Légion Wallonie Subordinated to ϟϟ-Division „Wiking“ in North Caucasus

Heavy machine gun team of Waffen-SS

Belgian officers Lucien Lippert and Léon Degrelle of the Légion Wallonie

After Linejuaja was taken, it was imperative to take possession of the oilfields and organize the SS-Division Wiking for the defense of this large area. For the rest of August and into September 1942 Wiking took part in antipartisan operations against Soviet forces hiding in the hills. During this period the Wehrmacht-organized volunteer Légion Wallonie from southern Belgium briefly came under Wiking control. Among the legion's soldiers was Belgian journalist and nationalist politician lieutenant Léon Degrelle. The unit was incorporated into the Waffen-SS on June 1 1943 as the SS-Sturmbrigade Wallonien. The Wiking was soon to encounter new terrain consisting of mountains and dense forests when the division moved southwest to the forest area of the western Caucasian Mountains. Credit: British military historian Adrian Gilbert. Top image: Waffen-SS heavy machine gun operator displaying the first SS pattern camouflage helmet cover in Platanenmuster. Credit: Johannes Dorn. c. Bundesarchiv. Bottom image: Belgian Commander of Legion Wallonie Hauptmann Lucien Lippert with his second-in-command Leutnant Léon Degrelle before the Legion was incorporated into the Waffen-SS. The later SS-Sturmbannführer d.R. Lippert was killed in action at the village of Novo-Buda in central Ukraine on Feb. 13 1944 and was succeeded by Degrelle. Credit: Régis Klimenko. FU.