A European anabasis
Subtitle: Western European volunteers in the German army and SS, 1940-1945
By: Kenneth William Estes
Publisher: Helion
Published: 2015
Place of publication: Solihull
Language: eng
Number of pages: 210
ISBN-13: 9781909384521
Copyright date: 2014
Subjects: History; Reserves; Recruiting, enlistment; Voluntary Military service; World War, 1939-1945; Collaborationists; Foreign enlistment; Germany. Heer; Germany; Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei. Schutzstaffel; Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei
Other titles: Western European volunteers in the German army and SS, 1940-1945
Description: Kenneth Estes studies the 100,000 West Europeans who fought against Russia as volunteers for the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS. A retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel, Estes shows tremendous knowledge of combat and writes gripping battlefield prose. Two-thirds of the West European volunteers came from Spain and the Netherlands, yet Estes demonstrates wide range and covers Flemish, Walloon, French, Danish, and Norwegian combat units. Avoiding over-generalization, the author distinguishes carefully among the Danes and Flemings who fought competently with the SS-Wiking Division and later with Nordland, the courageous but poorly-armed Spanish, the ill-trained Dutch and French in Landstorm Nederland and SS-Charlemagne, and the Norwegians who after a first wave of enthusiasm held back altogether. Estes pulverizes the Nazi propaganda notion of a multinational European army defending 'Western civilization' against 'Bolshevism'.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references(pages 192-204) and indexes.