Dynamic Young Officers of the Waffen-SS in the Donets Campaign

Joachim Peiper as SS-Obersturmbannführer

Max Wünsche as SS-Sturmbannführer

From the battles in and around Kharkov, SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Leibstandarte SS emerged with 13 Knight's Crosses of the Iron Cross to its credit, Das Reich 10 and the Totenkopf six. Many of those who were honoured would go on to become some of the best known of all Waffen-SS soldiers, their future careers marked by further awards for gallantry and leadership. Dynamic young officers such as SS-Sturmbannführer Albert Frey, SS-Sturmbannführer Hugo Kraas, SS-Sturmbannführer Joachim Peiper, SS-Sturmbannführer Max Hansen, SS-Sturmbannführer Max Wünsche, SS-Sturmbannführer Wilhelm Weidenhaupt, SS-Obersturmbannführer Kurt Meyer, SS-Obersturmbannführer Rudi Sandig and SS-Standartenführer Fritz Witt personally led attack columns that struck deep into the city. After the recapture of Kharkov and restoration of the German front in February and March 1943 the battle worn Waffen-SS Panzergrenadiers would soon be preparing for one of the greatest battles in history, and one which would certainly be the turning point of World War II – The Battle of Kursk. Left image: within a year after the fierce battles around Kharkov Jochen Peiper was promoted to the rank of SS-Obersturmbannführer. Right image: the then SS-Sturmbannführer Max Wünsche up pose in winter garb during the Donets Campaign, known as the Third Battle of Kharkov. Credit: Tobias Kurtz. Private collections, with permission.

Siege of Leningrad, also known as the Leningrad Blockade

Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-5 fighters of Luftwaffe fighter wing JG54 Grünherz

Finnish-German Naval Detachment K during the Siege of Leningrad 1942

s.Pz.Abt.502 during the Siege of Leningrad 1943

Amid hunger and cold – Leningrad Blockade 1941 – 1944

The siege of Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) started on Sept. 8 1941, when German Heeresgruppe Nord severed the last road to the city. Finnish military forces were located north of city, at the 1939 Finnish-Soviet border, while the Wehrmacht including several European Waffen-SS formations occupied territories to the south. The blockade became one of the longest and most destructive sieges in history. Soviet deportations of Finns and Germans from the Leningrad area to inhospitable areas of the Soviet Union began in March 1942 using the city's only supply line, the Road of Life. The fighting continued around Leningrad for two-and-a-half years. In the north, the Finns stood guard along their southern border. To operate against Soviet forces around the Lake Ladoga and to close the supply line to the besieged city, the Finns formed their Ladoga Flotilla with the aim of isolating Leningrad from all directions. They were joined in summer 1942 by a German unit, the Einsatzstab Fähre Ost. Because the Soviet records during the war were incomplete, the ultimate number of casualties during the siege is disputed. The Soviet government reported about 670,000 registered deaths from 1941 to Jan. 1944. Some independent studies suggest a much higher death toll of between 700,000 and 1.3 million. Reports of cannibalism appeared in the winter of 1941-1942, after all birds, rats, and pets had been eaten by survivors. Hungry gangs attacked and ate defenceless people. Leningrad police even formed a special unit to combat cannibalism. Almost all historians regard the siege as a German operation and do not consider that the Finns effectively participated in the siege. Russian historian Nikolai Baryshnikov argues that active Finnish participation did occur, but historians have been mostly silent about it. Soon after the siege was lifted those who had led the city in its time of need were arrested by the NKVD presumably on the orders of Joseph Stalin. Their crime was that they had failed to contact Moscow frequently enough during the siege to ask for guidance. Those arrested, after 900 days of being besieged, now had to face the Soviet Gulags. Credit: Dahn A. Batchelor and Wikipedia i.a. Top image: a squadron of Focke-Wolf 190 fighter aircraft patrol of Luftwaffe fighter wing Jagdgeschwader 54 over the Eastern Front in 1943. JG54's operations in the area had a twofold objective: to keep the pressure on the Leningrad sector, and to reduce Soviet pressure on the Lake Ilmen area. It was known as the Green Hearts Wing, and it was the second highest scoring wing of all time, racking up over 9,600 kills. Photo by KB C. Berger. c. Bundesarchiv. Second image: Finnish Commander of Ladoga Coastal Brigade Colonel Eino Iisakki Järvinen and German Commander of Einsatzstab Fähre Ost Oberstleutnant d. R. Friedrich Wilhelm Siebel accompanied by two Luftwaffe officers on Lake Ladoga on Aug. 13 1942. Finnish Wartime Photo Archive. Third image: two crew members of a Panzer VI Tiger of the schwere Panzerabteilung 502 and a Kfz.31 Horch 108 'Sankra' near Lake Ladoga in the summer of 1943. Credit: Richard James Molloy. c. Bundesarchiv. Bottom screenshot: Leningraders collect water among the bombed-out ruins of buildings during the 872 days blockade of the city. Credit: Ryan Stennes. Leningrad Lenfilm Newsreel Studios.

