As Political Soldiers We Face Moscow S Hordes Dutch Volunteers In The Waffen Ss

During the Second World War, approximately 25,000 Dutchmen served within the ranks of the military branch of the German SS: the Waffen-SS. They volunteered to fight to secure the victory of Nazi Germany. These Dutch volunteers fought mainly on the Eastern Front, and to a lesser extent, within their own national borders. After the war, the Allied victors regarded them as part of a criminal organization and jointly responsible for the atrocious transgressions of the Nazi regime. In the Netherlands, these men were reviled, branded as traitors and became pariahs in their own country. Those who had devoted themselves to the Nazi regime caused so much grief to the Netherlands that they had to be held accountable. Despite their military achievements, their reputation was damaged forever. The Netherlands supplied the largest contingent of SS soldiers from the occupied North-western European territories. Who were these people? What led them to enlist, and what were the consequences of their choice? An important part of this study involves the autobiographical texts of nineteen Dutch volunteers in the Waffen-SS. These ego-documents recount their own immediate experiences and are mainly fragments from diaries, but there are also letters, individual notes, and memoirs. The ego-documents are placed within the larger historical context to provide an answer to the question of whether these men were only ideologically motivated and unconditional Nazi sympathizers, and for this, their criminal records are also researched. Among other topics, the book discusses their choice to enlist, their experiences at the front, and their involvement in genocide, providing a new perspective on the Eastern Front.

During the Second World War, approximately 25,000 Dutchmen served within the ranks of the military branch of the German SS: the Waffen-SS. They volunteered to fight to secure the victory of Nazi Germany. These Dutch volunteers fought mainly on the Eastern Front, and to a lesser extent, within their own national borders. After the war, the Allied victors regarded them as part of a criminal organization and jointly responsible for the atrocious transgressions of the Nazi regime. In the Netherlands, these men were reviled, branded as traitors and became pariahs in their own country. Those who had devoted themselves to the Nazi regime caused so much grief to the Netherlands that they had to be held accountable. Despite their military achievements, their reputation was damaged forever. The Netherlands supplied the largest contingent of SS soldiers from the occupied North-western European territories. Who were these people? What led them to enlist, and what were the consequences of their choice? An important part of this study involves the autobiographical texts of nineteen Dutch volunteers in the Waffen-SS. These ego-documents recount their own immediate experiences and are mainly fragments from diaries, but there are also letters, individual notes, and memoirs. The ego-documents are placed within the larger historical context to provide an answer to the question of whether these men were only ideologically motivated and unconditional Nazi sympathizers, and for this, their criminal records are also researched. Among other topics, the book discusses their choice to enlist, their experiences at the front, and their involvement in genocide, providing a new perspective on the Eastern Front.

In February 1945 the German front at Stettin made one final offensive. What make this extraordinary is the fact that the last desperate push was mounted by non-German volunteers serving in the Waffen-SS. The main body of the division was composed of Scandinavian volunteers, Belgians and Dutchmen. This text presents a history of the Dutch volunteers of the Waffen-SS from 1941 to 1945.

When in June 1941 Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union, the SS appealed to young men in occupied areas to support the crusade against Bolshevism. At least 20.000 Dutchmen came forward to put their names down for this cause. The vast majority of them served in what was first called the legion, later the brigade and later still the 'Nederland' division. In From Leningrad to Berlin the history of the largest Dutch Waffen-SS unit on the eastern front is described for the first time. The main sources drawn on when writing this book were documents that survived the war, such as unit diaries and Berlin-generated paperwork on Dutch volunteers preserved in archives in Moscow and Prague, which can now be consulted in Dutch archives. By extensively studying the relevant literature the author has endeavoured to place the history of Dutch Waffen-SS volunteers in its rightful political and military context. The history of Dutch volunteers in the Waffen-SS forms a black and, until now, unwritten page in Dutch history. Bron: Flaptekst, uitgeversinformatie.

A ground-breaking study that looks at why European nations sent troops to take part in Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union.

A compelling account of the men who worked and fought for Nazi terror organization, the SS, during the Second World War.

The purpose of this text is to provide the Army with a factual account of the organization and operations of the Soviet resistance movement behind the German forces on the Eastern Front during World War II. This movement offers a particularly valuable case study, for it can be viewed both in relation to the German occupation in the Soviet Union and to the offensive and defensive operations of the Wehrmacht and the Red Army. The scope of the study includes an over-all picture of a quasi-military organization in relation to a larger conflict between two regular armies. It is not a study in partisan tactics, nor is it intended to be. German measures taken to combat the partisan movement are sketched in, but the story in large part remains that of an organization and how it operated. The German planning for the invasion of Russia is treated at some length because many of the circumstances which favored the rise and development of the movement had their bases in errors the Germans made in their initial planning. The operations of the Wehrmacht and the Red Army are likewise described in considerable detail as the backdrop against which the operations of the partisan units are projected. Because of the lack of reliable Soviet sources, the story has been told much as the Germans recorded it. German documents written during the course of World War II constitute the principal sources, but many survivors who had experience in Russia have made important contributions based upon their personal experience.

This book offers a detailed account of a soldier's life on the eastern front in the former USSR. Written from the participant's point of view, the author reveals the horror and brutality of the war between Nazi Germany and Russia.