Britisches Freikorps: British Volunteers of the Waffen-SS, 1943-1945 by Richard Landwehr. Siegrunen Publications, Brookings,Oregon, and Merriam Press, Bennington, Vermont, Second (Revised) Edition, 2008. Trade paperback, 132 pp. photographs, bibliography, ISBN 978-0-03362-1. Available from the publisher http://www.merriam-press.com/.
The British Free Corps by Robert Best. Booklet format, 20 pp. Available from http://www.stevenbooks.co.uk/.
"This conflict between England and Germany is
racial SUICIDE."
-- British Free Corps recruiting leaflet, 1944
In the beginning was the word: on November 29, 1942, Adolf Hitler's personal aide, Walter Hewel, wrote in his diary:
[Hitler] believes that countless patriotic Englishmen must be suffering under the present regime, as they see the future danger of the Jews, and particularly, of the Bolsheviks taking over the Empire. He considers it quite possible that given suitable treatment a British legion could be raised to fight in British uniforms against bolshevism. Such a legion would be more welcome to him than one of any other nationality.
Three months later, the pro-German British political dissident John Amery had formed the Legion of St. George, which a year after that became the "British Free Corp (SS)." The Britisches Freikorps (as it was known in German) was one of a number of formations made up of non-Germans which fought on the side of the Axis during the Second World War under the overall command of Heinrich Himmler's Waffen-SS.
The Waffen-SS was the military wing of the SS, which itself was a subordinate formation of the National-Socialist German Worker's Party. The name Waffen-SS may be translated as "Armed SS" or "Combat SS." Himmler had always conceived of it as a pan-Aryan (or at least pan-Germanic) formation. This is in keeping with National-Socialist racial theory, which is racially nationalist rather than state nationalist. From very early on, racially acceptable non-Germans were allowed to serve in the Waffen-SS. Historian George H. Stein notes:
As early as 1938, Himmler had authorized the acceptance of qualified Germanics (Germanen) in the [Waffen-SS]. He was not referring to ethnic Germans who had long been accepted into the armed SS. When Himmler spoke of Germanen he meant non-Germans of "Nordic blood." Towards the end of 1938, there were only twenty such volunteers in the armed SS. By May 1940, there were 100, including five from the United states, three from Sweden, and 44 from Switzerland. . . The German conquest of Denmark, Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands, however, opened up an entirely new dimension in SS recruitment.
Rather than integrate foreigners into the German SS, non-Germans were recruited into separate military formations, such as the Danish Legion and the Norwegian Legion. Initially these legions were under the command of the German Army. Soon, however, they were transferred to the SS, and were reorganized a normally structured military units, such as regiments and battalion, rather than as "legions." The British Free Corps was one such formation. It has long been the subject of rumor and speculation, and there has been little reliable information available concerning it. However, in recent years new research has brought to light more data concerning the BFC, so that now its story may be told in full for the first time. A good brief introduction to the BFC is provided by The British Free Corps, Robert Best's short but fact-filled mongraph on the topic. A more in-depth look may be found in Richard Landwehr's book, which contains not just an overview of the subject, but which also focuses in detail on the stories of many of the individual men who fought in its ranks.
The BFC consisted largely of British prisoners captured by the Germans in the early years of the war. These soldiers were given the option of sitting out the rest of the war in the relative safety of a POW camp, or in joining the BFC and risking life and limb to fight "Jewish Bolshevism." Remarkably -- or maybe not remarkably at all -- nearly two-hundred Brits opted to join the struggle against Marxism. Very importantly, as Best points out, they enlisted with the clear understanding that they would never be used in combat against their fellow countrymen, but only against the Soviets.
Best lists the names of 165 BFC members, with their fates (where known). He also quotes a source which indicates that by January 1945, some 1,100 Britons had applied to join the formation. Additionally, there was also an SS Irish Brigade, which was about 400 men strong.
Best reveals that although the BFC marched as a unit in a number of military parades, it was apparently committed to combat in a piecemeal fashion. The author recounts that a number of BFC members acquitted themselves with courage and tenacity during the final battle for Berlin. Some paid with their lives, while others survived -- only to be imprisoned in Soviet slave labor camps or tried as traitors by the British government.