Leningrad Sector: ϟϟ-Freiwilligen-Legion „Niederlande“

Knight's Cross holder Mooyman speaks to the press

SS Officer Candidate Gerardus Mooyman

         


     



Gerardus Mooyman from Apeldoorn in Netherlands was 19 years old when he volunteered for service in the Waffen-SS. Like many other Germanic volunteers, he started his career in SS-Freiwilligen-Standarte Nordwest, a unit consisted of volunteers from Flanders, Netherlands and other Germanic countries. After completing training for SS-Panzerjäger, he transferred to the Dutch SS-Freiwilligen-Legion-Niederlande, redesignated 4.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Brigade Nederland in October 1943. During the Soviet offensive in the Leningrad sector in January 1943, the then SS-Sturmmann Mooyman, knocked out four T-34s and blocked a local Soviet advance. Shortly thereafter he was promoted to SS-Rottenführer. Another Soviet offensive came one morning in February 1943, during which Mooyman annihilated another seven T-34s. During this engagement his SS-Geschützführer was killed, requiring Mooyman to perform his duties as well. That very afternoon came another attack during which Mooyman's skill continued, allowing him to score another six Soviet tanks. For his contribution to halting the Soviet offensive, Gerardes Mooyman became the first first non-German to be awarded the Knight's Cross (February 20 1943). By the end of his service on the front he was credited with destroying 23 Soviet tanks and rose to the rank of SS-Untersturmführer. He was arrested after the war ended at Bodegraven in March 1946, put on trial in 1947 and charged with active military collaboration for his service in the Waffen-SS. Knight's Cross holder Mooyman was sentenced to six years in prison. Gerardus Mooyman died aged 63 in a car accident in Anloo in Drenthe on 21 June 1987. Credit: The Last Knight of Flanders. Left image: Mooyman in connection with the award of the Knight's Cross in February 1943. PD. Right image: Mooyman as an Officer Candidate in June 1944. Photo by SS-Kriegsberichter Erich Fabiger who covered the III. (germanisches) SS-Panzerkorps at Narva. Credit: Matthias Ruf. U.S. NARA. Fair use.

Leningrad Sector: Lettische ϟϟ-Freiwilligen Legion

Latvian Legion of the Waffen-SS

Latviešu leģions

The Latvian Legion was created in January 1943. It consisted of two divisions of the Waffen-SS: 15.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (1st Latvian) and 19.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (2nd Latvian). The first Latvian Legion unit fought its first battle in the Siege of Leningrad on March 18 1943. It continued fighting around Leningrad until the German forces retreated in January 1944. On January 27 1945, the Belgium-born commander of Latvian No.1 SS-Oberführer Adolf Ax stated: They are first and foremost Latvians. They want a sustainable Latvian nation state. Forced to choose between Germany and Russia, they have chosen Germany, because they seek co-operation with western civilization. In the years after the war, March 16 was chosen by its veterans' organisation in Western exile, as the day of the Latvian Legion. In 1998 Latvia's parliament voted this to be an official national remembrance day. Images: Latvian SS legionnaires at attention. FU.

Leningrad Sector: ϟϟ-Freiwilligen-Legion „Norwegen“

Den Norske Legion (DNL)

SS-Untersturmführer Bjørn Østring

The SS-Freiwilligen-Legion Norwegen or Den Norske Legion took part in the siege warfare around Leningrad where it suffered heavy casualties. The unit was formed from Norwegian Waffen-SS volunteers who were assured that its area of operations would be Finland. Instead, the unit was deployed to Northern Russia in the occupied Soviet Union. Initially, the Norwegian Quisling regime hoped to deploy over 30,000 Norwegian legionaries to Finnish Lapland, but this was rejected by both the Germans and the Finns. The Legion Norwegen was disbanded and withdrawn from the Leningrad sector during March 1943. Survivors who wanted to continue fighting were transferred to SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 23 Norge, one of the regiments of the newly formed 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland. Left image: Norwegian SS legionnaires swearing the oath of allegiance after months of training and preparation before being sent to the Leningrad front. The photograph was taken in Stettin. After World War II Stettin was transferred to Poland and renamed Szczecin. Credit: Jaris Almazani. Commons: Bundesarchiv. Right image: Norwegian SS-Untersturmführer Bjørn Østring of the Freiwilligen Legion Norwegen. The Leningrad veteran and member of the Norwegian Nazi party Nasjonal Samling Bjørn Østring died aged 95 on November 27 2012 in Bærum in Norway. Credit: Bekors. National Archives of Norway. 

