This updated account examines the French- and Flemish-speaking Belgian volunteers who served with German forces during World War II. Following the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, recruits from Flanders and Wallonia were organised into separate volunteer formations: the Flemish Legion within the Waffen-SS and the Walloon Legion, initially attached to the German Army.
€ 20
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This updated account examines the French- and Flemish-speaking Belgian volunteers who served with German forces during World War II. Following the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, recruits from Flanders and Wallonia were organised into separate volunteer formations: the Flemish Legion within the Waffen-SS and the Walloon Legion, initially attached to the German Army.
Promoted by Nazi propaganda as part of a wider struggle against Bolshevism, both legions served on the Eastern Front during 1942–43. The Walloon Legion was later transferred to the Waffen-SS, where the highly decorated Léon Degrelle became one of the regime’s most publicised foreign volunteer figures. After heavy fighting in Ukraine and the Baltic region, both formations were redesignated as SS Assault Brigades.
By late 1944, the surviving personnel were withdrawn and absorbed into two understrength Waffen-SS divisions: the 27th SS Volunteer Division “Langemarck” and the 28th SS Volunteer Division “Wallonien”.
Featuring detailed colour plates of uniforms, insignia and combat equipment, this illustrated military history explores the organisation, battlefield operations and evolution of the Belgian Waffen-SS volunteer formations during the Second World War. An essential reference for collectors, military historians, modellers and researchers interested in the Waffen-SS, foreign volunteers, the Eastern Front and World War II German military history.
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