Waffen-SS Dutch, Belgium, and Danish Volunteers

Waffen-SS Dutch, Belgium and Danish Volunteers written by Ian Baxter

and published by Pen & Sword Books - £14.99 - Softcover - Pages 154

Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union, numerous Dutchmen, Belgians

and Danes volunteered for the Waffen-SS. The largest division, SS Volunteer Legion

Netherlands operated in Yugoslavia and then Northern Russia. It was later

re-designated 23rd SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nederland.

Fighting alongside the Nederland formation was the SS Volunteer Legion Flanders, manned mainly with Dutch speaking recruits from occupied Belgium. After being disbanded it was later reformed as the SS Assault Brigade Langemarck (SS-Sturmbrigade Langemarck).

The SS Volunteer Legion Walloon, recruited from French-speaking volunteers from German occupied Belgium, was sent to Russia and later integrated with the SS Assault Brigade Wallonia (SS-Sturmbrigade Wallonien).

Finally some 6,000 Danes served in Free Corps Denmark which went to the Eastern Front in May 1942. Within a year the formation was disbanded into Division Nordland, known as Regiment 24 Danemark

Drawing on a superb collection of rare and often unpublished photographs, this fine Images of War book describes the fighting history of each formation, notably the 1944 battle of Narva, which was known as the battle of the European SS. As its forces were pushed further back across a scarred and burning wasteland it describes how these Dutch, Belgian and Danish units became cut off in the Kurland Pocket until some were evacuated by sea. The remainder were killed or captured in front of Berlin in April 1945.

This particular book was rather interesting, mainly in my opinion you don’t get to hear much about volunteers working with the Germans. This book was of particular focus on those volunteers from Holland, Belgium and Denmark. These kinds of troops would help support the Germans in Yugoslavia and Northern Russia before a number were then sent on to the Eastern front. These soldiers were then given indoctrination to hate their enemy and see the Germans as the superior race, so it was still interesting to see they were still willing to accept help from other countries' men, but there was still the determination that the Germans were the top dogs. An interesting read indeed and I must say the supportive text in this series is always first-class.

Narvik and the Norwegian Campaign 1940

Narvik and the Norwegian Campaign 1940 written by Philip Jowett and published

by Pen & Sword Books - £18.99 - Softcover - Pages 240

The Norwegian campaign, fought in 1940, early in the Second World War in Europe, is overshadowed by the campaign in Poland that preceded it and the German blitzkrieg in the Low Countries and France that followed, yet it was a close contest from the military point of view and it had a far-reaching impact on the rest of the war. Philip Jowett’s photographic history is a vivid introduction to it.

In a concise text and a selection of over 150 photographs, he traces the entire course of the fighting in Norway on land, at sea and in the air. He describes how important it was for the Allies – the Norwegians, British and French – to defend northern Norway against the Germans, in particular, to retain control of the strategic port of Narvik.

The book documents in fascinating detail the troops involved, the aircraft and the large naval forces, and gives an insight into the main episodes in the conflict including the struggle for Narvik and the major clashes at sea which culminated in the loss of the Royal Navy’s aircraft carrier Glorious.

The photographs are especially valuable in that they show the harsh conditions in which the fighting took place and offer us a direct impression of the experience of the men who were there.

This book is an addition to the brilliant Images of War series created by Pen & Sword Books, the Narvik and the Norwegian Campaign 1940 is in my opinion a part of WW2 that gets very overlooked so I think that this book becomes a valuable part of the series. As you would expect this book as an Images of War book is for the vast majority black and white photographs, but I would say that we shouldn’t underestimate the standard of the supporting text that is part of the main text and the supporting captions to the photographs. 

The book is split into 14 chapters from Defending Neutrality through Invasion, Fall of Denmark, Sea Battles, Airwar over Norway to the end of the Norwegian Invasion. I must admit I do enjoy reading about the Norwegian part of the war, purely as I said this part of the war gets very little attention. This was a good read and thoroughly enjoyable with a good number of excellent photos, an excellent addition to the series.