Leningrad Sector: ϟϟ-Freiwilligen-Legion „Flandern“

SS-Freiwilligen-Legion Flandern

Flemish Waffen-SS ceremony at the Sterckshof castle

The Belgian SS-Freiwilligen-Legion Flandern was also inserted into the ring around Leningrad. The men of Flandern saw heavy fighting defeating two major Soviet attacks towards the city. On March 31 1943, the Legion was ordered back to be reformed into the 27.SS-Freiwilligen-Sturmbrigade Langemarck. The allocation of the title Langemarck, in memory of the bloody First World War battle fought at Langemarck in Belgium, was intended to represent Flemish-German camaraderie. However, the Flemings themselves didn't understand why they had been given a title which represented the losses suffered by German soldiers in 1914. Despite this, large numbers of Flemings continued to sign up for service with the Waffen-SS. The volunteers of the SS-Freiwilligen-Legion Flandern served on the Eastern front with distinction in a number of battles. Left image: a general version of a Waffen-SS recruiting poster encouraging European citizens to join the SS and fight Bolshevism. The poster was created by the niedersächsischen artist Walther Hoeck. Its based on a photograph of an unidentified SS volunteer from the Flemish Legion, one of several hundred thousand that volunteered for the Waffen-SS in order to fight against Communism and Soviet supremacy. Right image: Flemish SS ceremony marking the departure of military nurses and soldiers to the Waffen-SS at the Sterckshof castle in Deurne, near Antwerpen. Both photos in the PD.

Leningrad Sector: ϟϟ-Polizei-Division

Grenadier of the Polizei-Division on the Eastern Front

SS Grenadier disarming a Soviet Red Army soldier

SS-Polizei Division with Soviet POWs in the Leningrad area

The Polizei-Division was formed in 1939 as part of the Ordnungspolizei or uniformed national police. They were not at this time considered part of the Waffen-SS because of the manner that members of the unit were allowed to join. This status was reflected in their retention of police insignia and rank structure. The division was moved to the Volkhov River sector in January 1942 under command of Generaloberst der Polizei Alfred Wünnenberg. Finally, on February 24 1942, the Division was given official SS status and was transferred to the Waffen-SS. Its title was changed to the SS-Polizei Division. The formation was involved in heavy fighting between January and March 1942 which resulted in the destruction of the Soviet 2nd Shock Army. The remainder of the year was spent on the Leningrad front. The SS-Polizei-Division saw action south of Lake Ladoga on the Leningrad front in 1943 and was involved in a number of Soviet offensives when it was forced to withdraw to a new defensive line at Kolpino where it was successful in holding the Soviet Red Army, despite suffering heavy casualties. In May 1943, the SS-Polizei-Division were transferred to the west to retrain and upgrade to a Panzergrenadier division. It was redesignated as 4.SS-Polizei-Panzergrenadier-Division in October 1943 under SS-Oberführer Friedrich-Wilhelm Bock. The Polizei's manpower strength was 16,081 officers and men in December 1943. Credit: Wikipedia inter alia. Top clip: a soldier of the Polizei filmed earlier in the campaign during a lull in the fighting. Middle clip: a Soviet POW being frisked for concealed weapons by a Waffen-SS soldier prior to being moved to the collection point. According to various sources, the grenadier is a member of the Polizei. In the film, you can see that he is holding a captured Russian Tokarev TT33 pistol in his right hand. Bottom clip: Grenadiers of the SS-Polizei-Division gathering Soviet Red Army POWs on the Leningrad front in 1943. All footage from Die Deutsche Wochenschau. Fair use.

