Hitler's Renegades : Foreign Nationals in the Service of the Third Reich

by Ailsby, Christopher J.

• ISBN13: 9781574888386
• ISBN10: 1574888382
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-05-01
• Publisher: Potomac Books Inc

Summary

One of the least palatable but most fascinating aspects of World War II was the integration of willing foreign volunteers into the German Army and Waffen-SS. From countries ranging from India to the Balkans, entire divisions were made up of non-German combatants who saw action in every theater. Some of these units evolved into tenacious and elite formations, equal in fighting ability to any of the Wehrmacht's regular troops. Hitler's Renegades is the story of the two million men who made the conscious decision to side with Hitler, even when some of them found Nazi Germany itself and its ideals abhorrent. World War II historian and photo archivist Christopher Ailsby attempts to explain why they made that fateful choice. Illustrated with vivid black-and-white photographs (many previously unpub-lished) of the non-German units in action, this book is the first to chronicle the story of all the foreign troops in Hitler's service, to detail their significance to the war, and to describe how they fared in its aftermath.

Table of Contents

Maps:	6	(2)
Introduction:	8	(4)
Chapter 1: The New Order in Europe	12	(12)
Chapter 2: Why the Third Reich?	24	(6)
Chapter 3: Recruitment and Training	30	(10)
Chapter 4: The First Volunteer Legions	40	(14)
Chapter 5: Vichy France	54	(6)
Chapter 6: Western European Volunteers	60	(16)
Chapter 7: Neutrals and Allies	76	(20)
Chapter 8: British Volunteers	96	(8)
Chapter 9: The Indian Legion	104	(12)
Chapter 10: Russian Nationals	116	(22)
Chapter 11: The Baltic States	138	(12)
Chapter 12: Exploiting Balkan Divisions	150	(20)
Chapter 13: A Settling of Scores	170	(14)
Glossary of German terms:	184	(3)
Further reading	187	(2)
Index	189