Lodieu, Didier Voluntaires de l'Est en Normandie. Eure - Seine-Maritime. Aout 1944

For the first time in the history of the Battle of Normandy, learn about the tragic fate of a volunteer battalion from the East deployed in a German Wehrmacht field division in the Seine-Maritime department. These men, disillusioned with Stalinism, volunteered for military service in the hope of regaining freedom in their native Russia following Germany's victory.

A few months after taking the oath, they fought against the Red Army and then began to realize that they were viewed as an inferior race by the Nazis. As the Second World War progressed, their situation became more and more desperate. Their families were deported because they were considered traitors. They finally realized they were on the wrong side. But their fate was sealed and they could practically only trust their German "comrades". Together they had to learn to get to know each other, accept their differences and customs and, in certain cases, trust each other.

Finally, in August 1944, Germans and volunteers from the East stood side by side with the Allies in Eure and Seine-Maritime. After weeks of hard fighting, the few survivors of these men from the East died. As prisoners of war, they were handed over to Stalin in exchange for horses, where they died as traitors. and subsequently exchanged Stalin for horses. This poignant subject is covered in detail here, offering a largely unknown side to the fighting in Normandy in August 1944.