Leningrad Sector: División Española de Voluntarios – División Azul

Spanish Comandante Román of  II Battalion of the 269 Regiment of the Azul

Grave of Obergefreiter Marcelino Gil Martin of the División Azul

The Spanish Blaue Division or División Azul, officially designated as División Española de Voluntarios by the Spanish Army and 250.Infanterie-Division by the Germans, was composed of Spanish volunteers and officers who were given leave from the Spanish Army by dictator general Francisco Franco. Through rotation, as many as 47,000 Spanish volunteers served on the Eastern Front. División Azul faced a major Soviet attempt to break the siege of Leningrad in February 1943, when the Soviet Army 55 attacked the Spanish positions at the Battle of Krasny Bor. Despite heavy casualties, the Spaniards were able to hold their ground against a Soviet force seven times larger and supported by tanks. The assault was contained and the siege of Leningrad was maintained for a further year. The division remained on the Leningrad front where it suffered heavy casualties both due to cold and to enemy action. The Blue Division was disbanded in October 1943. Those Spaniards who wanted to continue to fight the Reds later served in the Spanische-Freiwilligen-Kompanie der SS 101 and 102. The volunteers in the Spanish Kompanie der SS 101 fought the last days of World War II in the Battle of Berlin under command of the Spanish Waffen-Hauptsturmführer der SS Miguel Ezquerra, as part of the multinational 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland. Top image: the Andalucían Hauptmann Miguel Román Garrido of División Azul. Comandante Román died aged 60 on September 8 1960 in Grenada. PD. Bottom image: a comrade nails a sleeve badge of the Azul on the wooden cross grave mark of Obergefreiter Marcelino Gil Martin in Grigorovo at Leningrad sector. The photo was taken by Lieutenant Angel Eustaquio Gil Martin in June 1943 when he visited his brother's grave to pay respect. Credit: Doug Banks. PD.

Leningrad: 11.ϟϟ-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division „Nordland“

SS-Sturmmann Andreas Mortensen

SS-Unterscharführer Knud Per Dahl-Nielsen

In 1943 all signs pointed to a Soviet offensive to relieve Leningrad, the German command was forced to strengthen the Oranienbaum front and transferred the newly formed 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland to that sector. It was billeted in the Sisak-Glina-Bosnich-Nowi area of Yugoslavia on Nov. 20 1943 when the communist partisans attacked Glina with about 5,000 men. The Danish battalion had 300 men in position and 150 in reserve, they repulsed all the daytime attacks and one nighttime assault with heavy losses to the enemy. The SS-Pionier-Battaillon 11 and SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 23 Norge and 24 Danmark arrived the Leningrad sector in advance of the other units of the division in early Dec. 1943. At the time the Nordland had a strength of 11,393 officers and men. Images: Danish Freikorps Danmark veterans Andreas Mortensen and Knud Per Dahl-Nielsen, both decorated for bravery with the Iron Cross during the battles of the Demyansk Pocket in 1942, had joined Nordland's Regiment 24 Danmark in 1943. Most Danish SS volunteers were sentenced to long prison terms after 1945, despite having had permission to serve in the Waffen-SS granted by the Danish government. Even the Danish Royal Guard encouraged soldiers and officers to step out of rank and sign up in Waffen-SS during the war. After the war a back dated law was signed and what at the time was legal was now illegal. Mortensen survived the war but was sentenced to five years in prison and loss of all civilian rights. Dahl-Nielsen was part of a reconnaissance unit when he was killed in action on Feb. 13 1944 north of Narva. His body has never been found. Credit: authors Jens Pank Bjerregaard and Lars Larsen; Danish Volunteers of the Waffen-SS. Private Collections: Poul Christensen and Rigborg Dahl-Nielsen. FU.

Soviet Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive and the withdrawal from Leningrad

Waffen-SS volunteer of the Nederland

German 15 cm Nebelwerfer 41 launcher while reloading

The Leningrad-Novgorod Offensive between January 14 and March 1 1944 was the Soviet strategic offensive against Heeresgruppe Nord by the Leningrad Front, the Volkhov Front and part of the 2nd Baltic Front in order to lift the almost 900-day siege of Leningrad. In all, the three Soviets fronts comprised the equivalent of 105 infantry divisions and 12 tank brigades, and the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts alone claimed a numerical superiority of at least 6/1 in armoured fighting vehicles and aircraft over the German 18.Armee. Adolf Hitler rejected all proposals for an early withdrawal into the 'Ostwall' positions, insisting that the Soviet forces had to be kept as far as possible from Germany and compelled to pay dearly for each yard of ground they took. SS-Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner's III. (germanisches) SS-Panzerkorps was able to hold off the Soviets until Jan. 26 1944 in continuous fighting while the northern wing of the 18.Armee retreated to the west. The reorganization of the coastal sector was entrusted to the Danish SS-Obersturmbannführer Christian Peder Kryssing. The Soviets had finally raised the siege of Leningrad and had driven the Germans westwards into Estonia and Latvia. The Dutch 4.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Brigade Nederland was involved in the 150 km fighting withdrawal to the Narva River in Estonia. In this sector of the front were to be found the bulk of the non-German volunteer divisions of the Waffen-SS. These foreign volunteers made a stand at Narva, and in an epic defence held up the Soviet Red Army for six months. Credit: Christopher Chant. Top image: an SS man of the Nederland during a break from the fierce battles. Neither heroes nor brave fighters step from the ranks of men made lonely by a hunger in their hearts for news from home. The volunteer is wearing one of many camouflage patterns used by the Waffen-SS. Photo by SS-KB Werner Mielke in 1944. U.S. NARA. Bottom image: German troops reload their 15 cm Nebelwerfer 41 multiple rocket launcher. c. Bundesarchiv.

