David Littlejohn - Foreign Legions of the Third Reich

[switchhitter]

Can anyone who has read these books tell me if they would be good for a research piece on volunteer motivations? I've read many books which go into detail about combat performance, post-war treatment etc. but i'm more interested in investigating the variations in reasons why people chose to don German uniforms.

If Littlejohns books aren't all that good for this purpose, do you have any suggestions of books which are?

Many thanks,
Switch.

[Doktor Krollspell]

Hello Switch!

David Littlejohn's four-volume series "Foreign Legions of the Third Reich" are good but focuses mainly on organizational aspects of the different volunteer units and also goes into great detail when it comes to rank insigna, collar tabs, decorations and awards etc. The books are richly illustrated and serves as a good introduction to this particular field of research. There has come many new books dealing indepth with the various volunteer units since the Littlejohn series were published in the eighties...


Regards,

Krollspell

[Jason Pipes]

If that is what you are looking for you may want to find his earlier work "The Patriotic Traitors" which also covers their organizational background but provides a considerable about more of the why behind the units and volunteers motivations.

[Paddy Keating]

The term "patriotic traitors" is rather a succinct one but it shouldn't be forgotten that, in some cases, foreign volunteers in the Waffen-SS (and the Wehrmacht) were by no means traitors. Frenchmen who joined the German armed forces did so with the blessing of the legitimate French government of the day, sitting in Vichy. Danes who joined up did so under the auspices of an established tradition between Germany and Denmark, not unlike that between Britain and Ireland today, according to which Denmark was perfectly happy for Danes to serve in the German armed forces. The prosecution and incarceration by the Danish postwar authorities of Danes who served in the struggle against Bolshevism from 1941 to 1945 was illegal. Of course, France and Denmark are special cases. The situation is less clear where other occupied countries were concerned. That said, many of the young men from Western European countries who signed up were far more anti-Red than pro-Nazi. The same applies to volunteers from the Baltic States, Ukraine and other countries brutally occupied by the Bolsheviks. This is why the Baltic States refuse today to bow to European Union demands to forbid commemorative gatherings in honour of the local Waffen-SS volunteers who fought for their nations' freedom in the 1940s. I haven't read Littlejohn's book on the subject. I believe it is hard to find now. But I know that mainstream books addressing this question are just as hard to find, given the current climate in Western politics and the efforts of those running the West to suppress anything that might encourage ordinary people to start asking awkward questions about the version of history spoonfed to us since WW2. Freedom to criticise Soviet excesses during WW2 is a comparatively recent development - Beevor's Berlin being a case in point - but it is a fragile freedom and honest discussion of the reasons why so many young Europeans signed up to the precursor of NATO remains a highly charged subject carrying all sorts of potential risks for anyone who fails to toe the party line, as it were. If you do find a book that discusses the subject in an open, non-partisan way, by all means tell us about it because I have yet to read it.

PK

[Marc Rikmenspoel]

FWIW, I discuss the motivations of the volunteers, with the special circumstances found in each Germanic country, in my Waffen-SS Encyclopedia. I explain many little known details, such as how some Danes had been fighting Communism in the Baltics since 1919 (Poul Rantzow-Engelhardt went to Finland in 1919 to help the Finns, he went to Finland again in 1939, and then joined the Waffen-SS in WW2), how almost every Norwegian who became a Waffen-SS officer up to early 1944 had seen combat against the Germans in 1940, and how the "Swedish" contingent of the Waffen-SS included several dozen Estonian ethnic-Swedes.

I certainly enjoy patting myself on the back, but I believe my writing in that book to be the most accurate and detailed overview of the Germanic Waffen-SS available in English. The lengthy bibliography gives plenty of suggestions, in various languages, for further reading.

[Paddy Keating]

I'll certainly buy your book. I confess that I haven't read it. Best wishes.

PK

[John P. Moore]

I would also highly recommend Marc's book too and can confirm the depth of his research concerning the motivations of foreign volunteers to join the W-SS. The price is very reasonable too.

John

[Jason Pipes]

Make that another thumbs up for Marc's book. I have it and am suprised I didn't recall it and mention it earlier. It is indeed one of the best overviews of the topic available in English.

[Tom Houlihan]

I have about 20 copies!

It is a very interesting read, though. A good overview of the units, the men, and the weapons.

[panzermahn]

Hi folks,

I had the three volumes (which I bought from a 2nd hand book store and the seller told me the original owner actually was a Westerner).

I think back in the 80s, not many authors or researcher dwelved in the studies of foreign volunteers in the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS during 2nd World War and therefore David Littlejohn's studies had been a breakthrough.

I certainly find it useful and richly illustrated. But the downside is that David doesn't made a clear distinction (i found it somewhat ambiguous boundary) between political units and military units of a specific country that served the Third Reich. And of course there are a couple of minor mistakes in David's work but again, credit must go to him for being the major breakthrough (I would say Richard Landwehr is another one although many of you might disagree with me) on the studies of foreign volunteers. Well, I would say that the David is the precursor to what Marc Rikmenspoel, George Lepre, Antonio Munoz has done in the 90s.

Though I would like to see more units on the Eastern Europe side..

Best regards
Panzermahn

[Alex Dekker]

Though I would like to see more units on the Eastern Europe side..

Munoz did one, right?

And @Marc: what's the title of your book? How do I get it? Drop a mail to Tom?

[Marc Rikmenspoel]

In this case, my book is Waffen-SS: Encyclopedia. It is published by Aberjona Press, and Tom can help you get a copy, or online sites such as Amazon stock it. My big photo book, with many photos of non-Germans in the Waffen-SS, is Soldiers of the Waffen-SS, published by Fedorowicz. It can also be had from Amazon, or from specialty dealers such as The Aberdeen Bookstore, or even from the publisher. Finally, for those who really get into the subject, I coauthored (with the more knowledgeable Eddy De Bruyne) a study of Walloon collaboration titled For Rex and For Belgium, full of photos AND text. Hellion did that one, which can be had at all the places already mentioned, as well as from the publisher. I hope these are interesting and enjoyable books for anyone who seeks them out

[Alex Dekker]

I'll be on my way! Coming weeks I'll check them out. Thanks Mark!

One more thing: Nemann, An deutsche Seite, is a book which, in my opion, is better than Littlejohn. Since I'm more in the field of study than collecting, Neumann was more usefull. On the other hand, Littlejohn did some other titles too which are very good compared to other titles. For example, I did buy Hitler Youth last year and I did notice some very interesting things, which weren't in the other books about the HJ. Littlejohn is the only historian who mentioned Lien van Eck (NJS, Dutch equivalent of the HJ) who attended the European meeting in Vienna in 1942. This info was gold for me.

[Norkus]

This may be of some use:

http://www.hj-research.com/forum/f55/li ... 942-a-565/

The thread shows her presentation piece for the congress.

[Alex Dekker]

Thanks for the link, I had a small discussion about this medal (if you might call it that). I've tried to dig up some more information about Lien van Eck, but I'm not so lucky ATM. All I found was a rapport about what she did in september 1944 in Germany (which wasn't that exciting).

Back on topic: Littlejohn mentions a case which I haven't found elsewhere: Dutch NSKK-men received EK's, according a letter (?) of Erwin Kraus to Hermann Goering. I might be mistaking, there were at least 20 or 25 crosses awarded. These Dutchmen were involved in some heavy fighting on the Eastern Front. No exact date or place, no names.

I know Dutch volunteers could get German medals like the EK I or II and I did read about a few NSKK-men who did receive one. ANyone a clue?