ϟϟ-Freiwilligen-Legion „Norwegen“

Norwegian SS Volunteers during a inspection by Vidkun Quisling

Commander of DNL Legions-Sturmbannführer Arthur Qvist

SS-Freiwilligen-Legion Norwegen in the Leningrad oblast

The SS-Freiwilligen-Legion Norwegen or Den Norske Legion was a Norwegian voluntary formation of the Waffen-SS. It was initiated by the Minister President of Norway Vidkun Quisling and Reichskommisar to Norway Joseph Terboven on June 29 1941. Vidkun Quisling nominally headed the government of Norway during the occupation of the country by Nazi Germany during World War II. There were many arguments for volunteering. Strongest was most likely the desire to help to fight Bolshevism before it reached the borders of Scandinavia. The Legion was stationed at Krasnoye Selo near Pushkin in Northern Russia in February 1942. One of the fiercest battles of the unit was during the Battle of Urizk on April 22 1942. It was the most difficult portion of the front around Leningrad. While the Norwegians remarkably only lost three soldiers during this battle, the Soviets lost hundreds, which was most attributed to their tactics of the “human wave” and that their retreating soldiers were shot by their own political commissars. All troops who fled the battlefield were met with the machine guns of the Soviet Army’s Security troops. It is unlikely there were any survivors from the attack. The Legion Norwegen was disbanded in March 1943. Survivors who wanted to continue fighting were transferred to SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 23 Norge, one of the regiments of the then newly formed 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland. Top image: Vidkun Quisling pays a visit to the headquarters of SS-Gruppenführer Felix Steiner at the Ukrainian front in May 1942. Here, Quisling is seen inspecting Norwegian volunteers of the SS-Division Wiking. These men belonged to SS-Infanterie-Regiment Nordland which was composed of fellow Scandinavians. Quisling was charged with high treason after the war and executed by firing squad in Oslo on October 24 1945. Credit: Jussi Luostarinen. The National Archives of Norway. Clips: Commander of the Norwegian Legion, the Olympic horse rider Legions-Sturmbannführer Arthur Qvist visiting volunteers with a Norwegian government official on the front line outside Leningrad in the summer of 1942. Qvist died aged 77 in 1973. The National Archives of Norway.