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.

Soviet Invasion of Finland: The Winter War 1939 – 1940

Finnish soldier during the Soviet invasion of Finland known as the Winter War

Soviet POWs in the Parikkala collection camp during the Winter War

The Winter War was followed by the Continuation War

The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on Nov. 30 1939 after the Soviet and German invasion of Poland. The Soviet forces had more than three times as many soldiers as the Finns, thirty times as many aircraft, and a hundred times as many tanks. But with more than 30,000 of its army officers executed or imprisoned the Red Army had many inexperienced officers in 1939. The Finns isolated smaller portions of numerically superior Soviet forces. Divided into smaller pieces, the Finns could deal with them individually and attack from all sides. Soviet losses on the front were heavy. Historian William R. Trotter describes these conditions thus: The Soviet soldier had no choice. If he refused to fight, he would be shot. If he tried to sneak through the forest, he would freeze to death. After the Winter War ended on March 13 1940, the Soviet POWs were returned to the Soviet Union. The return was in many cases fatal for these people. They were transported under heavy guard by the NKVD to special camps as suspected traitors. Almost 10 percent of them were found guilty of high treason and executed, but the majority were sentenced to five to eight years in the Soviet forced-labour camp system known as the Gulag. This would lead to the later death of many of the POWs due to harsh camp conditions. In the aftermath of the Winter War, Finland found itself drawing ever closer to Nazi Germany. Top image: this well-known photo taken during the Winter War shows a Finnish soldier taking aim with a Swedish M/96 Mauser. The photograph is often used to represent the world’s deadliest sniper: the then Corporal Simo Häyhä, commonly referred to as The White Death. With at least 505 confirmed kills during the Winter War, Häyhä has been labelled the deadliest sniper in history. One peculiar part that makes him an even more outstanding sniper was the fact that he never used a scope on his rifle. According to Finnish historians the photo was taken in Lapland far from where Häyhä's unit the 6th Co. of the Infantry Regiment 34 was stationed. Also, Häyhä did not use a Swedish M/96 Mauser rifle during the war, he used a Finnish bolt-action Mosin-Nagant M/28-30 rifle. Second Lieutenant Simo Häyhä died aged 96 on April 1 2002 in Fredrikshamn in Finland. Credit: Facundo Filipe. Middle image: Soviet POWs in the Parikkala collection camp on Dec. 1 1939. Credit: Anthony Malesys. Bottom image: Finnish soldiers at the shore of Lake Ladoga on March 7 1942 during the Continuation War. Credit: JHL. All photos: The Finnish Wartime Photo Archive.

Swedish Intervention in the Winter War: Swedish Volunteer Corps

Swedish Volunteer Corps in the 17th century church of Torneå

4th Ranger Company of the Swedish Voluntary Corps

World opinion largely supported the Finnish cause, and the Soviet aggression was generally deemed unjustified. International help to Finland was planned, but very little actual help materialized, except from Sweden (Finland constituted the eastern part of the Kingdom of Sweden for centuries before 1809). Swedish support of Finland was near universal, under the slogan Finland's cause is ours! Volunteers arrived from America, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Norway and Italy. By far, the largest foreign contingent came from neighbouring Sweden. Sweden was officially non-belligerent, however not neutral. During the course of the war only volunteers could be used by Finland. 12,705 Swedes volunteered against the Soviet aggression in Finland. The Swedish Volunteer Corps fought on the northern front at Salla alongside Finnish soldiers. A Swedish unit of Gloster Gladiator, named the Flight Regiment 19 were responsible for the air defence of northern Finland and the city of Turku (Åbo). Hostilities ceased in March 13 1940 with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty. Finland lost one eleventh of its national territory and 30 percent of its economic assets to the Soviet Union. 12 percent of Finland's population, some 422,000 Karelians, were evacuated and lost their homes. However, Finland had avoided having the Soviet Union annex the whole country. The peace treaty thwarted the Franco-British plan to send troops to Finland through northern Scandinavia. One of the operation's major goals had been to take control of northern Sweden's iron ore and cut its deliveries to the German Reich. Top image: Swedish volunteers for Nordic independence take part for service of worship in Torneå in Finnish Lapland 1940. The Swedish Volunteer Corps were highly mobile in winter warfare and well equipped. Credit: Julius Jääskeläinen. The Finnish Wartime Photograph Archive. Bottom image: the former Swedish military attache to Moscow First Lieutenant Anders Grafström is presented a standard for the 4th Jäger Company of the Swedish Voluntary Corps in Finland 1940. The words translated as Honor, Duty and Will were spoken by the Swedish General Carl Georg von Döbeln during the war against Russia in 1809. Credit: Jared Enos. The Military Archives of Sweden. Photos in the PD.

