The story of Finnish volunteers in the service of the Third Reich beganwith a series of behind the scenes diplomatic negotiations between Germanyand Finland at the post-March 1940 negotiated end of her “Winter War” withthe Soviet Union. Because of their well-proven fighting qualities,Reichsfuhrer-SS Himmler expressed interest in having a Finnish contingentbecome a part of his growing Waffen-SS . While the Finns were open tosuch a suggestion, both parties were quite aware that any open recruitmentinto Germany’s armed forces of Finnish soldiers and citizens wouldcertainly, be interpreted as a belligerent provocation by the Soviets.Subsequently, every effort was made to disguise the enrollment ofactive-duty Finnish soldiers and other volunteers into the ranks of theWaffen-SS. There was also a stipulation made in a secret protocol by theFinnish government that no Finnish volunteers in the service of Germanywould fight against Great Britain or Greece (this reflects the time-frameof the contract signing – Spring 1941, when the German incursion into theBalkans made these two governments the only active combatants againstGermany); or any other nation, “except the Soviet Union.” Clearly, theFinns wanted to respect the differences that western governments, (whohad been generously forthcoming with critical military andlogistical aid during the winter-war), had with Germany; but at the sametime, wanted to align a major continental power in their corner against thethreat of further Soviet hostilities. In this sense, the Finns decision topursue a pro-Axis stance in the early months of 1941, well before the onsetin an actual German-Russo conflict would reflect both self-interest and anastute strategic grasp of their current geopolitical situation.

In February 1941, Himmler’s Waffen-SS recruitment chief, Gottlob Berger,worked with the “Auslands-Amt” of the German Embassy in Helsinki toreceive the first complement of 1000 Finnish volunteers into Germanservice. These conscripts were publicly announced as “workers for GermanIndustry” to avoid international complications. Because of minordifferences, such as the Finnish objection to taking the Waffen-SS oath to theFuhrer, Adolf Hitler – the bulk of the initial contingent of 125 Officers,109 NCO’s, and 850 other ranks of Finnish soldiers were held up, and wouldn’treach German soil until June 5, 1941. Five batches of Finns were sent to Germanybetween May and June 1941. The first three batches of men were those withprevious military training experience and they were directly incorporatedinto the 5.SS Wiking Division (mot) already on theEastern Front for the initial stages of the invasion of the Soviet Union onJune 22nd, 1941. The remaining 2 batches of Finnish recruits were thosewithout previous military training and they were sent to Wien outside ofVienna to form the basis of the new Finnish Battalion. Fresh drafts of volunteers from Finland joined those at Wien to train as the Waffen-SS combat infantrymen. This first contingent of Finns was organized as theSS-Freiwilligen Bataillon Nordost, but the unit was later renamed inSeptember of 1941, to the Finnisches Freiwilligen Bataillon der Waffen-SS.The Finns liked to refer to themselves as the “Jagerbataillon” (light infantry battalion) in commemoration of the Finnish 27.Jagerbataillon thatserved with the Kaiser’s forces on the Eastern front during the Great War.

After initial training at Wien, the Finnisches Freiwilligen Bataillon derWaffen-SS was transferred to Stralsund in July 1941. In August 1941, theFinnisches Freiwilligen Bataillon der Waffen-SS was moved to the trooptraining ground at Gross-Born, otherwise known as “Zum Truppenlager GrossBorn.” A well-known image of the “Drie Grenadier” greeted all those that entered the troop training grounds at Gross Born. On October 6th, 1941,after many months of training, the ceremonial ‘nailing’ of the Bn flag took place, and on October 15th, 1941, the new Battalion flag was officially presented to the Finnisches Freiwilligen Bataillon der Waffen-SS during aceremony at the Gross Born training grounds. After the official ceremonies,the Bn left Gross Born on December 3rd, 1941, and was transferred to theEastern Front on five rail transports, arriving at Vinnitsa on December 8th,1941. The Battalion was then sent towards the lines of the Mius River onJanuary 8th, 1942, where it was officially attached to the 5.SS WikingDivision (mot) that was already holding positions along the Mius River. TheFinnish Battalion was attached as the III Battalion of the NordlandRegiment of the Wiking Division. The new III Battalion of the Nordland Regiment officially entered combat at the end of January 1942, when it took up positions along the Mius River. Attached to SS-Wiking’s motorized-infantryRegiment Nordland, the Finns would distinguish themselves as reliable soldiers during the division’s summer 1942 thrust deep into the Caucasus.They would, in fact, be in the vanguard of the deepest investment south made by the German army during thecampaign, reaching the Grozny oil-fields before being pushed back by theSoviets.

