Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS

Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS
Members of the battalion in 1943 in Finland
Active 1941 – July 1943
Country  Nazi Germany
Branch Waffen SS
Type Infantry
Size Battalion (1408 men)[1]
Commanders
Notable
commanders		 Hans Collani

The Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS (German: Finnisches Freiwilligen-Bataillon der Waffen-SS) was a motorized infantry battalion of the German Waffen-SS during World War II. It was formed from Finnish volunteers and fought on the Eastern Front as part of the SS Division Wiking. The unit was disbanded in mid-1943 as the two-year commitment of the volunteers had expired and the Finnish Government was unwilling to allow more men to volunteer. About 1,400 men served in the battalion during its existence.

Operational history

The Finnish Government recruited men for service with the Waffen-SS for a two-year term in early 1941, although negotiations over the details lasted until the end of April. This delayed their arrival until May and the roughly 400 men who had military experience in the Winter War were sent to the SS Division Wiking in mid-June where they were dispersed throughout the formation. The inexperienced volunteers were held back for training and were formed into the SS-Volunteer Battalion Northeast (motorized) (German: SS-Freiwilligen-Battalion Nordost (mot.)) on 1 June. By the end of the month, the battalion had about 1,000 men. It was renamed the Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS on 13 September and additional volunteers arrived over the next several months to bring its strength up to around 1,180 men. The unit was sent to the front at the beginning of January 1942 where it was attached to the SS-Regiment Nordland of the SS Division Wiking, serving as its third battalion.[2] The battalion participated in the Battle of the Caucasus in mid-1942 and the subsequent Third Battle of Kharkov in early 1943, after the German defeat during the Battle of Stalingrad in late 1942 forced the Germans to evacuate the Caucasus.

The mathematician Rolf Nevanlinna was chairman of the Committee for the Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS.[3] 1408 men served in the battalion during its existence.[4] The unit lost 255 men killed in action, 686 wounded and 14 missing during its service.[5]

Allegations of war crimes

Research by Finnish historian Andre Swanström identified at least six members of the unit who admitted to committing crimes, including shooting Jews, while in the occupied Soviet Union. In one letter, an SS private wrote to an officer and military chaplain, Ensio Pihkala, objecting to being on the shooting detail because "for the execution of Jews, less skilled personnel would have sufficed." In 2018, in response to a request from the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Finnish authorities announced a committee of inquiry into the activities of the battalion. The committee's work, including by researchers of the National Archives of Finland, is expected to conclude by the end of 2018.[6][7]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Jokipii 2002, pp. 184–189
  2. ↑ Ueberschär (1996), pp. 1072–73; Tessin (1980), pp. 89, 186
  3. ↑ Lehto, Olli (2001). Korkeat maailmat. Rolf Nevanlinnan elämä [High Worlds. The life of Rolf Nevanlinna] (in Finnish). Otava. OCLC 58345155.
  4. ↑ Jokipii 2002, pp. 184–189
  5. ↑ Kustannus, Atena (1991). Jatkosota Kronikka (in Finnish). Gummerus Kustannus Oy. p. 130. ISBN 951-20-3661-4.
  6. ↑ CNAAN LIPHSHIZ (14 July 2018): Ahead of Trump-Putin summit, 5 things you didn’t know about Finland and the Jews, The Times of Israel
  7. ↑ Olli Koikkalainen: "Juutalaisten teloittamiseen riittää kehnompikin ampumataito". Aamulehti 3. kesäkuuta 2018, s. A20. Alma Media.

References

  • Jokipii, Mauno (2002). Hitlerin Saksa ja sen vapaaehtoisliikkeet: Waffen-SS:n suomalaispataljoona vertailtavana (in Finnish). Helsinki: SKS. ISBN 951-746-335-9.
  • Jokipii, Mauno (1996). Panttipataljoona : suomalaisen SS-pataljoonan historia (in Finnish). Veljesapu. ISBN 952-90-7363-1.
  • Tessin, Georg (1980). Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939–1945. 14: Die Landstreitkräfte: Namensverbände/Die Luftstreitkräfte (Fliegende Verbände)/Flakeinsatz im Reich 1943–1945 (1.udg. ed.). Osnabrück: Biblio-Verl. ISBN 3-7648-1111-0.
  • Ueberschär, Gerd R. (1996). "Volunteers From Northern Europe at the Beginning of the War Against the Soviet Union". Germany and the Second World War. IV: The Attack on the Soviet Union. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press. pp. 1070–80. ISBN 0-19-822886-4.
  • George H. Stein, H. Peter Krosby (October 1966). Hans Rothfels, Theodor Eschenburg, ed. "Das finnische Freiwilligen-Bataillon der Waffen-SS" [The Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS] (pdf). Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte (in German). Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt. 14 (4): 413–453. Retrieved 2010-04-20.
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