The Continuation War 1941 – 1944

Soviet bombardment of Helsinki

Soviet spy executed by a firing squad

Finnish sergeant armed with a Suomi KP/-31

The Finns had earned the respect of the world, and Germany now considered Finland a worthy ally for their planned invasion of the Soviet Union. The Finnish government was informed of plans for Operation Barbarossa during January 1941, and agreed to cooperate with Germany to recover its lost territory. They agreed upon the arrival of German troops, Finnish mobilization and general division of operations. The Germans took responsibility for a 500 km stretch of the front in the northern Finland. Acts of war between Finland and the Soviet Union started on June 22 1941, the day Germany launched Barbarossa. Open warfare started with a Soviet air offensive on June 25 1941. The Soviet air forces bombed Helsinki and other major Finnish cities. This offered the Finnish government a ground for claiming that the country had become the target of a new assault. Finnish government stressed that Finland was fighting as a co-belligerent of the German Reich only against the Soviet Union to protect itself. However, the United Kingdom had signed with the Soviet Union an agreement of joint action on July 12 1941. As a result, Britain declared war against Finland. Both Churchill and Roosevelt were assisting the Soviets in acts of territorial conquest through huge supplies of arms. Top image: mother and child after a Soviet bomb raid against the capital of Finland on July 9 1941. The Soviet Pravda newspaper stressed that no civilian targets in Finland had been struck, even accidentally. During World War II some 70,000 Finnish children were evacuated from Finland, chiefly to Sweden. Most were evacuated during the Continuation War. Ultimately, about 20 percent of the so-called war children stayed with their Swedish foster families after the war had ended. Credit: Jussi Luostarinen. Middle image: Finnish execution of a Soviet saboteur named Victor Feigin on July 13 1941. When being arrested he was wearing black Finnish Navy uniform without ranks. Feigin was allegedly an Estonian national in Soviet service having been airdropped close to Hangö in Southernmost Finland. Credit: Jared Enos. Photo by Finnish politician and author Laurin Zilliacus. Bottom image: Finnish sergeant posing with a Suomi KP/31 SMG in the South Karelia region on July 25 1941. Credit: Jussi Luostarinen. All photos: The Finnish Wartime Photo Archive.

Swedish Volunteer Battalion

Swedish Volunteer Battalion greeted by Field marshal Mannerheim

Swedish Jägers of the Swedish Volunteer Battalion

The Heavy Company of the Swedish Volunteer Battalion

Like in the Winter War, Swedish volunteers were again recruited in the Continuation War in 1941. Although far cooler in its attitude towards Finland than during the Winter War, the Swedish government nonetheless permitted pro-Finnish activities which were ipso facto also to the advantage of the German war effort. At the beginning of September 1941, the Swedish government made it clear that, apart from the Finnish forces on the eastern front, Swedes were not permitted to volunteer for a foreign force. About 25 percent of the men were Swedish officers on leave. Swedish neutrality during World War II has been much debated and challenged. Relations between Germany and Sweden remained co-operative during World War II. Sweden exported iron ore to supply Germany's war industry via the Norwegian port of Narvik. The Swedish Government gave the Wehrmacht access to the Swedish rail system. Sweden also allowed German naval transports to take shortcuts across Swedish territorial waters in the Baltic Sea. The most controversial transit of German troops through Sweden was that of a fully armed and equipped infantry division under the command of General Erwin Engelbrecht from Norway to Finland during the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. Responding to German appeals for volunteers Swedish citizens enlisted in the German Armed Forces (most of them served in the Waffen-SS) and saw combat on the Eastern Front. This was a choice made by individual Swedish citizens, and not Swedish government policy (foreign recruitment of volunteers was banned in Sweden). Credit: Lecturter in European History Christian Leitz. Top image: Field marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim greeting members of the Swedish Volunteer Battalion in Hanko 1941. SA-kuva. FU. Middle image: volunteers of a Jäger unit of the Swedish Volunteer Battalion 1941. The Military Archives of Sweden. FU. Bottom image: a soldier of the Swedish Volunteer Battalion in the trenches on the Hanko front with a Finnish 20 mm anti-tank rifle. The emblem on the Swedes' helmet was used by Captain Harald Bråkenhielm's Heavy Company. Photo by Finnish TK photographer Nils (Niilo) Helander on October 15 1941. Credit: Julius Jääskeläinen. SA-kuva. FU.

