Finnish volunteers in the Waffen-SS

Common card · No. 455537

From 1941 to 1943, 1,408 Finns volunteered for service on the Eastern Front of World War II in the Waffen-SS, in units of the SS Division Wiking. Most served as motorized infantry in the Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS (German: Finnisches Freiwilligen-Bataillon der Waffen-SS; Finnish: Suomalainen Waffen-SS-vapaaehtoispataljoona). The unit was disbanded in mid-1943 as the volunteers' two-year commitment had expired and the Finnish government was unwilling to allow more men to volunteer. In 1944-1945 a company-sized unit of Finnish defectors recruited to the SS continued fighting alongside Germany. The battalion was formed following the Winter War, as Finland grew closer to Germany with recruitment beginning in 1941. Negotiations took place between the Finnish and German governments to reach compromises over certain sensitive issues for the battalion such as an oath of allegiance. Eventually, the volunteers were transported to Germany and split into two groups – experienced men...

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