33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne

Uncommon card · No. 138338

The Waffen Grenadier Brigade of the SS Charlemagne (German: Waffen-Grenadier-Brigade der SS "Charlemagne") was a Waffen-SS unit formed in September 1944 from French collaborationists, many of whom were already serving in various other German units. Named after the 9th-century Frankish emperor, the Charlemagne Brigade superseded two units of French volunteers already serving within the German Army and Waffen-SS, namely the Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism and SS-Volunteer Sturmbrigade France (SS-Freiwilligen Sturmbrigade "Frankreich"). The division also included French recruits from other German military and paramilitary formations and Miliciens who had fled ahead of the Allied Liberation of France (June–November 1944). After training, the Charlemagne Brigade was reclassified as a division named 33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne (1st French) (33. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS "Charlemagne" (französische Nr. 1)). It had 7,340 men at the time of its deployment...

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