Kaukasisch-Mohammedanische Legion

Caucasian Muslim Legion
Kaukasisch-Mohammedanische Legion
Caucasian Muslim Legion Insignia
Active 1942–1945
Allegiance  Nazi Germany
Branch Wehrmacht
Type Infantry
Size 8 batallions
Nickname(s) "Gazavat" Legion
Engagements World War II

The Caucasian Muslim Legion (German: Kaukasische Mohammedaner- Legion/Kaukasische Moslem-Legion) was a volunteer unit of the German Army. The unit was composed of Circassians, Dagestans, Chechens, Ingushes, and Lezgins emigrants, prisoners of war and defectors.

History

The formation of the legion began in September 1942 near Warsaw from the prisoners of war from the Caucasus. Initially, the legion consisted of three battalions commanded by a Captain Gutmann.

The North Caucasian Committee participated in the formation of the legion and the call for volunteers. The leadership included Godoberi Ahmed Nabi Magomayev, Ossetian Alikhan Kantemir (former Minister of War of the Mountain ASSR) and Sultan Giray Klich (former general of the White Army, Chairman of the Gorsky Committee). The Committee issued the newspaper Gazavat in Russian.

The Legion consists of eight battalions with numbers 800, 802, 803, 831, 835, 836, 842 and 843, as well as the special Bergmann Battalion. They served in Normandy, the Netherlands, and in Italy.[1] In 1945, the legion was included in the Kaukasischer-Waffen-Verband der SS which began forming in 1944 but never saw action and was still forming when it surrendered to British Forces in Italy at the end of the war.[2][3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://cossac-awards.narod.ru/Legion.html
  2. ↑ http://artofwar.ru/m/maa/text_0180.shtml
  3. ↑ https://www.axishistory.com/books/122-germany-waffen-ss/germany-waffen-ss-minor-units/1449-kaukasischer-waffen-verband-der-ss

Sources


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