The Brits Who Fought For Hitler (1 Viewer)

[wayne556517]

Just watched this on FOXTEL very interesting.

During World War II a tiny unit of the German army was made up of volunteers from among British and Commonwealth prisoners of war.

John Amery was the son of Leo Amery, a Conservative member of Winston Churchill’s war cabinet. A fervent anti-Communist, John Amery became a fascist sympathizer in the 1930s and saw the Nazis as the best hope for defeating the Soviet Union.
The British Legion of St. George

When war broke out, Amery was in France and he was able to convince the Nazis that he could get people with a British background to fight on the German side.

Amery’s idea of creating what he called the British Legion of St. George fizzled. Writing for the Daily Mail (March 23, 2010) Guy Walters comments that Amery’s lectures were greeted with “catcalls and jeers. His recruiting leaflets were often used as lavatory paper by patriotic prisoners.”(Like this bit ^&grin)




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhwfIkoRjMw

 

[PanzerAce1944]

Wayne, Very informative post and information. Watched the video !

 

[uksubs]

Read a couple of books and seen some Dvds on the British SS regiment and from what I've seen it was about thirty British Pow who joined the SS for the easy life and never saw any action .

 

[larso]

Yes, a figure as low as 20 seems to bounce around in the back of my mind? A couple were actually patriotic Brits who used their 'freedom' to sabotage the German military and were able to prove it to British investigators after the war. The keenest of the lot... name? disappeared on the Eastern Front I think? There was at least one Australian. It's a fascinating story!

 

[The Military Workshop]

From Wiki
Research by a British journalist, Adrian Weale,[2] has identified about 59 men who belonged to this unit at one time or another, some for only a few days. At no time did it reach more than 27 men in strength – smaller than a contemporary German platoon.[

I first heard about this unit several years ago when it was the subject of much discussion by WWII re-enactors.

Each year a major Historical re-enactment event is held in Brisbane (usually Queens Birthday weekend).
That particular year a new group of WWII German re-enactors was planning to attend the event. A few weeks before the show the other groups found out the new group was going to turn up as the British Free Corps and wear uniforms with British and an Australian patch. The new group did not subsequently attend.

Amery was put on trial for treason (not just for Free Corps stuff) after war ended and pleaded guilty and was hung despite a warning from the Judge about the consequences of his plea.

Brett

 

[PanzerAce1944]

I think most all of the european countries at the time had SS volunteers. During the last days of fighting in Berlin the French SS Charlamagne Division troops were some of the toughest fighters that the Soviets had to do battle against.

 

[Rob]

I saw a docu on this way back, interesting stuff indeed, brain washing is powerful stuff! If any evidence of this is needed I recently saw another docu on D Day. In it one American GI told how when he captured a German on Omaha beach the Jerry asked him how much of New York was still standing after the Luftwaffe raids?!!{eek3}

Rob

 

[uksubs]

I think most all of the european countries at the time had SS volunteers. During the last days of fighting in Berlin the French SS Charlamagne Division troops were some of the toughest fighters that the Soviets had to do battle against.

Think your spot on mate about the free French SS and there some good books out there about all the different SS groups

 

[PanzerAce1944]

I think it is worth elaborating again what an interesting thread Wayne down under has posted for us.

 

[VIRIATO]

Just saw the video. Very interesting stuff, thanks for posting.


Paulo

 

[wayne556517]

I think it is worth elaborating again what an interesting thread Wayne down under has posted for us.

Cheers PA glad you like it i found it very informative,something a bit different on the history channel.

 

[Gideon]

really interesting. thanks for posting. is there anything similar out there about americans who switched over to germany?

 

[uksubs]

really interesting. thanks for posting. is there anything similar out there about americans who switched over to germany?

One I know a American P38 Pilot based in Italy 1943 changed sides but got captured in 1945 and sent back to the USA

 

[Jack]

One I know a American P38 Pilot based in Italy 1943 changed sides but got captured in 1945 and sent back to the USA

I just did a quick web search to find out about this pilot and it is a really strange story. I am very surprised that the Americans did not shoot him once they found out his full story in 1948. They captured him in an SS uniform!

To show you what a world the Internet is, here is the history of my search:

I googled American deserters
In about sixty seconds found mention of a 1957 Israeli survey to find out who were the best soldiers in WW2.
Had a bit of a read of a single page of a history forum for no more than 2 minutes discussing the topic - a lot of people got a mention - the Germans, the Finns, the Aussies, the Kiwis (which at an irrational level pleased me, but in the great scheme of things is meaningless of course) and I assume on the other pages, someone will have covered the Brits and Americans and so on. A contentious issue, of course, which is unresolvable and prone to nationalist sentiment. One of the posters lamented that the thread would become argumentative very quickly.
I scrolled to the top of the page and found that it was a far, far right forum with a very clear racial agenda. What would you do with yourself if you had a post deleted as inappropriate on a site like that?

 

[Mitch]

Wayne...

Interesting thread. Hitlers or Himmlers european armies to fight the bolshevik hordes!!! I don't think it caught on in terms of brits and other commonwealth countries like it did in Belgium, france baltic states etc but, whether it was the western european eutopia or, just desperation on the german part for men is a pertinant question. Maybe, a little of both?
Mitch