History OF THE 5.SS WIKING Division & Other Foreign Volunteers of the German Armed Forces
It is our aim to bring you a bit of actual history behind the men who fought against the "Bolshevik scourge"; volunteers who came from the various Northern European countries allied with Hitler's Germany who only had a desire to see an end to Soviet Communism. As we do more research to bring you an accurate portrayal (and build the rest of this website!), you will see more and more content. We also have included histories of the Finnish and Norwegian Legions, and Leon Degrelle's Walloon Brigade because of their close combat association with Division Wiking. Also included is a short history of Division Nordland, which owed its birth to Wiking as being formed from the Nordland Grenadier Regiment in 1943. We will in the future cover other foreign volunteers in the Waffen-SS and Heer (namely the Islamic Handshar, the Russian ROA, and the Spanish Blue Division) in the Other Volunteers section.
"European Volunteers, Join to Fight Bolshevism!" Germany headed a stong movement in Europe to actively campaign (politically and through warfare) against the ideals of Bolshevist Communism. This culminated in 1941, when the German armed forces were pitted against the very home of Bolshevism, Soviet Russia. Nazi Germany had no problem in recruiting the multitudes of volunteers willing to lay down their lives to ensure a "New and Free Europe", free of the threat of Communism. National Socialism was seen by many in Holland, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and other eastern European and Balkan countries as the protector of personal freedom and their very way of life, despite the true underlying totalitarian (and quite twisted, in most cases) nature of the movement. Regardless, thousands upon thousands of valiant men died defending their respective countries in the name of a better tomorrow. We salute these idealists; no matter how unsavory the Nazi government was, the front-line soldiers of the Waffen-SS (in particular the foreign volunteers) gave their lives for their loved ones and a basic desire to be free.
Click on the thumbnails below to see the recruiting/propaganda posters that helped bring in volunteers for the Waffen-SS units, including the Wiking division.
Norwegian Norwegian Ski Troops Norwegian Ski Troops Norwegian Flemish (Belgian) Dutch Dutch Danish German German Dutch (featuring Paul Kr¸ger) Dutch (featuring Michel De Ruyter) Flemish (Belgian) Painting of Wiking Division, featuring divisional commander, Felix Steiner
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