring. (1876−1953)[8] 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.[9]

List of units

Foreign volunteer battalion in the Wehrmacht. Soldiers of the Free Arabian Legion in Greece, September 1943

Spanish volunteer forces of the Blue Division entrain at San Sebastián, 1942

Ukrainian Liberation Army oath to Adolf Hitler

Soviet Union

Unit name	Description
Armenische Legion	Mostly Soviet Armenians
Aserbaidschanische Legion	Mostly Soviet Azeris
XV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps	Until 1 February 1945 under command of the Wehrmacht, then the Corps was transferred to the Waffen-SS[10]
Kalmykian Voluntary Cavalry Corps	Mostly Kalmyks
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.[11]
Ukrainian Liberation Army	Ukrainians
Ukrainian National Army	Ukrainians

Croatia

Unit name
369th (Croatian) Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)
373rd (Croatian) Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)
392nd (Croatian) Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)
369th Croatian Reinforced Infantry Regiment (Wehrmacht)
Croatian Naval Legion
Croatian Air Force Legion

Other

Unit name
Blue Division[12]
Blue Legion
Free Arabian Legion
Indian Legion
Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism
Poles in the Wehrmacht
Russian Corps
Walloon Legion

References

Ryszard Kaczmarek: Polacy w Wehrmachcie. Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków 2010. ISBN 978-83-08-04488-9
Wangel, Carl-Axel (1982). Sveriges militära beredskap 1939-1945 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Militärhistoriska Förlaget. ISBN 978-91-85266-20-3.
"Spain's Nazi volunteers defend their right to recognition - and German pensions". The Daily Telegraph. 30 November 2015.
Audrey L. Alstadt (2013). "The Azerbaijani Turks: Power and Identity under Russian Rule". p. 187. ISBN 9780817991838
Carlos Caballero Jurado (1983). Foreign Volunteers of the Wehrmacht 1941–45. Translated by Alfredo Campello, David List. Osprey. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-85045-524-3.
M. V. Nazarov, The Mission of the Russian Emigration, Moscow: Rodnik, 1994. ISBN 5-86231-172-6
“Slaughter on the Eastern Front: Hitler and Stalin’s War 1941-1945“ Appendix 3
Dermot Bradley, Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Markus Rövekamp: Die Generale des Heeres 1921–1945. Band 7: Knabe–Luz. Biblio Verlag, Bissendorf 2004, ISBN 3-7648-2902-8.
“SS: Hitler's Foreign Divisions” description
Rolf Michaelis: Die Waffen-SS. Mythos und Wirklichkeit. Michaelis-Verlag, Berlin 2001, p. 36
Nikolai Tolstoy (1977). The Secret Betrayal. Charles Scribner’s Sons. pp. 304ff. ISBN 0-684-15635-0.
Carlos Caballero Jurado, Ramiro Bujeiro (2009). Blue Division Soldier 1941-45: Spanish Volunteer on the Eastern Front. Osprey Publishing. p. 34. ISBN 1-84603-412-4.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)

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[1] Ryszard Kaczmarek: Polacy w Wehrmachcie. Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków 2010. ISBN 978-83-08-04488-9

[2] Wangel, Carl-Axel (1982). Sveriges militära beredskap 1939-1945 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Militärhistoriska Förlaget. ISBN 978-91-85266-20-3.

[3] "Spain's Nazi volunteers defend their right to recognition - and German pensions". The Daily Telegraph. 30 November 2015.

[alstadt-4] Audrey L. Alstadt (2013). "The Azerbaijani Turks: Power and Identity under Russian Rule". p. 187. ISBN 9780817991838

[5] Carlos Caballero Jurado (1983). Foreign Volunteers of the Wehrmacht 1941–45. Translated by Alfredo Campello, David List. Osprey. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-85045-524-3.

[6] M. V. Nazarov, The Mission of the Russian Emigration, Moscow: Rodnik, 1994. ISBN 5-86231-172-6

[7] “Slaughter on the Eastern Front: Hitler and Stalin’s War 1941-1945“ Appendix 3

[8] Dermot Bradley, Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Markus Rövekamp: Die Generale des Heeres 1921–1945. Band 7: Knabe–Luz. Biblio Verlag, Bissendorf 2004, ISBN 3-7648-2902-8.

[9] “SS: Hitler's Foreign Divisions” description

[10] Rolf Michaelis: Die Waffen-SS. Mythos und Wirklichkeit. Michaelis-Verlag, Berlin 2001, p. 36

[tolstoy-11] Nikolai Tolstoy (1977). The Secret Betrayal. Charles Scribner’s Sons. pp. 304ff. ISBN 0-684-15635-0.

[12] Carlos Caballero Jurado, Ramiro Bujeiro (2009). Blue Division Soldier 1941-45: Spanish Volunteer on the Eastern Front. Osprey Publishing. p. 34. ISBN 1-84603-412-4.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)