George Washington Brigade

Foreign volunteers, collaboration and Axis Allies 1939-1945.

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TheFerret
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George Washington Brigade

Post by TheFerret »

I am looking for some information on this unit. To my knowledge it was a group of a dozen or so Americans recruited by the Germans. It appearantly had little purpose other than propaganda for the Nazis.

This is the info I have on it:

http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=310
US volunteers in the Waffen-SS

There were some US citizens who were members of the Waffen-SS, but no unit made up of American volunteers were ever raised (despite some claims about an "American Free Corps" or "George Washington Brigade"). According to figures from the SS five US citizens served in the Waffen-SS in May 1940, but after that date no numbers are available.



Second Lieutenant Martin James Monti (born 1910 in St Louis of an Italian-Swiss father and German mother) went awol Oct 1944, travelled from Karachi to Naples (through Cairo and Tripoli) where to stole a F-4 or F-5 photographic reconnaissance aircraft (photo recon version of the P-38) and flew to Milan. There he surrendered, or rather defected, to the Germans and worked as a propaganda broadcaster (as Martin Wiethaupt) before entering the Waffen-SS as a SS-Untersturmführer in SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers. At the end of the war he went south to Italy where surrendered to US forces (still wearing his SS uniform) claiming that he had been given the uniform by partisans. He was charged with desertion and sentenced to 15 years hard labour. This sentence was soon commuted and Monti rejoined the US Air Corps, but in 1948 he was discharged and picked up by the FBI. He was now charged with treason and sentenced to 25 years the following year. He was paroled in 1960.

Peter Delaney (aka Pierre de la Ney du Vair), a Louisiana born SS-Haupsturmführer in SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers who is believed to have served in Légion des Volontaires Français (LVF). He met Monti and probably arranged for him to enter the Waffen-SS. Delaney was killed in 1945.

At least eight American volunteers are known to have been killed during their service.

No real attempt by the US authorities to investigate the matter and trace the volunteers was made after the war, as opposed to for example the efforts by the British.
[/quote]
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Rand
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Post by Rand »

Hello Ferret, there was no such thing as the George Washington Legion. It was post war fantasy, but you are correct in that a very small number of Americans joined the W-SS. Here is a link that I started that includes info on Monti and a grainy photo.
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... highlight=

Rand.
TheFerret
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Post by TheFerret »

Rand wrote:Hello Ferret, there was no such thing as the George Washington Legion. It was post war fantasy, but you are correct in that a very small number of Americans joined the W-SS. Here is a link that I started that includes info on Monti and a grainy photo.
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... highlight=

Rand.
I read that entire article with great interest. Its really an amazing story. Monti was in all probibility a bit nuts. He certainly was not that much a threat to the US, just a naive and something of a child. I guess the US was looking for traitors anywhere they could.

I found this story about "Axis Sally" equally fascinating:

http://womenshistory.about.com/library/ ... sally1.htm
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Post by greenhorn »

Was there any direct links between the American Bund & the Nazis?
Banzai!
TheFerret
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Post by TheFerret »

greenhorn wrote:Was there any direct links between the American Bund & the Nazis?
History Channel did a program on the history of the American Nazi Party. The answer is yes, there were links. Many members of the Bund were interned during the war.
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Helmut
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Post by Helmut »

Servus,
When I was stationed in Germany in the mid 1970s, I met some WSS vets and one told me the story of a man named Himmel. He had emigrated to thye US and shortly before the war had returned to visit his sick mother. When the war started in '39 he was trapped there and of course was under immediate suspicion by the Gestapo. As a result he volunteered for the W-SS to protect himself and probably his mothere also. My friend didn't know whatever happened to Himmel. The had gone through training together and served in, I believ, if memory serves, the DAS REICH Div, together.
The reason I remember his name is that my friend told me that in training their SPIESS used to cuss him out by yelling " Himmel, Arsch, Amerika," a pun on the German " Himmel , Arsch , und Zwirn."

