Figure 1.--This unidentified group loojs to to be a group of German Ost-Truppe. They look very young. The caps suggest that they are a Cossak unit. They may be part of the Jungschults Calvalry Regiment (the Young Schultzes) named after Colonel Hans-Joachim von Schultz. The Cossack Platow Cavalry Regiment of von Pannwitz was combined with the Jungschults Cavalry Regiment to form the The 1st Cossack Division (August 4, 1943). The soldier at the right is a Gebrigsjäger--German officer. The photograph would have been taken some here in the Ukraine, apprently about October 1941 as the unit was being formed. Source: Bundesarchiv.

Hitler and the NAZI leadership as well as OKW after the fall of France thought that the War was won. For Hitler this meant that he could now proceeed with one of his most cherished objectives--thecseizure of Lebenraum in the East. This meant the invasion of the Soviet Union. Operation Barbarossa was planed as a massive stroke which would destroy the Red Army with one massive stroke, just as Poland, France, and the other occupied countries had been crushed. The Soviet Union proved a much more difficult undertaking. For the first time, massive German casualties were experienced. The Germans after the huge losses before Moscow (December 1941) found themsleves needing to look for additional manpower. Hitler and OKW wanted to in the War with German and Axis allied troops. With the failure of Barbarossa and the huge losses in belame clear to German commanders that they would need help if they were to defeat the Soviet Union. Thus they began to search around for manpower that could build their ranks. This search included popultions that had alienated by barbarous attrocities. These wre not Axis allied forces, but foreigners to serve in the Whermnacht and SS. The Whermacht began receuiting Russian Hiwis (helpers) for non-combat roles, but some were used in combat. The Whemacht also began forming the Russian Liberation Army, Much of this was kjept from Hitler who ws furious when he learned the details, especially that Russians were being armed. One of the places they looked was amomg Muslims. Here they found willing recruits both in the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, Both the Wehrmacht and SS formed military units with Muslim recruits. The SS also began forming other non-Germn units, something tht woud have been unthinkable before the War. While Axis Allied troops mostly fought in separated formatind if they weresubstantial enough, like the Italians, Hungarians, and Romanians. The Finns who were not art of the Axis andcobeligerants also fought separatly. The Spanish Blue Division was incorporated into the Whermacht structure. Slvakian units were also ncororated in the Whermacht structure.

Manpower Crisia

Hitler and the NAZI leadership as well as OKW after the fall of France thought that the War was won. For Hitler this meant that he could now proceeed with one of his most cherished objectives--thecseizure of Lebenraum in the East. This meant the invasion of the Soviet Union. Operation Barbarossa was planed as a massive stroke which would destroy the Red Army with one massive stroke, just as Poland, France, and the other occupied countries had been crushed. The Soviet Union proved a much more difficult undertaking. For the first time, massive German casualties were experienced. The Germans after the huge losses before Moscow (December 1941) found themsleves needing to look for additional manpower.

German Debate

Hitler and OKW wanted to in the War with German and Axis allied troops. With the failure of Barbarossa and the huge losses in belame clear to German commanders that they would need help if they were to defeat the Soviet Union.

Recruitment

The Germans were forced to begin searching around for potential recruits to assist them, including men from populations they had alienated by barbarous attrocities. The most fruitful source was POW camps where hundreds of thousands were dieing of starvation and exposure. Volunterring for the Whermacht was a way out of the camps.

Indivdual Forces

These were not Axis allied forces, but foreigners to serve in the Whermnacht and SS. The Whermcht began receuiting Russian Hiwis (helpers) for non-combat roles, but some were used in combat. The Whemacht also began forming the Russian Liberation Army, Much of this was kjept from Hitler who ws furious when he learned the details, especially that Russians were being armed. One of the places they looked was amomg Muslims. Here they found willing recruits both in the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, Both the Wehrmacht and SS formed military units with Muslim recruits. The SS also began forming other non-Germn units, something that woud have been unthinkable before the War.