From January 21st, 1942 to April 26th, 1942, the Finnish Bn saw actionalong positions on the Mius River against elements of the 31st Soviet GuardsDivision. During much of the defensive, positional fighting, the FinnishBn fought alongside the Slovak Mobile Division that was also positioned along the Mius River to the North of the Finnish Bn lines. On the 23rd ofJanuary 1943, the Bn experienced its first known combat fatality whenOnni Martikainen of the 3rd Company was killed by a Soviet sniper. The main focus of fighting for the next many weeks until sometime in April 1942, was on reconnaissance raids, small assault group attacks, and scouting of the enemy lines. Many artillery duels and sniper attacks also took place. In April 1942, the Bn was withdrawn from its previous positions alongthe Mius River and sent to Alexandrovka. This new position was also situatedalong the Mius River, although in a new location from the one last held by theBattalion. “West of the Mius the battalion sector was dominated by tow hills,numbered by compass as 115.2 and 114.9. The town of Demidovka lay about in the center of the Finnish lines and it was surrounded by fruit orchards which had begun coming into bloom. The battalion command post was situatedin a farmhouse in the middle of the village. Upon the roof of the house, an observation post with trench binoculars was set up and this provideda good view deep into enemy territory.”It was in these positions, still fighting against sniper and raiding parties,that all waited until the eventual German Summer offensive was launchedin late June 1942. The objective of this offensive was the conquest ofStalingrad, and on July 13th, the southern wing of Army Group South wasdirected to attack towards the region of the Caucasus Mountains, with the1st Panzer Army in the vanguard of the attack. For this assault, the 298th,73rd and 125th Infantry Divisions were scheduled to make the initial assaultinto the Soviet lines, while the Wiking Division was pulled back from the linesto await a breakthrough by the initial assaulting units, after which it wouldthrust into the lines and attempt to smash deep into Soviet territory. When theWiking Division was pulled back to await its breakthrough assault, theIII/Nordland Regiment had all of its motorized transport and equipment removed and sent to the other two battalions of the Regiment. The Finnish Bnwas then sent for rest and relaxation to Mokryj Jelantshick. The Finnish Bn stayed there from July 13th until August 10th, 1942, while the other elements of the Wiking Division took part in the storming of Rostov and in the breakthrough assault into the Caucasus region. On August 9th, 1942, theFinnish Bn received orders to finally join the rest of the Nordland Regiment now located near Maikop south of the Caucasus Mountains. From here, theFinnish Bn took part in fierce and bloody fighting in the south Caucasus region. Later, in October 1942, the Bn took part in fighting near Hill 711.

The Finnish Battalion was unique from the other Freiwilliger of the Wikingdivision, such as the Dutch or theNorwegian contingents in Westland and Nordland, by the fact that it’sOfficer’s and NCO’s were ex-Finn Army veterans, and fully in charge. TheFinns were always an independent breed, and their first introduction toGerman ‘parade-ground’ discipline was met with a steely disregard for the Germanlanguage “befehle.” (orders). The Finns held out for the Finnish languageNCO’s, and it was there and then that the Germans realized that thiscontingent might be formed up and kitted out as a Waffen-SS unit, but wouldultimately be commanded only by Finnish speaking Officers.