It is the personal stories of the men of the BFC that is the strongest element of Landwehr's book, Britisches Freikorps. This is an upgraded version of the first edition of the book published in 1992. It is expanded in that it contains over twice the number of pages as well as many new photographs. It is visually improved in that it the layout and design are more professional and attractive. Additionally, it is now perfect-bound rather than stapled, and it now boasts an attractive three-color cover. More importantly, the content has been updated to include the results of the most recent research.
Landwehr is an internationally recognized expert on the Waffen-SS, and he is the author of numerous books on the subject. Whatever aspect of the Waffen-SS which he examines, he brings an encyclopedic knowledge to bear. Because he views his subjects with a sympathetic eye, he avoids the common failing of mainstream historians who more often than not demonize the SS at every turn. At the same time, however, Landwehr maintains enough scholarly detachment to treat his subjects honestly and fairly, and he does not shrink from showing their warts and pointing out their shortcomings when these are a genuine part of the historical record.
He begins with the requisite sections on the origins of the BFC, of its recruiting efforts, of its training and of the details of its uniform. The most fascinanting chapters, however, chronicle the BFC in action, and which tell the stories of many of the individual Corpsmen.
In addition to recruits from England, Scotland, Wales, Ulster and Cornwall, there were also Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders, South Africans, men from the Republic of Ireland -- and at least three Americans. One of the Yanks was a US Air Force officer known, ironically, by the name of "Lt. Tyndall;" it was said that he was born in Texas to an English father and a German mother. But "Tyndall" was almost certainly not his real identity: it was common for BFC members to be carried on the Corps' roster under an assumed name. It was a sensible precaution, intended to provide a layer of protection from persecution in the event that Germany lost the War. Consequently, the real identities of many of the Corpsmen remain a mystery.
The Corps was formed in early 1943 under the name of the "Legion of St. George." On January 1, 1944, the Legion was renamed the "British Free Corps," and recruitment and training began in earnest. Individual Corpsmen were posted to various Waffen-SS units as their training was completed. Apparently it was decided not to commit the entire BFC to battle as a single unit: although its value as a propaganda weapon was considerable, its military worth as an actual fighting formation was slight because of its small size. Had the whole BFC been sent into battle against the Soviets in the vast battles of annihilation that characterized the Eastern Front, it could have easily been wiped out down to the last man. This would have been a painful blow to Axis morale. By dispersing the troopers among different units, they could still serve as combat infantrymen, but the danger of them all being killed at once was removed.
However, on at least one occasion a small unit comprised entirely of BFC members did see combat. In March of 1945, a BFC detachment was deployed with with the 11th Waffen-SS division "Nordland," which was composed largely of Scandinavian volunteers. Although most of the Corpsmen were dispersed throughout the division, a squad-sized unit was assigned to the 3rd company of the reconaissance battalion, which consisted primarily of Swedish SS men. The BFC contingent was commanded by SS-Scharfuehrer "Hodge." ("Scharfuehrer" is sergeant; "Hodge" is mostly likely a nom de guerre and not his real name.) Landwehr reports, "The Britons were sent to a company in the detachment that was situated in the small village of Schoenburg near the west bank of the Oder River (p. 83)." On March 22, as the company was entrenching, it was partially overrun by an advance element of the Red Army which had blundered into its position by accident. Although taken by surprise, the SS troopers, including the BFC volunteers, quickly regained their wits and launched a vigorous counterattack, driving off the Soviets. One BFC fighter, a Cornishman named Kenneth Edward Berry, was captured during the brief but fierce battle, and was subsequently interned.
In the spring of 1945 the BFC headquarters unit was in Berlin. It was reduced to skeleton strength as the last Corpsmen were dispatched to the front for the final battle. One of the last BFC fighters still left in Berlin was Reginald Leslie Cornford. On April 27, he single-handedly destoyed a Soviet T-34 tank, by firing a one-shot handheld antitank missle at it from point-blank range. The crew of the tank bailed out of the burning vehicle, taking their personal weapons with them. In the ensuing firefight, Cornford was shot dead.
Another Corspman who distinguished himself during the battle for Berlin was Eric Pleasants, of Norwich. Pleasants is easily the most colorful figure in a formation that was full of colorful figures. Before the War he had been a Blackshirt security officers in Sir Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists. Unwilling to fight against Germany when war broke out, he aligned himself with the Peace Pledge Union, and was assigned agricultural work on the Channel Islands as an alternative to military service. Pleasants was interned with the other adult males when the Germans occupied the islands in 1940. He was an early volunteer in the BFC. Pleasants was naturally strong and athletic, and he had an iron constitution. He had experience in boxing, wrestling and the Oriental martial arts. Unsurprisingly, he became the physical instructor for the BFC. As part of his duties, he represented the BFC in exhibition boxing matches with the other Germanic SS units, and in time became the middleweight boxing champion of the SS.
