Norwegian Legion (, ) was a Norwegian collaborationist formation of the

Waffen-SS The (; ) was the military branch, combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscr ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was formed in German-occupied Norway on 29 June 1941, in support of the war aims of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. The unit was disbanded in 1943.

History

The unit was formed from volunteers who were assured that it would be a Norwegian unit with Norwegian officers, uniforms and language and that its area of operations would be Finland. Instead, the unit was deployed to Northern Russia in the occupied Soviet Union, in the Army Group North Rear Area. This was done by the Germans to avoid reinforcing any Norwegian territorial claims to the

Kola peninsula The Kola Peninsula (; ) is a peninsula in the extreme northwest of Russia, and one of the largest peninsulas of Europe. Constituting the bulk of the territory of Murmansk Oblast, it lies almost completely inside the Arctic Circle and is border ...

and the Finnish Petsamo region, which were desired by the

Quisling regime The Quisling regime, or Quisling government are common names used to refer to the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, collaboration government led by Vidkun Quisling in German occupation of Norway, German-occupied Norway during th ...

. Initially, Quisling hoped to deploy over 30,000 Norwegian legionaries to

Finnish Lapland Lapland is the largest and northernmost Regions of Finland, region of Finland. The 21 municipalities in the region cooperate in a Regional Council. Lapland borders the Finnish region of North Ostrobothnia in the south. It also borders the Gul ...

, but this was rejected by both the Germans and the Finns.''Hitlerin Saksa ja sen vapaaehtoisliikkeet'', p. 121, Mauno Jokipii, 2002,

Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura The Finnish Literature Society ( or ) was founded in 1831 to promote literature written in Finnish. Among its first publications was the '' Kalevala'', the Finnish national epic. The society is the oldest Finnish publisher still in operation ...

(in Finnish language, Finnish) Coming under the control of the 2 SS Infantry Brigade, the Legion was stationed at Krasnoye Selo near

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

in February 1942. In May 1942, the unit was withdrawn, returning in June 1942. The Legion left the occupied Soviet Union in 1943, having suffered over 180 casualties in a year. During that period, it had been reinforced by the 1 SS and Police Company under the command of the head of the paramilitary '' Norges SS'', Jonas Lie. The Legion was disbanded in March 1943. The personnel who wanted to continue the SS service were transferred to the SS Division Nordland.

Commanders

*Legion- Sturmbannfuhrer Finn Kjelstrup (June – 1 December 1941) *Legion-Sturmbannfuhrer Jørgen Bakke (?–15 December 1941) *SS- Obersturmbannfuhrer Arthur Qvist (December 1941 – March 1943)

History

Commanders

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography

Further reading