Published in „Siegrunen“ Magazine – Volume XI, Number 3, Whole Number 65,
Spring 1998
When the story of the Danish volunteers of the Waffen-SS is recounted, the conversation usually goes back to the men of the FREIKORPS DANMARK. Their battles on the Ilmensee (Lake Ilmen) and near Welikije Luki, (Velikiye Luki), have always been held up as an example of Denmark's participation in the common European struggle. This unit, which existed from 19 June 1941 until 20 May 1943, had on the average a strength of about 1,200 men, and all-in-all, only about 1,800 men ever belonged to it
In sum total there were over 12,000 Danish volunteers in the Waffen- SS between 1940 and 1945 and about a third of them fell in action. These Danes could be found in all of the 38 Divisions of the Waffen-SS. The majority of them however were in the III. (Germanic) SS-Panzer Corps, with the volunteer formations „Nordland“ and „Nederiand“. The principal motivation for the voluntary enlistment of these men was without a doubt, their belief in the communist threat of the Soviet Union to Denmark and Europe. Among them could be found those who had already volunteered to fight in Finland during the Winter War of 1939- 1940.
What is very little known, is the fact, that when the war between Germany and the Soviet Union broke out on 22 June 1941, (Operation Barbarossa), there were already 216 Danes in the ranks of the known troop strength of the SS Division „Wiking“. These volunteers were differentiated from the bulk of the Danish volunteers since they had joined long before the breakdown in relations between Germany and the Soviet Union had taken place. These young men had not joined up to fight against something that they were afraid of, but instead came together for something that they believed in.
Soon after 9 April 1940, (Operation Weserübung - the invasion of Denmark and occupation of Norway), the first, albeit still secret, attempt to recruit volunteers for the former SS-Verfiigungstruppe (later Waffen- SS), began in Denmark. This was all done through the Danmarks National-Socialistiske Arbejder Parti, the DNSAP or National Socialist Worker's Party of Denmark. Those who responded were young men from the DNSAP SA (Sturm Abteilung - Storm Troops), and the National- Socialistisches Ungdom, the NSJ or National Socialist Youth, along with some Party members or people who had some connections with the DNSAP.
The enlistment of the recruits took place at SA facilities in the larger Danish cities under the supervision of SS officers in Luftwaffe uniforms. The recruits were informed that they would do their service in the SS-Standarte „Nordland“. They really did not know anything about the SS- VT, only that it was an elite unit in the German Armed Forces, and because of their beliefs they wanted to go there. They were not advised as to what purpose they would serve in the event of war time action. The SS-Standarte „Nordland“ had been authorized by Führer decree on 20 April 1940, and was to be formed from a combination of volunteers from Denmark and Norway.
Above left: SS-Staf. Möller and SS-Ostubaf. Jakobsen in Flensburg, 26 June 1940. Above right: SS-Ostubef. Jakobsen with one of his NCO's in Flensburg, 26 June 1940. (H.T. Nielsen).
The recruiting commission was very selective and established high standards. Great emphasis was placed on the correct body size and the sound teeth of the recruits. Those found acceptable received orders on where to report in, mostly to railroad stations, along with departure dates. The first contingent of 40 Danish volunteers, (chosen from 120 candidates and between the ages of 17 and 23), left for Germany on 8 May 1940. They were transported under strict secrecy, crossing the border in German Army trucks that were supposed to be empty. A small transport of ethnic-German volunteers from North Schleswig was also soon made.
A still larger contingent of 72 ethnic-Danes and 19 ethnic-Germans made up the next transport on 26 June 1940. The 72 Danes were picked up at the reporting stations and then taken in trucks with enclosed sides to the German-Danish border. The convoy came to a halt in a forest north of Krusau. Here a roll call of all those along was taken, and it was here that the 19 Danish Volksdeutsche volunteers joined the rest. The trucks again passed over the border posing as empty Wehrmacht vehicles and eventually came to a halt in the courtyard of the Police Presidium in Flensburg. Here they were met by SS- Obersturmbannfiihrer Jakobsen, the former CO of l./BNordland“, along with SS-Standartenführer und Oberst der Polizei Möller. SS-Staf. Möller made the volunteers aware of the fact that they now came under German war time regulations.
On the next morning the Danes began a three day journey in a train with three freight cars that took them through Germany and on to Klangenfurt in the Ostmark (Austria). They then proceeded on a foot march from the railroad station to the barracks where 1./“Nordland“ was located. Here the Danes were assigned to different companies.