Finland's co-belligerence with Nazi Germany: ϟϟ-Kampfgruppe „Nord“

Waffenbrüderschaft

Finnish Field marshal Gustaf Mannerheim and German General Erwin Engelbrecht

German dictator Adolf Hitler and Finnish marshal Gustaf Mannerheim

Co-belligerence was the term used by the wartime government of Finland for its military co-operation with the German Reich. Finland, like Italy and Japan, as well as a number of countries including neutral Spain, belonged to Adolf Hitler's anti-Communist pact. Germany was also allowed to recruit Finnish volunteers to the Waffen-SS which served under direct German command in operations away from Finnish-Soviet border. The German troops in Finland were not the representatives of foreign despotism but helpers who the Finns called their brothers-in-arms. The SS-Kampfgruppe Nord was the only SS unit to fight inside the Arctic Circle when it was stationed in Finland and in the Kola Peninsula of Russia. Its manpower strength was 10,373 officers and men in June 1941. The formation was not made up of regular Waffen-SS troops, but from German, Hungarian and Romanian SS men used for garrison duties in Norway who lacked proper training and leadership. Due to lack of training the Nord suffered heavy losses at the Soviet fortress at Salla in July 1941. In September 1941 Nord was attached to the Finnish III Corps operating in the Kiestinki area of North Karelia under Finnish General Hjalmar Siilasvuo. Over the winter of 1941-1942 it received replacements from the general elite pool of Waffen-SS recruits and was redesignated as an Waffen-SS mountain division in June 1942. Top image: the German Reichskriegsfahne designed personally by Adolf Hitler and the Finnish triple-tailed war flag waving above a newly built bridge across the river Sohjana in the Kiestinki area in May 1942. Middle image: German 163.Infanterie-Division on route march inspected by Finnish Field marshal Gustaf Mannerheim and German General Erwin Engelbrecht on July 18 1941 in Finnish Kaurila. Sweden had allowed the fully armed Engelbrecht division safe transit through Swedish territory to join Finnish forces in East Karelia. It was a decision that raised many challenging questions about Sweden's neutrality during WWII. Credit: Sami Toivonen. Photo by Aarne Pietinen. Bottom image: on June 4 1942, Hitler made a surprise visit to Finland in honour of Field marshal Gustaf Mannerheim's 75th birthday. Dining in the train wagon: Adolf Hitler, Finnish PM Jukka Rangell, President Risto Ryti and Gustaf Mannerheim. Credit: Jussi Luostarinen. All photos: Finnish Wartime Photograph Archive.

ϟϟ-Division „Reich“ and the Capture of Belgrade

Serbian officer surrendering to Reich officer 

SS-Feldgendarmerie in the Balkans

Reich officer SS-Hauptsturmführer Fritz Klingenberg

Fritz Klingenberg interrupted his university studies of science and history at the University of Rostock in 1934 and joined the SS-Verfügungstruppe. He became one of the first ever graduates of the new SS-Junkerschule at Bad Tölz in 1935. Klingenberg served with SS-Division Reich during the Invasion of Yugoslavia in March 1941. He was best known for his unorthodox and audacious capture of the Yugoslavian capital Belgrade for which he was awarded the Knight's Cross. On the morning of April 12 1941, SS-Hauptsturmführer Fritz Klingenberg disobeyed orders, and decided to reconnoiter Belgrade. Klingenberg and members of his motorcycle assault company crossed the Danube river and approached the city with only six men. They encountered some Yugoslav troops, who had captured a drunk German tourist, whom they in turn captured. Receiving some reinforcements the Reich detachment unfurled a large swastika and raised it over the embassy to declare the capture of the city. Two hours later, the mayor of Belgrade arrived at the embassy and surrendered the city to Klingenberg. It was not until the next day that a sizeable German force arrived to secure the city. On December 21 1944, the front veteran Fritz Klingenberg was promoted to SS-Standartenführer and ordered to take command of the German-Latin 17.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Götz von Berlichingen southeast of Saarbrücken against the XV Corps of the U.S. 7th Army. When resistance finally collapsed on March 22 1945, Klingenberg was among the casualties. He was killed in action aged 32 by a tank shell during a firefight on the western edge of Herxheim and is buried at the German War Cemetery in Andilly in France, Block 35 Row 10 Grave 731. Credit: Helmut Günther, Hot Motors, Cold Feet. Top image: Serbian officer hand over the barracks to the Reich in April 1941. Oorlogsbronnen. FU. Middle image: Waffen-SS military police examining a Soviet SVT-40 rifle seized from a Yugoslavian partisan during the Balkans Campaign in 1941. Bottom image: Fritz Klingenberg as SS-Hauptsturmführer in Soviet Union in July 1941. c. Bundesarchiv.