In March 1943, after many bitterly contested ordeals on the southernEastern Front, members of the Finnisches Freiwilliger der Waffen-SS,facing the end of their two-year contractual agreement with Germany tofight against the Soviet Union, would, upon the advisement of theirgovernment, choose not to stay as combat troops in the service of theGerman armed forces. The Finnisches Freiwilliger der Waffen-SS were pulledfrom the lines in May 1943, and transferred to Auerbach/Grafenwohr, and thensent on to Ruhpolding, Bavaria, for rest. On May 28th, 1943, the FinnischesFreiwilliger der Waffen-SS were loaded up and arrived at Tallinn on June 1st,1943. An official ceremony was held to greet the arrival and disbandment ofthe unit at Hanko on June 2nd, 1943, and another unofficial ceremony was heldthe next day on June 3rd, 1943, and Tempere. The troops of the Bn were thengiven a one month leave, after which they returned to Hanko to await the final fate of the Bn. In negotiations that the RFSS-Kommandostab and the FinnishHigh Command held during this period it was made quite clear to the Germansthat because of the distinct threat to the Northern front implied by themassive buildup of Soviet forces, that any continued consignment of Finnishsoldiers to any other sector would be dangerous to the protection of Finnishsovereignty. The unit was officially disbanded on July 11th, 1943, andmembers of the Bn were transferred into the ranks of the Finnish Army. Thelast official ceremony for the fallen members of the Bn was held on September 19th,1943 in Helsinki. An official state-sponsored memorial to the fallen of theFinnish unit stands in Helsinki.

Back in June of 1943, RFSS Himmler disbanded the Finnish volunteer formationaltogether from the Waffen-SS order of battle, but allowed any voluntarilyremaining Finnish volunteers from Nordland to continue to serve in Waffen-SScombat units. Many accounts describe Finns serving in the W-SS well beyondthe June 1943 disbandment of the so-called officially sanctioned Finnish”Jagerbataillon”, and it has been universally confirmed that Finns servedin the German armed forces until the end of hostilities in May of 1945 withthe 11.SS-Panzer Grenadier Division Nordland, and with the SS-Kriegsberichter-RegimentKurt Eggers ( war-correspondents), on the Eastern Front.

Also back in early 1943, the Regiment Nordland to which the FinnischesFrw.Bttln.d.-SS was then attached, was detached from the Wiking Division tobecome the nucleus of another West-European/Scandanavian Divisional entity,the 11.SS Nordland Division.

After the Finnisches Freiwilligen-Bataillon der Waffen-SS was stood downin March of 1943, and disbanded in June and July of the same year, theEstnisches SS-Freiwilligen Bataillon Narwa (Estonian) was used to replace theFinns as the third Battalion within the SS-Pz.Gren Regiment Nordland. TheEstonians stayed with the Wiking Division when the Nordland Regimentwas detached to become the nucleus of a new eponymously named divisionalentity. The Estonians attached to Wiking were actually one of 3 battalionsthen forming up at the Heidelager SS-Truppenubungsplatz (training ground)in Debica, Poland in early 1943 as the 1.Estnisches SS-Frw.Grenadier Regt.They lost the I (Narwa) battalion, but later acquired sufficient manpower toconstitute a 2 regiment strength (45 & 46.SS-Frw.Rgt.) Brigade(3.SS-Frw.Brigade) before being formed into a full SS-Grenadier divisionin January 1944.

In October 1943, the Wiking was reorganized as a full Panzer Division. TheEstonians became III/10.SS-Pz.Gren.Rgt. Westland. By April of 1944 theNarwa Battalion would be detached from the Wiking and renamed20.SS-Fusilier-Btln. as part of the Estonian 20.SS-Frw.-GrenadierDivision. During its tenure with Wiking, the Estonian battalion wascommanded by (German) SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Georg Eberhardt, and it’sFeldpostnummer was 48 314. Reports of the Battalion’s strength vary, but itwas said to have been as great as 1280 men when attached to SS-Pz.Gren.Rgt. Westland. The honorific title Narwa was also reported to havebeen unofficially continued as part of its new SS-Fusilier-Btl.designation.

The casualty rate for Finnish volunteers in the Geman Armed Forces is areported 222 killed and 557 wounded (See below for more info on this).

Complete Order of Battle and list of commanders



Commander

Obersturmbannführer Hans Collani

Adjutant: Ostub. Helmut Hirt

1.Kompanie:

6.15.41 – 10.13.42: Ostuf. Hoy

10.13.42 – 10.17.42: Ostuf. Pallesche

10.17.42: Ostuf. Karl-Heinz Ertel

2.Kompanie:

6.15.41 – ??: Ostuf. Pallesche

?? – ??: Hstuf. Ladau

4.11.42 – 8.13.42: Ostuf. Hilker



8.14.42 – 10.08.42: Ostuf. Porsch



3.12.43 – 3.26.43: Hstuf. Tenomaa

?? – ??: Ostuf. Pohjanlehto?? – 1.19.43: Ostuf. Porsch1.19.43 – 3.12.43: Ostuf. Pohjanlehto3.26.43: Ostuf. Sartio