Of this group of 72 Danes in the SS-VT, I have the names of 15 that are known today . . . nearly all of those who were not killed in action became officers or officer-aspirants and were recipients of many of the high and highest decorations. After 14 days, the Danes were individually called to the battalion staff to determine the lengths of their service obligations: a three month trial, two years, four years, or for the duration of the war. Of the few who selected to serve for three months, nearly all of them continued on after their time had expired.
The training period proceeded with relatively little friction. Only between the ethnic-Danes and ethnic-Germans from North Schleswig was their a difference of opinion over the future course of the Danish- German frontier. The SS Main Office dispatched SS-Untersturmführer Werner Grothmann to try and smooth over the waves from this disagreement.
In the next months, more Danes arrived in the Ostmark. Among them were 10 career officers of the Danish Army, including Kapitänleutnant of the Royal Danish Guard Christian Frederik von Schalburg, the highest ranking European volunteer and a representative on the command staff. In October 1940, Danes arrived at II. and III. Battalionsf Nordland“, that were then located in Vienna. At the same time, the recruiting program in Denmark was legalized, causing a growth in voluntary enlistments.
In December 1940, Danes were sent to the Germanic SS Training Camp at Sennheim, Alsace, where they were assembled together with their comrades from Norway, Holland and Flanders to receive basic military training. From March to May 1941, the Germanic volunteers were then dispatched to the SS-Standarten „Germania“, „Westland“ and „Nordland“. „Germania“ had already been formed during peace time, while „Westland“ contained many of the Flemish and Dutch SS volunteers.
The three above named Standarten were then combined to form the newest unit of the SS-VT, the Division „Wiking”, the first multi-national division to be formed in the war. This division was assembled on the grounds of the troop-training camp at Heuberg under its commander, the widely respect SS-Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner, who would later be decorated with the swords and oakleaves to the Knight's Cross. On 22 May 1941, the division was inspected by the Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, and then began its way to the east.
All these young Danes came voluntarily into the Waffen-SS on the basis of their beliefs, convinced that the new German-led Europe would become a great power independent of both Anglo-American capitalism and Soviet Bolshevism. The greater numbers of the comrades of the early Danish volunteers, including the men of the FREIKORPS DANMARK, (established on 19 July 1941 under the Danish Lt.Col. Christian Peter Kryssing), came later on. These volunteers, along with many of their European comrades in the National Legions and other volunteer formations were committed only to fighting against the Bolsheviks and not the Western powers.
This did not apply to the volunteers of 1940. The legionnaires of the FREIKORPS DANMARK fought the Red threat in the east under the Dannebrog (Danish flag). The volunteers from the first hour strove for a Europe under the Germanic victory runes, against the Bolsheviks from the east as well as against the obsolete democracies and their imperialism from the west. When I learned that my father and uncle were among the first group of 216 Danish volunteers, I sought not to emphasize the divisions between the volunteers, but to see what differentiated one group from another.
I was only concerned that this initial small group of volunteers, (and their motivations), were in danger of being forgotten by history. Later on with the formation of SS-Pz.Gr.Rgt.24 „Danmark“ in May 1943 on the Grafenwöhr troop training grounds, the „Wiking“ members and the legionnaires were brought together in one dedicated contingent. All of these Danish volunteers then distinguished themselves in Croatia, before Narva, in Pomerania and at the last, before and in Berlin.
Above left: Two of the trainers with on the right is Uscha. K. Soil. Above right: Ustuf. Werner Grothmann in Klangenfurt, Summer 1940. (H.T.Nielsen Archives).
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POSTSCRIPT: Legion-Obersturmführer Kristen Madsen Brodersen
The „heroic“ death of Leg.-Ostuf. Brodersen as told in SR #64 was the official version, but as it turns out the truth was a bit more non-heroical. In fact, on 17 June 1942, Leg.-Ostuf. Brodersen was playing stupidly in front of his men, boasting and bragging. He wanted to show them how ineffective a German stick grenade was and he did it in such a foolish way that it exploded and killed him on the spot. Some rumors even state that he was not sober. Although it was a tragic loss for the FREIKORPS DANMARK, it was not possible to tell the truth in the course of the war. „Officially“ it was not possible for an officer in the European elite force of the Waffen-SS to act in such a dishonorable way!
Above: 3/FREIKORPS DANMARK in Posen Treskau, Spring 1942. From the left: Leg.-Oscha. Erling Haiias, SS-Ustuf. Hennecke (a German), Leg.-Uscha. Andersen, Leg.-Ostuf. Kristen Madsen Brodersen, Leg.-Hscha. Pedersen, Leg.-Uscha. Birkmar, Leg.- Uscha. Jörgensen. They wear the „trifos“ collarpatch.
