Scherzer, Veit (Hrsg.): Sous le Signe SS. Freiwillige Franzosen in der Waffen-SS

In this book, the author investigates the question of whether the European volunteer units in the SS - here using the example of the French - were "burnt out" in order to spare German soldiers, as is repeatedly rumoured. To this end, he meticulously and exhaustively investigated the combat missions of the SS Brigade or SS Division "Charlemagne" in Galicia in 1944, Hinterpommern, Berlin and Bavaria in 1945 and scientifically evaluated extensive previously unused archive material. In the process, a completely different picture of this unit emerged than previously presented in the literature. The extensive appendix contains, among other things, the biographies of the French SS officers, with photos where available.

The publication of the book will make great waves, because the author has discovered that many events described in the relevant literature, such as battles, exist only in the memories of French veterans. For this purpose, he evaluated hundreds of eyewitness accounts of the civilian population from Hinterpommern who had fled (Bundesarchiv-Lastenausgleichsarchiv) as well as, for the fighting in April/May 1945 in southern Bavaria, the reports of Catholic priests to the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising about the events during the "invasion" of the Americans in the respective towns. The fate of a young French nobleman who is still missing today and who, together with his stepbrother, had volunteered for the Waffen SS, was also clarified. The extensive appendix contains, among other things, a list of names of 38 French volunteers who were intended for sabotage and commando operations behind the front and who received their training at Skorzeny's "Sonderverband z.b.V. Friedenthal". The 2800 French volunteers for the Waffen-SS, who were finally accepted after inner-German quarrels, received their military training in Alsace, camp Sennheim. About 20 former officers underwent a course at the SS Junker School in Tölz. In March 1944, the fully trained volunteers were assembled at the Beneschau military training area and the French SS Volunteer Assault Brigade was formed. This book details the operations of the brigade, from February 1945 as a division, from summer 1944 in Galicia, Pomerania and Mecklenburg to the end in Berlin. Particularly interesting are the detailed occupations down to the companies and the actual divisions of the units. Even little or unknown deployments of subunits are discussed, for example in Gotenhafen, Kolberg, Danzig and in southern Bavaria. Convincing the "Führer" to establish a French SS unit was very difficult. The project of the SS Race and Settlement Main Office found great support from almost all young SS officers and a large part of the HJ leaders. On the other hand, there was strong opposition from the NSDAP, especially from Martin Bormann (he suspected the French of pro-Soviet tendencies) and some Gauleiters who saw chauvinist pan-Germanic tendencies in it. In the end, the SS prevailed and began recruiting volunteers in France in July 1943, whereupon several thousand men came forward in a short time. The French government gave the volunteers legal status through the law of 22 July 1943. The decree was published in the Journal Officiel, the government gazette, and enforced as a state law.