Soviet Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive: Casualties and losses

SS-Freiwilligen Legion Flandern

4.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Brigade Nederland

According to American military historian David M. Glantz and professor emeritus of military history Jonathan M. House, Soviet casualties in the Leningrad–Novgorod offensive were 313,953, including 76,686 killed and missing. According to German Statistics and Documents, Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS units suffered 71,651 casualties, including 24,739 killed and missing. The Germans were pushed back between 60 and 100 kilometers from Leningrad to the Luga River. Top image: Dutch-speaking volunteers of SS-Freiwilligen Legion Flandern deployed to the sector around Leningrad. The roughly 1,000-strong Flemish legion from German-occupied Belgium sustained heavy casualties in the fighting around Leningrad. It was later disbanded and reformed as the SS-Sturmbrigade Langemarck. Credit: Karl Mensburg. c. Bundesarchiv. Bottom mage: Dutch volunteers of the 4.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Brigade Nederland being congratulated on the award of the Iron Cross Second Class by the commander SS-Brigadeführer Jürgen Wagner. Wagner was extradited after the war by the Americans to Communist Yugoslavia where he was executed for unknown reason on June 27 1947. The man on the far left has the runic decal on the left side of the helmet, which indicates he was transferred to the Nederland brigade from the 5.SS-Panzer-Division Wiking. Photo by SS-Kriegsberichter Bruno Wisniewski. Wisniewski died on March 7 1944 near Narva in Estonia while still covering the Nederland. U.S. NARA.