27th SS Volunteer Division Langemarck - History and Concept

History and Concept

After the success of Germany's blitzkrieg attacks on Poland and in the West in 1939-1940, many European fascists saw Germany as an answer to the Bolshevik problem. Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, with the support of Adolf Hitler, began a campaign in late 1940 to recruit those European fascists of sufficiently Aryan stock into a series of Legions, under the control of the Waffen-SS. The SS Volunteer Standarte Nordwest was formed to cater for volunteers from the Low Countries.

In April 1941, volunteers began arriving in Hamburg. They were quickly processed and signed up for service in the Nordwest. Flemish volunteers were assigned to the 1st, 6th and 8th companies. The recruits went through basic training, and were sent to Radom and Dębica in occupied Poland for further training.

By July 1941, the number of recruits meant that the Nordwest could be dissolved and several separate units formed. The Flemings were organized into SS Volunteer Verband Flandern. Flemish volunteers, many members of the VNV (Flemish Nationalist Front) continued to sign up for the unit, and by September 1941 the formation was the size of a reinforced infantry battalion, and boasted five fully motorized companies. The unit was again redesignated, this time as SS Volunteer Legion Flandern. Its strength was 1,100 men, of who 1,000 were Flemings, including 14 officers.

On 10 November 1941, the division was ordered to the front near Novgorod, under the overall command of Army Group North. The legion was to be subordinated to the 2 SS Infantry Brigade, an international unit composed of Dutchmen, Norwegians and Latvians.