During the climactic battle for Berlin, he managed to fight his way through the Soviet encirclement, killing two Communist soliders in hand-to-hand fighting in the process. He surrendered to the Americans, but after further adventures, he was interned by the Russians and spent seven years in a Siberian slave labor camp. Shortly before his death, he returned to England and died peacefully in Hethel, near his home town of Norwich, at age 87.
Of course, most of the stories of the BFC volunteers did not have such happy endings. Lance-Sergeant Harold Cole was imprisoned by the French after the War. In November of 1945, dressed as an American soldier, he escaped from the detention center in Paris where he was being held. He was killed shortly afterwards in a gun fight with the French police, who had tracked him down. Or consider the fate of Corpsmen Robert Heighes and William How, who perished during the Allied terror bombing of Dresden. And then there was Harry Batchelor, who was acquitted of all charges after suffering "improper interrogation and questioning" by the British authorities. Anyone familiar with the fiendish torture to which other SS men subjected after the War can imagine what these "improper" techniques were like!
Many other Corpsmen who survived the War were sentenced to prison terms by the British government for treason. Their sentences varied from a few months to many years. But as Landwehr notes:
While in prison the comradeship between the BFC members became much stronger than it had even in wartime; all were convinced that they had been treated unfairly and most were unrepentant. In fact, many of the known present-day survivors, estimated to number around a dozen by one source, remain National Socialists to this day. (pp.92-93)
Considering the gigantic scale of the Second World War and the huge number of men who fought in it, the saga of the British Free Corps can be seen as little more than a minor footnote. However, if the War had lasted longer, or if it had taken a difference course, it is easy to see how an expanded BFC could have played a more prominent role.
It is one thing to philosophize about pan-White racial solidarity in theory, while sitting at home or in a pub. It is altogether another thing to put it into practice in time of war, when one's life is on the line. The Waffen-SS provided a functioning framework for the practical application of pan-Aryan unity at a crucial moment in history. The fighting heroes of the British Free Corps rose to the occasion and provided an example for future generations to follow. All glory to them!
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The review posted here is a combined and lightly edited version of two reviews which first appeared in Heritage and Destiny, numbers 40 (April-June 2010) and 41 (July-September 2010). For subscription details another other information on Heritage and Destiny, see http://www.efp.org.uk/
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Addendum: the following letter to the editor appeared in Heritage and Destiny number 42 (October-December 2010).
Sir - I just had a chance to read Martin Kerr's review in the latest Heritage and Destiny of The British Free Corps by Robert Best. Excellent! I particularly liked the opening line ("In the beginning . . .") , as well as the concluding paragraph on pan-Aryanism in action. The review called to mind my April 1995 visit to Germany, where I took a group of pilgrims to Montbijou-Platz in central Berlin. Fifty years earlier, as Soviet tanks edged forward through the rubble-strewn streets of the city, a lone foreign volunteer stood in that very spot along a railway embankment, which formed one of the last lines of defense of the besieged city. As one of the tanks approached, he shouldered his Panzerfaust, took aim, and fired.
The ensuing explosion brought one of the advancing tanks to a halt. In subsequent return fire, the volunteer was mortally wounded. Upon recovering the dead body, there was found on the left sleeve of his field-gray uniform the Union Jack shield and a cuffband bearing the words: British Free Corps. Identification papers retrieved from the fallen SS man listed him simply as Reginald Leslie Cornford. In the maelstrom a little-known Briton had stood his ground and died -- a token of blood sacrifice in defense of a higher culture
With Berlin's reconstructed synagogue just down the street and present-day "Rosa Luxemburg" and "Karl Liebknecht" streets not far away, it is all rather emblematic of the real issues in a larger struggle. I look forward to the day when we can erect a fitting memorial at this site and the heoric contribution of this brave band of volunteers is recognized and more highly esteemed than that of the hundred of thousands of their countrymen, who were drafted to fight on the wrong side of the war under the aegis of international Zionism and its conjoined forces of finance Capitalism and Communism.
Racial regards,
Matt Koehl, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
NS Bibliophile notes that Mr. Koehl is the Commander of the NEW ORDER. See: http://www.theneworder.org/.
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