ϟϟ-Division „Wiking“

Dutch Waffen-SS Volunteers of SS-Standarte Westland

Danish Waffen-SS Volunteers of Frikorps Danmark

Scandinavian Waffen-SS Frontline Nurses

The first Danes, Dutch, Flemings, Norwegians and Swedes were concentrated, along with Finns, into the new SS-Division Wiking. The division was formed around the Germania regiment. The enrollment began in April 1940 with the creation of two regiments: the SS-Standarte Nordland for Danish, Norwegian and Swedish volunteers, and the SS-Standarte Westland for Dutch and Flemish volunteers. The Wiking did receive first-class officers and training before it went into action during late June 1941. The SS-Division Wiking performed so well during its first campaign suggested that troops drawn from outside the Reich's borders might be an effective way of fulfilling the Waffen-SS manpower requirements. In 1943, the Estonian SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Batallion Narwa was also added to Westland. Top image: Dutch volunteers of the newly built up SS-Standarte Westland in 1940. The term Standarte was soon to be replaced by that of the Regiment. Het Leven, Spaarnestad Photo. Fair use. Bottom images: Danish Waffen-SS Volunteers and Norwegian SS Front Nurses taking their oath of allegiance. The SS was responsible for both the recruitment and training of the volunteer front nurses. The Scandinavian SS nurses mostly served in Nordic volunteer units and formations. Many of them witnessed the heavy fighting at some of the most vicious chapters of the Eastern Front. The Norwegian front nurse Mrs Anne-Gunhild Moxness who served with the Wiking in Ukraine and Caucasus and with the III Germanic SS-Panzerkorps in the Baltic States was the first non-German woman to ever receive the Iron Cross (August 2 1944). The nurse in center is SS Frontschwester Elsa Stendal. Also seen in the picture is the front nurses Grete Bråten and Anne Marie Bjørnstad. The photo was taken by the former German cinema and fashion photographer the war correspondent Max Ehlert. Commons: Bundesarchiv.