Finnish advance in Finnish and Russian Karelia

Knight of the Mannerheim Cross Lieutenant Olli Remes of Infantry Regiment 54 (JR54)

Finland-Swedes of Finnish Infantry Regiment 61 (JR61) in Eastern Karelia

German tankers of Panzer-Abteilung 40 in Northern Karelia

Although initially deployed for a static defence, the Finnish Army launch an attack to the south, on both sides of Lake Ladoga, putting pressure on Leningrad and thus supporting the advance of the German Heeresgruppe Nord. The Finns created a military administration in occupied East Karelia with the goal of preparing the region for eventual incorporation into Finland. Finland's participation in the war brought major benefits to Germany. First, the Soviet fleet was blockaded in the Gulf of Finland, so that the Baltic was freed for training German submarine crews as well as for German shipping activities, especially the shipping of vital iron ore from northern Sweden and nickel from the Petsamo area. Second, the sixteen Finnish divisions tied down Soviet troops, put pressure on Leningrad, and cut one branch of the Murmansk Railroad. Third, Sweden was further isolated. Despite Finland's contributions to the German cause, the Western Allies had ambivalent feelings, torn between their residual goodwill for Finland and the need to support their vital ally, the Soviet Union. As a sop to the Soviet Union, Britain declared war on Finland, but the United States did not. At first, the U.S. empathised with the Finnish cause; however, the situation became problematic after Finnish troops crossed the 1939 border. Finnish and German troops were a threat to the Murmansk Railway and northern communication supply line between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union. Source: U.S. Library of Congress. Top image: Finnish Lieutenant and company commander of Infantry Regiment 54 (JR54) Olli Remes on the northern front. He had won a bronze medal in the 50 kilometers of the 1934 World Ski Championships in Sweden and a silver medal for military patrol skiing in the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. For bravery and promptness, Remes was promoted to Captain on December 29 1942 but fell two days later in the Kriv forests. Credit: Jussi Luostarinen. Middle image: men of the Finnish Infantry Regiment 61 (JR61) in a trench near the village of Shemenski on April 28 1942. The regiment consisted almost exclusively of Swedish speaking Finns. It has been the subject of several books, as well as a feature film Framom främsta linjen. Photo by Lieutenant T. Räisänen. Bottom image: German Panzertruppen from Panzer-Abteilung z.b.V. 40 with two Finnish officers in northern Karelia on October 15 1941. Its 2.Panzer-Kompanie were subordinated to SS-Kampfgruppe Nord for the attack to Alakurtti-Kantalahti direction. It was later subordinated to the Finnish III Corps. In April and May 1942 the Panzer battalion faced one of its toughest challenges near Kiestinki. During a period of three weeks, the 14th Soviet Army attacked, trying to destroy the whole corps in northern Karelia. Photo by Press photographer Sergeant Major Osvald Hedenström. Credit: Julius Backman Jääskeläinen. All photos: The Finnish Wartime Photograph Archive.

ϟϟ-Freiw.Schikompanie „Norwegen“ subordinated to ϟϟ-Division „Nord“

SS-Freiwilligen-Schikompanie Norwegen

SS-Skijäger of the Norwegen

The Norwegian SS-Freiwilligen-Schikompanie Norwegen or SS-Skijegerkompani Norge was formed in February 1942 and attached to the SS-Division Nord. The elite Norwegen mainly consisted of volunteers from Norway and a share of expert skiers from Denmark and Sweden, although the company was formally a Norwegian police unit. Most officers and non-commissioned officers were Norwegian. The company was inspected by Nord's commander SS-Obergruppenführer Matthias Kleinheisterkamp, who even accompanied the first ski-patrol out in the wilderness. It fought alongside the Finnish Army and the Wehrmacht in Finnish Lapland and North Karelia during the Continuation War. By the winter of 1943 the company was designated as a combat battalion, the SS-Schijäger-Bataillon Norwegen, with three full infantry companies and a staff company. Another 3,400 Estonian volunteers took part. Volunteers from Soviet occupied Eastern Karelia formed the Kinship Battalion. At the end of the war the USSR requested members of the Kinship Battalion to be handed over. Some managed to escape before or during transport, but most of them were either sent to labor camps or executed. Left image: Norwegian Waffen-SS volunteers Sødermann and Brøbe of the Norwegen on ski-patrol in Karelia. They were both killed in action before wars end. Right image: a Norwegian SS-Untersturmführer of the Norwegen in Karelia. Photos in the Public domain.