Legion Speer was a

Nazi German Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

paramilitary motor transportation corps founded in 1942. The members of the Legion were non-German citizens, and as such could not belong to the Nationalsozialistisches Kraftfahrkorps (NSKK). The legion was disbanded in 1944, and its members absorbed into the

Transportkorps Speer Transportkorps Speer was created in 1944 from Legion Speer and the units of the National Socialist Motor Corps that was serving the Organisation Todt. Shortly after its creation it became subordinated to the Wehrmacht. Yet, its major mission rem ...

. It was named after

Albert Speer Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer (; ; 19 March 1905 – 1 September 1981) was a German architect who served as the Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of World War II. A close ally of Adolf Hitler, he ...

Creation

Legion Speer was founded in 1942, as a corps of drivers and mechanics recruited in

occupied Europe German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

. Motor transportation for

Organisation Todt Organisation Todt (OT; ) was a civil and military engineering organisation in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, named for its founder, Fritz Todt, an engineer and senior Nazi. The organisation was responsible for a huge range of engineering projec ...

(OT) was organized by the NSKK, but non-Germans could not become members, as it was a sub-organization of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

. Hence a special corps had to be created.

Personnel

The first members of the Legion were White Russian emigrants. The majority of its members were

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

POW A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...

s serving as Hiwis. They were only allowed to serve in Western Europe. The Legion was open to all citizens of occupied Europe; Belgians, Czech, Norwegians, and others. Command positions were reserved for Germans. Some Germans also served as drivers. The Legionaries took a personal oath of allegiance to

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

.''Handbook of the Organisation Todt'', p. 78. A number of Norwegians were members of the Legion; some of them were drafted, but most of them had volunteered.

Organization

The Legion was a motor transportation corps, operating within the framework of the NSKK, in the service of the OT, the Ministry of Armament, the army, and the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

. The Legion had ''Ersatzabteilungen'' (

depots Depot ( or ) may refer to: Places * Depot, Poland, a village * Depot Island, Kemp Land, Antarctica * Depot Island, Victoria Land, Antarctica * Depot Island Formation, Greenland Brands and enterprises * Maxwell Street Depot, a restaurant in ...

) in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

and

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

.Seidler 1984, p. 634. From 1943 the organization of the Legion corresponded with the organization of the OT:Lepage 2015, p. 121. * Legion Speer Italien,

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

* Legion Speer Norwegen, Oslo * Legion Speer Reich, Berlin *Legion Speer Südost, Belgrade * Legion Speer West, Paris

Disbandment

The Legion was disbanded on September 12, 1944, and its members transferred to Transportkorps Speer.Thomas 1992, p. 35.

Ranks

References

Notes

Cited literature

* ''Handbook of the Organisation Todt'' (1945), London: MIRS. * Lepage, Jean Denis G. G. (2015). ''Hitler’s Armed Forces Auxiliaries.'' McFarland & Co. * Seidler, Franz W. (1984), '"Das Nationalsozialistiche Kraftfahrkorps und die Organisation Todt im Zweitem Weltkrieg", ''Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte'' 32(4): 625–636. * Thomas, Nigel (1992), ''Wehrmacht Auxiliary Forces'', London 1992. {{Ranks, uniforms and insignia of Nazi Germany Organizations established in 1942 Military history of Germany Economy of Nazi Germany 1942 establishments in Germany