Hitler's Flemish Lions: The History of the SS-Freiwilligan Grenadier Division Langemarck (Flamische Nr. 1) (Hitler's Legions) by Trigg Jonathan

Author:Trigg, Jonathan [Trigg, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2011-11-29T16:00:00+00:00

Even with a good number of the old legion ‘hares’ signing back on, the ex-Totenkpof/Das Reich men and the new recruits from Flanders and the German war industries, there was still a shortfall in the strength of the Sturmbrigade. As with every Wehrmacht unit serving in the Russian theatre of operations, one of the ways the formation increased its strength was by incorporating Russian volunteers, the so-called hilfswillige – HIWIS, onto its roll. These men had often deserted from the Red Army or were captured by a Wehrmacht unit who then employed them as a useful source of labour to carry out tasks such as dig latrines, mend vehicles, cook meals and carry ammunition. In such circumstances it was not a massive step for a man to go from carrying ammunition to an anti-tank gun to actually loading it. Taken onto the ration roll for the SS-Sturmbrigade Langemarck were 137 such HIWIS.

This took the Sturmbrigade’s strength up to 2,205 men, comprising 42 officers (20 under strength), 162 NCOs (more than 200 under strength), and 1,864 enlisted men (this doesn’t include the HIWIS). Further small contingents of new Fleimish recruits came in over the summer and autumn and were incorporated into the Sturmbrigade, but even though this took the total to around 2,500 it could not hide the huge shortfalls. Yet, almost unbelievably, at the same time not all Flemings joining the Waffen-SS were concentrated in the Langemarck. Some volunteers were sent direct to the SS Wiking as replacements for the grenadier companies, and yet more were sent as technical replacements to other Waffen-SS field divisions such as Das Reich. It was, however, recognised by the SS-Hauptamt that the infantry complement in the Sturmbrigade was low for the likely battles of attrition it would face and so it was decided to beef up the grenadier numbers by importing an entire formed Finnish SS volunteer battalion. A flick of a pen in Berger’s office and the SS-Sturmbrigade Langemarck was now a truly international unit with at least five nationalities represented, if you count the volksdeutsche men among the Das Reich transferees as a nationality.

It was not only in numbers of infantrymen but crucially in leaders and equipment that the Sturmbrigade fell short. The more heavy weapons a unit had, the more effective it was at the front was the general rule of thumb, especially against an equipment-rich enemy like the Red Army, and those men and their weapons needed leading, and leaders always suffered high casualty rates. It was clear, even before the formation was sent back to the Eastern Front, that while not a one-shot weapon in terms of operational effectiveness, it could not hope to last indefinitely as a viable fighting force without significant reinforcement of both men and material.

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