British Free Corps

In World War II, the British Free Corps (BFC) or Britisches Freikorps was a unit of the Waffen-SS consisting of British and Dominion prisoners of war who had been recruited by the Nazis. Despite the notoriety of this unit, it was tiny: Adrian Weale's research has identified about 59 men who belonged to this unit at one time or another, some for only a few days, and at no time did it reach more than 27 men in strength — smaller than a contemporary German platoon.

Early plans

The German Waffen-SS "British Free Corps" was the creation of John Amery, the son of Conservative cabinet minister Leo Amery. Amery lived under the shadow of his father, and strove to prove his own worth; however, these endeavours led to him being declared bankrupt in 1936.

Related Topics:
John Amery - Conservative - Cabinet - Leo Amery - Bankrupt - 1936

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Amery was a staunch anti-Communist and came to embrace the fascist doctrines of Nazi Germany. Confronted with money problems, he left Britain and joined Franco's Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War in 1936. Here, he was awarded a medal of honour while serving as an intelligence officer with Italian "volunteer" forces. It was in Spain that he met the French fascist leader Jacques Doriot. Following the Civil War, Amery and Doriot travelled together to Austria, Czechoslovakia, Italy and Germany before residing in Vichy France. Displeased with their mindset, Amery ran afoul of the Vichy government. He made several attempts to leave France, but was unsuccessful until September 1942, when Hauptmann Werner Plack brought Amery to Berlin to speak to the German English Committee. It was at this meeting that Amery suggested that the Germans form a British anti-Bolshevik legion. Adolf Hitler was impressed by Amery and allowed him to remain in Germany as a guest of the Reich, where he made a series of pro-German radio broadcasts to Britain.

Related Topics:
Communist - Fascist - Nazi Germany - Britain - Franco - Spanish Civil War - Italian - Spain - French - Jacques Doriot - Austria - Czechoslovakia - Vichy France - 1942 - Werner Plack - Berlin - Adolf Hitler

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The idea of a British force to fight the Communists languished until Amery met with two Frenchmen, who were part of the LVF (Légion des Volontaires Français) in January 1943. The two LVF men lamented the situation on the Eastern Front, where only Germany was battling the Soviet Union. They felt that they should lend support with their LVF service. Amery rekindled his idea of a British unit and aimed to recruit fifty to a hundred men for propaganda purposes. He wanted to seek out a core of men with which to gain additional members from British POWs. He also suggested that such a unit could provide more recruits for the other military units made up of foreign nationals. (However, the Germans had already raised a number of such units, which were operating under the command of the Waffen-SS.)

Related Topics:
''Légion des Volontaires Français'' - 1943 - Eastern Front - POW - Waffen-SS

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

So Amery began his recruiting drive for a unit he named "The British Legion of St. George". He made the rounds of POW camps, addressing 40 to 50 inmates from Britain and various Commonwealth countries, and handed out recruiting material. His first efforts at recruitment were complete failures, but he persisted and eventually was rewarded with four recruits: an elderly academic named Logio, Maurice Tanner, Oswald Job, and Kenneth Berry (a 17 year old deckhand on the SS Cymbeline, which was sunk). Logio was released, while Job was recruited by German intelligence, trained as a spy, caught while trying to get into England and hanged March 1944. Thus, Amery ended up with two men, of which only Berry would actually join what was later called the BFC. Amery's link to what became the BFC ended in October 1943 when the Waffen-SS decided Amery's services were no longer needed.

Related Topics:
POW - 1944

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~