3.Kompanie:

6.15.41 – 11.23.41: Ostuf. Hartmann

?? – 8.13.42: Hstuf. Schnabl

?? – 8.16.42: Ustuf. Luttgens

?? – 10.17.42: Ostuf. Muhlinghaus

?? – ??: Ostuf. Eugen Deck

4.Kompanie (MG):

6.15.41 – 7.04.42: Ostuf. Franz Pleiner

7.04.42 – 8.08.42: Hstuf. Bruckner

?? – ??: ??

?? – ??: Hstuf. Ladau

A replacement company was formed in September, 1941, with SS-ObersturmfuhrerSchroder as the company commander. It was formed in Radom, and then latertransfered to Granz.

The Finnish Bn disbanded its 4th Machine Gun Company on May 12th, 1942.The MG platoons of the former 4th Company then became MG platoons for each of the other 3 Companies of the Bn. They were also joined by mortar squads, each squad with two 80mm mortars. This new arrangement gave each of the 3 Companies of the Bn better fire support. This change was finished byMay 15th, 1942. When the original 4th Heavy Weapons Company was disbanded,a new one was formed, this time consisting of engineer, anti-tank, infantrygun, and signals platoons.

The Bn was officially made a part of the Wiking Division on May, 23rd, 1942.When this occurred, the Komapanie 1, Kompanie 2, Kompanie 3, and Kompanie 4of the Bn were renamed as Kompanie 9, Kompanie 10, Kompanie 11. and Kompanie12 of the new III/Nordland Regiment. When the Finnish Bn became theIII/Nordland/Wiking, the previous III/Nordland was split up andseparated into the other two battalions of the Nordland Regiment.

Battalion Strenght on 1.09.42: 34 Commanders/786 NCOs & men

Battalion Strenght on 4.29.43: 16 Commanders/353 NCOs & men

Battalion Strenght on 5.08.43: 18 Commanders/740 NCOs & men

Battalion Strenght on 7.11.43: 14 Commanders/234 NCOs/534 men

Ideological & social background of the first draft of Finns

Finns were not originally considered to be of the Nordic race. Therefore the goal of the SS recruitment office was to recruit Swedish speaking Finns(preferably National Socialists), whom they regarded as Nordic. The Finnishgovernment realizedthat the recruiting to SS could be politically problematic. Therefore the goal of the government was to have volunteers from all classes and political circles (including social-democrats). The final resultwas something between these contradictory goals.

12% of the volunteers were swedish speaking, (9.6% whole population)20% were supporters of IKL (fascist oriented party) (6.6% whole pop.)

There is some evidence that the upper and middle class and farmers were presented in greater numbers than in the whole population.

Germans wanted volunteers that are 17-30 years old.They got men that were 15-36 years old. Average was 21.6 years,about 50% of men were 18-20 years old.

Military background of the first draft

The first draft was sent to Germany in five batches(departures 6th May -5th June), total 1197 officers and men.Note, the figures 125 officers +109 NCO’s +850 men are based onStandartenfuehrer Tack’s report on 20th May 1941,figures are not final, especially the number of officers decreased.

From the first three batches, men that had combat experience was attached directly to the Wiking division.These men are called division men in the Finnish literature andthe rest are called battalion men.

Whole draft Div. Men Btn. Men Officers 76 43 33 NCO’s 337 196 141 Men (Trained) 264 152 112 Men (Un-trained) 520 38 482 Totals 1197 429 768

About 60% of the division men had combat experience in the front line, on the other hand, 8% didn’t have proper military training at all when they went to combat.

About 22% of the battalion men had been in the front line during the winter war. These men, as well as the other trained men, hadto go through the whole training.

Status of the officers and NCO’s

The Finnish officers got corresponding SS-ranks but initially, they didn’t get organization positions as officers (i.e no platoon leaders or company commanders). First, the NCO’s were not recognized at all.Later the situation improved, but the Finnish battalion was newer completely led by Finns. Many officers and NCO’s were releasedand returned to Finland before the main disbandment in July 1943.