Hilfswilliger units

Hilfswilliger meant a volunteer or helper in a German-occupied country. They were generally referred to as Hiwis. They were a para-military labor force. The Hiwis were not part of the Whermacht when Hitler launched the War. Only as Barbarossa progressed and the enormity of the mission in the Soviet Union became clear did the Hiwis come into existence. It beame clear to Whermacht commanders in tghe field that additional manpower was needed and this became increasingly obvious as Red Army resistance stiffened and supply lines became increasingly streached. Whermacht commanders saw the potential used of the POWs before OKW and Hitler who were more interested in killing them as part of Generalplan Ost. Garrison duty steadily depleted the German force as they mved east. German commanders at the frnt with depleted roles and seeing vast numbers of Soviet POWs hit n the idea of rectitinf some for labor duties (autumn 1941). The moltivation of the Hiwis voluntering varied. Many were primarily motivated by self-preservation and sought food rations that volunteeing meant. Simply thy wanted to escape starvation. Oters were anti-Soviet. German commanders on their own initiative without auhorization from OKW organized auxiliary units of various services. They at frst included Soviet deserters and POWs. They also recruited volunteers from among the local population. Hiwis were normally used in labor or support roles, mostly in the East. Asignmentgs varied widely. They might be used for sentry duty, drivers, supply distribution, workers in depots, motor pool maintenance, and much more. The initial experiments with Hiwis surprised the Germans, surpasing all expectations. More commandrs adopted the practice. Reports suggest that there were some 0.2 million Hiws Spring 1942). Hiwi ranks swelled to perhaps 1.0 million men (December 1942). Whie Hiwis were normally used in inoucuous labor asignments, they were on occassions used in rounding up targeted popuations, mostly Jews for deportation or execution. They did not do the actual shooting. The major role of the Hiwis was to free up German soldiers for frontline combat servce.

Osttruppen

German commnders found that they no only needed assistance with the Hiwi workers in rear areas, but combat support at the front. And they found that large numbers of the Soviet citizens were histile to the Communiss and willing to fight to destroy Stalin's totalitarian state. Heer commanders in the field thus began organizing Ost battalions (Eastern battions). This began during Barbarossa, but as German losses mounted, especially after the the Red Army offensive before Moscow the manpower shortage became increasingly severe as the War dragged on in the East. The Germans as a matter of course organized Ostruppen (East troops) into battalions on the basis of ethnicity, relecting the vaying needs and sensibilities of the men as well as the NAZI penchant for racial grouping. These battalion were normally drawn from a specific ethnic/national group. Inte fog nd chaos of war there were many exceptions. We note, for example, a Korean, Yang Kyoungjong, deployd with Euroean Ost-truppen in Normandy. Command and liason positions were relegted to Germans-- Gebrigsjäger officers. This included both officers and non-commisione officers. The Germans as they formed the Ost battlions divided them into two grops: Ost-Bataillone and Turk-Bataillone. [Von Zerneck] The Ost-battalions were eastern units composed of Russian and Byelorussian ethnic personnel and a smaller number of Ukrainians. The Germans were not always able to accurately identify the nationaliy. Most were Christians to the extent this was possible as a result of the Soviet atheist campign. Turk-battalions were fomed from the Asiatic Turkic ppopulation of the Crimea and Caucasus which the Germans reached in 1942, including Turkistanis and Kalmucks who were especiall recetive to fighting the Soviets. The men in the Turkbattalions were often Muslims or had Muslim parents. There was more than the ethnic and religious differences involved in the German clssification. There were differences in battalion organization. Eastern battalions were assigned directly to a German division, using the division number followed by 'Ost-Bataillon' or spcific ethnic unit title. The Germans referred to these Ost units generally as 'Osttruppen', but gradually gave many of the individual units specific designations, based on their ethnic component. Thus Cossack units, for exmple, were Kosaken-Bataillone. Volga-Tartar battalions were called Wolgatatarische-Bataillone. [Von Zerneck] Ethnicty also affected deployment. The Cossack and Turkic battalions were kept in the East. The European Ost-battlions were often deployed in the West. The Americans on Omaha Beach, for example encoutered as Ost-battalion. The difference was OKW's assessmentment as to loyalty and where thy would fight best. A Dutch HBC reader encountred a Ost-batallion soldier during the German occupation. "Once I met a 'German' soldier at the tram stop in Utrecht, the Netherlands. It must have been in 1943. He did not look German, but he was wearing an ordinary Wehrmacht uniform. He asked me some questions about the schedule in German. I asked him where he was from. He said that he was from Yerevan in the Caucasus Mountains. This was the capitalmof Armenia. I don't know if he was a Muslim, I assumed Greek Orthodox since he was apparently Armenian. We did not talk about religion. I still wonder what happened to him. He perhaps died a 'Heldentod für den Führer', although the poor guy must have been forced by circumstance into the German Army and was wishing he was back home in his mountains."

