Title: European Anabasis
First published: January 30, 2007
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'.
Subjects: Germany, history, 20th century, Germany, heer, World war, 1939-1945, germany, Germany, history, military, History, Reserves, Recruiting, enlistment, Voluntary Military service, World War, 1939-1945, Collaborationists, Foreign enlistment, Germany. Heer, Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei. Schutzstaffel