Regards,

Helmut
letts123
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Post by letts123 »

This might be a good place to look if you want more information about Americans in the Waffen-SS. It looks like a whole book about them!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 4533961639
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Post by TheFerret »

letts123 wrote:This might be a good place to look if you want more information about Americans in the Waffen-SS. It looks like a whole book about them!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 4533961639
Awsome dude!
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J.P. Slovjanski
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Post by J.P. Slovjanski »

TheFerret wrote:
greenhorn wrote:Was there any direct links between the American Bund & the Nazis?
History Channel did a program on the history of the American Nazi Party. The answer is yes, there were links. Many members of the Bund were interned during the war.
I woudn't trust the history channel too much, they made numerous glaring errors in that special. Hell, they have numerous specials about UFOs and Nostradamus as well, with little to no skeptical viewpoints shown in most cases.

What is truly shameful is the persecution of the Mother's movement and other anti-war movements in America during WW2.
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J.P. Slovjanski
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Post by J.P. Slovjanski »

I have changed my mind about the Washington brigade. I will write(under the pen name Peter Biggleswog) its "history" here hoping that it can be picked up for money by a mainstream military history publisher or possibly the Simon Wiesenthal Centre:


George Washington SS Brigade

by Peter Biggleswog

This notorious infantry unit was formed by pro-Nazi American citizens in 1942. America has had a long history of anti-Semitism and persecution going back to pre-colonial days, when the Native Americans would routinely hunt down and shoot Jews with arrows for "killing Christ". This Washington Bde. fought on the Eastern Front where it commited NUMEROUS atrocities against Russians and Jews. It may have been involved in the Babin Yar massacre as well. Members of this obscure unit may yet be alive and living in the United States today. This ugly chapter in American history solidifies America's direct complicity in the Holocaust, the worst crime in human history.
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Post by TheFerret »

J.P. Slovjanski wrote:
TheFerret wrote:
greenhorn wrote:Was there any direct links between the American Bund & the Nazis?
History Channel did a program on the history of the American Nazi Party. The answer is yes, there were links. Many members of the Bund were interned during the war.
I woudn't trust the history channel too much, they made numerous glaring errors in that special. Hell, they have numerous specials about UFOs and Nostradamus as well, with little to no skeptical viewpoints shown in most cases.

What is truly shameful is the persecution of the Mother's movement and other anti-war movements in America during WW2.
What is the Mother's movement? Was it a pacifist organization similar to Dorathy Day's Catholic Workers movement?

I did have the pleasure to have known a gentleman who was a buena fide pacifist who was a member of the IWW and refused to serve in the army during WW 2. He spent two years in prison in fact. Its a rather unknow subject but pacifism did exist during the war.
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Schultz
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Post by Schultz »

As far as i ever heard there where only 7 Americans that went to the SS, hardly a brigade, they where sons of German immigrants in the US who had been sent back by there families to attend German schools, when war broke out there loyalty or whatever i dont know.
I do know of a book an i can get the name an author about a guy that was in both the German army and American in WW2 actually he was a Luftwaffe flak assistant (drafted) then after capture by the British it was found he was born in New York and ended up in the American army.

Schultz
Helmut Von Moltke

Post by Helmut Von Moltke »

J.P. Slovjanski said:
George Washington SS Brigade

by Peter Biggleswog

This notorious infantry unit was formed by pro-Nazi American citizens in 1942. America has had a long history of anti-Semitism and persecution going back to pre-colonial days, when the Native Americans would routinely hunt down and shoot Jews with arrows for "killing Christ". This Washington Bde. fought on the Eastern Front where it commited NUMEROUS atrocities against Russians and Jews. It may have been involved in the Babin Yar massacre as well. Members of this obscure unit may yet be alive and living in the United States today. This ugly chapter in American history solidifies America's direct complicity in the Holocaust, the worst crime in human history.
LOL, What a bad... joke. Wouldn't be credible. But unfortunately, there are some biased sources which claim these things about real units, and the whole W-SS organisation, even though most of them are innocent, for example, the Simon Wisenthal centre claims that POA was anti semitic, disregarding that Vlassov found anti semitism repugnant! Weird. History is always written by the victors. btw, to make it more convincing, maybe some sketches of uniforms, insignia, imaginary named of commanders, orders of battle, making it similar to unit histories would help. :wink:

For Example, here is a "what if" history of this "what if" unit that I made up....