Muslim units

One of the populations the Germans looked for recruits among was among Muslims. Here they found many willing recruits both in the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. Both the Wehrmacht and SS formed military units with Muslim recruits. For the Germans, Muslim recrits were especially useful. Because of the Soviet atheist campaign and brutal rule, Muslims bitterly resented Stalin's Communist rule. And they also tended to be anti-Russian because of the long hitory of Russian incursions into the Cauucasses and Central Asia. And there was the added dimension that most we anti-Semitic as well. The Germn foreign policy iniative in the Middle East played upon Arab resentment against the British and French. The British and Jew hating Grand Mufti made propagada broadcsts for the Germans as he spent most of the War in a Berlin villa confiscated from a Jewish family. He also helped the Germans organize Muslim miitary units in the Balkans. He incouraged the Germans to kill even more Jews. In addition, none other than SS-Reichführer Heinrich Himmler took a particular interest in Islam.

Russian Liberation Army

The Russian Liberation Army (Русская Освободительная Армия--ROA) was the anti-Soviet forces that fought with the NAZIs after the German invasion of the Soviet Union (June 1941). The ROA was also known as the Vlasov Army, but Vlasov led only one part of the overall anti-Soviet groups that fought with the NAZIs. The ROA was not part of the initial NAZI planning for Barbarossa. Hitler was planning not only a military campaign in the east, but a war of extinction. Hitler's objective, however, was eventually Holocaust for the Slavic people of the Soviet Union. Only when Red Army resistance stiffened was the idea of a ROA given any real consideration. NAZI propaganda did not focus on the racial component, but rather rather stresses a campaign against Bolshevism. As a result, the NAZIs could recruit Russians and other Soviet peoples to their cause. The major ROA leader was former Red Army general Andrey Vlasov. He tried to unite all anti-Soviet Russians and other nationalities in opposing Stalin. Many were volunteers recruited from the POW camps which in the case of Soviet POWs were virtual death camps. The ROA also included eastern workers (Ostarbeiters) and Russian emigrés (even including anticommunist White Army veterans of the Russian Civil War).

SS units

Himmler and the SS were not as quick as the Whermacht to enlist foreigers into their ranks. They were nore intent on killing Jews and other 'undesirables'. Unlike the Whermacht, Himmler was never willing t enlist slavs. But the deteriorating war effort did lead Himmler to form forign legions. They were primarily from Nordic countries with ryan popiltions which Himmler planned to annex as part of a Greater Reich. But the pressure of war forced even Himmler to go beyond the Nordic countries. Belgian Fascist Léon Degrelle formed a Wallonian Legion joining the Waffen SS to prove his political loyalty. They were French-speaking and ethnically non-German. And Frenchmen joined the Wafen -SS as well. Himmler alsoused the Grand Mufti to form Muslim SS units in the Balkans.

Security formations

Generalplan Ost

The Soviet citizns that volunteeered to fight the Germas were aware or soon became aware of the German obsssion with killing Jews. They were for the most part not aware of Generalplan Ost, the German plan to commit genocide on a far wide scale than the Jewish holocast. The Germans were intent on altering the etnic map of Europe. And this mean eliminating some 90 million Slavs. Millions were to be killed out right. Other millions were to be driven beyond the Urals where they would be left to starve. Thoseallowed to live would bt converted into Helot slave labor for German agricultural settlers. The East would be converted into the tidy German countryside writ large. It was in short the greatest criminal endevor in history. The Soviercitizens joining the Germans knew nothing about this.

Axis Forces

While Axis Allied troops mostly fought in separated formatind if they were substantial enough, like the Italians, Hungarians, and Romanians. The Finns who were not art of the Axis andcobeligerants also fought separatly. The Spanish Blue Division was incorporated into the Whermacht structure. Slovakian units were also ncororated in the Whermacht structure.

Sources

Von Zerneck, Jason. "Eastern Troops: Die Osttruppen," Axis History Website (2011).

Created: 4:46 AM 8/16/2014
Last updated: 4:46 AM 8/16/2014