 Beginning in 1940, Himmler opened up Waffen-SS recruiting to ethnic Germans that were not German citizens. In March 1941, the SS Main Office established the Germanische Leitstelle (Germanic Guidance Office) to establish Waffen-SS recruiting offices in Nazi-occupied Europe. The majority of the resulting foreign Waffen-SS units wore a distinctive national collar patch and preceded their SS rank titles with the prefix Waffen instead of SS. Volunteers from Scandinavian countries filled the ranks of two divisions, the SS-Wiking and SS-Nordland. Belgian Flemings joined Dutchmen to form the SS-Nederland legion, and their Walloon compatriots joined the SS-Wallonien. By the end of 1943 about a quarter of the SS were ethnic Germans from across Europe, and by June 1944, half the Waffen-SS were foreign nationals.
