page_title: Free Corps Denmark
section_title: Service record
hierarchical_section_title: Free Corps Denmark / Service record
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Żołnierze Frikorps Danmark podczas zaprzysiężenia w koszarach SS Hamburg-Langenhorn
context_page_description: Free Corps Denmark was a Danish volunteer free corps created by the Danish Nazi Party in cooperation with Nazi Germany, to fight the Soviet Union during the Second World War. On June 29, 1941, days after the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the DNSAP's newspaper Fædrelandet proclaimed the creation of the corps. Its formation was subsequently sanctioned by the democratically elected Danish government which authorized officers of the Danish Army to join the unit. The corps was disbanded in 1943. During the course of the war, approximately 6,000 Danes joined the corps, including 77 officers of the Royal Danish Army.
context_section_description: With about 1,000 recruits, the corps was sent to Langenhorn barracks in Hamburg for basic training in late July 1941. It was considered ready for action by September 15 and sent to Owińska in Poland.
  C.P. Kryssing was dismissed in February 1942 for insufficient ideological adherence to Nazism. He was transferred to the artillery where he actually ended his career as a general.
  Christian Frederik von Schalburg — a Danish-Russian aristocrat, anti-communist and member of the DNSAP who had been raised in Russia and had seen the aftermath of the Russian revolution in 1917 — replaced Kryssing as the leader of Frikorps Danmark.
  On May 8, 1942, the corps was ordered to the front line. The corps fought near Demyansk south of Lake Ilmen and Novgorod. During the night of June 2, Schalburg was killed. Hans Albert von Lettow-Vorbeck, his German replacement, was killed only a few days later. On July 11, 1942, Knud Børge Martinsen took command of the corps.
  From August to October, the corps returned to Denmark, and met much hostility from the civilian population. On November 13, 1942, the corps was deployed to Jelgava in Latvia. Originally, it was intended for anti-partisan activities, but it was then moved up to the front line. In December, the corps engaged in the Battle of Velikiye Luki in intense fighting, alongside the 1 SS Infantry Brigade.
  In March, the corps was transferred to Grafenwöhr near Nuremberg in Germany. Then on June 6, 1943, the corps was disbanded. Most soldiers were transferred to "Regiment 24 Dänemark" in "Division Nordland". Others joined groups such as the HIPO Corps or Schalburg Corps.
caption: Danish Free Corps members make an oath in 1941
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