In 1943, Reichsfuhrer SS Henirch Himmler decided to make a SS Battalion of captured American soldiers and American Volksdeutsche to serve on the Eastern Front with the II. SS Panzerkorps. Hitler, although with misgivings, agreed. This unit wore standard SS uniforms, with SS runes, but with a US national arm shield and "George Wahington" cufftitle. Strangely, since this was a all US unit, there were a few Native Americans and Blacks, etc in it. The commader was a battle hardened SS Untersturmfuhrer Muller from the LSSAH, transferred to this unit and promoted to Standantefuhrer for this command. This unit was trained for 5 months in Lichterfeld Kaserne as a Panzergrenadier Battalion. The order of battle is as follows:

SS Battalion "George Washington"

1. Sdfz. Kompanie
2. Sdfz. Kompanie
1. Infantarie Kompanie
2. Infantarie Kompanie
3. Infantarie Kompanie
STUG Kompanie
M-G Kompanie
Artillery support, 3 Mortars, 2 PAK 37 mm guns.

It was sent to battle with the SS Panzerkorps in Kursk in July 1943. It suffered heavy losses, 250 men out of 1000, but destroyed over 50 Russian tanks, and inflicted 3000 Soviet losses. 1 member received the Knight's Cross, 2 the German Cross in gold, and over 50 Iron Crosses were awarded. The unit was transferred to Normansy, where it fought against the Allies in D Day at Caen, fighting fanatically, only 400 men surviving. It had inflicted 2000 Allied casualties and 75 Allies tanks. But it's ranks were reinforced by captured US soldiers, many of whom joined only out of promise of better food in the "George Washington" battalion. This unit was held in reserve during the battle of the bulge, then took part in the Hungarian SS offensive of 1945. It bogged down in the mud, but defended fanatically, only 250 men surviving, but destroyed 100 Soviet tanks and inflicted 3000 Soviet losses. Only 200 men survived. 100 marched to Berlin for the last battle, under the command of Muller, where they fought to the death with utter heroism, not a man standing, in the Reichstag, all dying in hand to hand combat. In the city they had destryoed 80 Soviet tanks and infliced 2500 Soviet casualties. the other surviving 100 men, under the command of SS Standantefuhrer Monti, a US defector, surrendered to the American army. 25 men were executed on the spot, and all the remaining were sent to life imprisonment. However, in the 1950s, with the Cold war, most of them were released. Today there are 10 veterans of this unit. Overall, this was a elite, competent unit with a good fighting spirit, and not marred by war crimes, other than 2 small incidents on the Eastern front concerning the deaths of 20 Soviet POWs, but the perpertrators were not brought to trial, since they all died in battle. This unit in battle had won 2 Knight's Crosses, 3 German Crosses in Gold, 5 Close combat clapses, 100 Iron Crosses and 200 other medals. It was the most heavily decorated foreign unit of the Waffen SS.

Copyright Kevin Chan (my real name
:wink: )
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Post by Laurent Daniel »

Hi Helmut,
Not bad, but the name "George Washington SS Brigade" looks a bit weak. You should use a more "strong" unit name.
I suggest:
Amerikanische SS-Freiwilligen Sturmbrigade "Buffalo Bill"
:D
Regards
Daniel Laurent
Helmut Von Moltke

Post by Helmut Von Moltke »

good "Buffalo Bill" name, but Buffalo Bill isn't a famous American guy... also a battalion would be more realistic, something like the Finnish SS battalion. Not that many US soldiers would desert for this unit, and after all, there weren't thousands of American volksdeutsche for a brigade. :wink:
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