The Second Draft

The second draft consisted of 201 men that were recruited by the army. All men had combat experience more than 6 months.They left for Germany in September 1942. These men got an ironicalnickname ‘the 200 brave ones’.

Casualties & disbandment & later service in the Waffen-SS

In addition to the two drafts, there were about 10 men that servedin the Wiking division, among others one man that probably wasnot a Finn and another man that was a double defector/spy.

Casualties

Served 1407 TOTAL = 1409 Fell 256 250 (Including MIA)

+1 prob. not a Finn

+4 died in hospitals in Finland

+1 shot when caught stealing food TOTAL = 256 Wounded 686 TOTAL = 686

Disbandments

Dates Div. Men

Off + NCO & Men Btn. Men Totals 31.7.1941 0 16 + 3 19 13.2.1942 19 + 0 0 19 17.5.1942 0 + 127 0 + 4 131 Various Dates 12 + 29 4 + 14 59 4.7.1943 2 + 108 6 + 668 784 Autum 1943 1 + 33 2 + 34 70 Date Unknown 3 + 5 2 + 65 75 Totals 37 + 302 30 + 788 1157

The exact number of men that served in SS after the main disbandmentis not known but probably the men whose disbandment date is unknowncontinued serving in the SS.

Officer Training

There were Finns in three courses at the SS Officers school Bad Toelz.Course 1, Spring, 1942 to December 1942 had 7 participants, with 6graduates. Course 2 from January 1943 to July 1943 had 18 participants with15 graduates. Course 3 from June 1943 had 17 participants but none actually graduated,all participants were sent to Finland after the general disbandment of the Finnish battalion. The participants of the second course were all privates and not NCO’s. When Steiner realized that, he promotedthem all to Unterscharfuehrers, the lowest NCO rank, before sendingthem tothe Junkerschool.

The Decorations

There are no official documents concerning the decorations, butVeikko Elo (ref 2 below) has tried to solve the question.His data consists of about 1000 cases.

Decoration EK1 EK2 KVK1 KVK2 Total Officers 9 33 1 1 44 NCO’s & men 5 181 – 25 213 Totals 16 214 1 26 257

EK = Eisernes Kreuz = Iron Cross

KVK = Kriegsverdienst Kreuz = War Service Cross

About 25% of the men got some form of decoration. No one wasawarded the Knight’s Cross orthe German Cross during their service before the disbandment.Two men received the Iron Crosse and in addition, their nameswere mentioned in the bulletin “Ehrenblatt des Deutschen Heeres”.They received diplomas signed by Adolf Hitler as well.After the disbandment in July 1943, some men continued service in the SS. It seems that at least one of them, ObersturmfuehrerUlf-Ola Olin received some form of higher decoration.

The Finns were not much more distinguished from other non-Germans with respect to military achievements and awards. Seebelow the German statistics concerning the foreign volunteers in theWiking Division. These statistics were formed on the 19th of September,1941 (ref 1).

KIA WIA EK2 EK1 Assault Badges Promoted due to Bravery 415 Finns 27 6.5% 84 20.2% 44 – 103 5 291 Norwegians 19 6.5% 30 10.3% 7 – 104 2 8 Swedes 1 12.5% 1 12.5% – – 5 – 141 Danes 20 7.9% 45 17.9% 21 1 48 – 821 Dutchmen 78 9.5% 167 20.3% 50 1 425 37 45 Flemings 3 6.7% 10 22.2% 8 – 30 – 1831 volunteers 148 8.1% 337 18.4% 130 2 715 44

Sources

1) Mauno Jokipii: Panttipataljoona (Pledge Battalion), 1st ed. 1968858 pages, a rather detailed study on the Finnish SS-unit

2) Veikko Elo: Pantin lunastajat (Redeemers of the Pledge), 1993325 pages, corrections and supplements to the source 1)

3) Niilo Lappalainen: Panssarieverstin kuolema (The Death ofan armour colonel), 1995

4) David Littlejohn: Foreign Legions of the Third Reich, vol 4, 1987

5)Peter Abbot & Nigel Thomas: Germany’s Eastern Front Allies 1941-45, 1989

6)Richard Landwehr: Siegrunen, issues #14, 34 and 43

7)Kari Kuusela & Olli Wikberg: Wikingin suomalaiset, 1996



Finnish Volunteer Battalion Cuff title, never officially issued