Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen - SS The Finnisches Freiwilligen - Bataillon der Waffen - SS was a Finnish volunteer combat battalion of the German Waffen - SS . It saw action on the Eastern Front during World War II . Formed in 1941 as SS Freiwilligen - Battalion " Nordost " , the battalion was made up of 1 , 200 Finnish volunteers who had signed to fight against the Soviet Union for two years . While many Finns were already serving with the SS - Division " Wiking " , the battalion differed in that it was staffed with Finnish officers and NCOs ( " Wiking " being commanded by Germans ) . The mathematician Rolf Nevanlinna was chairman of the Committee for the Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen - SS . After initial training in Vienna the battalion was transferred for more training to Stralsund in June 1941 and at the beginning of August to the infantry barracks at Gross - Born , Pomerania , where it was attached to SS Division Wiking . The battalion was sent to the Eastern front in January 1942 and took part in battles along the Mius River and later in the Caucasus campaign of 1942 , forming the southernmost vanguard made by the Germans during the campaign . The battalion reached the Grozny oil fields before finally being pushed back by the Soviets . In May 1943 the battalion was transferred away from the front , as the two years was at an end , and was disbanded in July 1943 . Those members of the battalion who wanted to stay in Waffen - SS joined SS Freiwilligen - Panzergrenadier Division Nordland or SS - Standarte Kurt Eggers . The unit lost 255 men killed in action , 686 wounded and 14 missing during its service . The battalion was praised by many Waffen - SS commanders , even Heinrich Himmler , for its combat performance . Himmler said " Where a Finnish SS - man stood , the enemy was always defeated . " Neither the unit nor any of its members were ever accused of any war crime s . Initial recruitment . After the Polish campaign , Reichsführer - SS Heinrich Himmler sought to expand the Waffen SS with foreign military volunteers for the " crusade against Bolshevism " . It has also been widely speculated that Himmler sought to eventually replace the Heer ( regular army ) with his own Waffen SS , and with German manpower drained by conscription , Himmler was forced to look outside German borders to find men for his semi - private army . However , during the war , all Waffen SS formations served under Heer command . As part of Himmler ' s efforts to raise men , the first SS multinational division was created . Originally called Nordische Division ( Nr . 5 ) , it was intended to be made up of German Waffen SS veterans and Dutch , Danish , and Norwegian volunteers . The division was renamed " Wiking " ( see main article for more details ) , and its main combat strength was three SS Panzer grenadier regiments : Germania , Westland and Nordland . In December 1940 SS headquarters was in touch with the Finnish government as part of military negotiations with Finland . They had strongly suggested that the Finns should show their allegiance to Germany by sending volunteers to the German armed forces . There was an historical precedent for a battalion of Finnish volunteers had signed up with the German army during the First World War , when Finland was still a part of Russia . They had formed the 27 . Jaeger Battalion of the German Army and fought on the Eastern Front . The Finnish government agreed to the plan , both to demonstrate their allegiance to Germany and to gain a concrete assurance of their alliance . Suggestively , the definitive Finnish academic study on the battalion is called " Panttipataljoona " , or " Pawn battalion " . The Finnish foreign ministry ordered the former chief of Finland ' s secret police , Esko Riekki , to carry out recruiting for the battalion in secret . At Riekki ' s insistence , the men were recruited from a wider range of volunteers instead of only right - wing extremists and Nazi sympathisers . The recruits were screened for racial suitability ; requirements included a minimum height of 170 cm , good teeth , age 17 – 23 years and satisfactorily answering a questionnaire with such items as whether the recruit was of " Aryan birth " or not . Despite the Finnish government ' s attempts to recruit from a wide range of political opinions , some 20 percent of the men had extreme right - wing affiliations . Approximately 80 percent were or had been members of Finnish Suojeluskunta militia . The recruits included 10 regular officers , 66 reserve officers and 29 non - commissioned officers . This was many more officers than were necessary for a single battalion , and the German government suggested to Finland that if some 1 , 000 more men were recruited , the whole force could be used to form a Finnish SS regiment , manned and officered by Finns . The Finnish government rejected the idea . Service in the Waffen - SS . Four - hundred of the volunteers had previous military experience from the Winter War , and they were assigned directly to the Wiking division . They are known in Finnish literature as the " division ' s men " , and were assigned to both the Nordland and Westland regiments , as well as to divisional units . The main body of the recruits , some 800 men , were sent to Bad Tölz for training , and formed the Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the SS . The Finnish volunteers made up the rank and file of the battalion , and the officers and NCOs were German . Most of the Finnish officers were sent to the division as part of the " division ' s men " , and since the planned Finnish SS regiment never came about , many of them were returned to Finland before their two years of service were done . Later service . In September 1944 , as Finland was making a separate peace with the Soviet Union , Hitler authorized the creation of a new Finnish volunteer formation to carry on the legacy of the 27 . Jaeger Battalion in Norway . Recruited mainly from Finnish SS men still in Germany and Finnish prisoners of war in Norway , the unit came to no more than a reduced strength company , and apparently never saw combat .