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.

German recruitment efforts

With the failure of Amery's recruiting efforts, another idea was tried in an attempt to

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woo POWs into joining the BFC. Given the harsh conditions of POW camps in Germany and the occupied areas, it was decided to form a "holiday camp" for likely recruits from POW camps. Two holiday camps were set up, Special Detachment 999 and Special Detachment 517, both under the umbrella of Stalag IIId, near Berlin. English-speaking guards were used, overseen by a German intelligence officer, who would use the guards as information gatherers. But a Briton was needed as a possible conduit for volunteers and for this duty, Battery Quartermaster Sergeant John Henry Owen Brown of the Royal Artillery was selected.

Related Topics:
POW - Berlin - Royal Artillery

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Brown had been a member of the British Union of Fascists (BUF) before the war, but was also a devout Christian. Captured on the beaches of Dunkirk in May 1940, Brown eventually ended up in a camp at Blechhammer. Given his rank, he was made a foreman of a work detail where he successfully won the confidence of the Germans. With his status, the Germans made him the camp leader of Special Detachment 517.

Related Topics:
British Union of Fascists - Christian - Dunkirk - 1940 - Blechhammer

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In reality, Brown had been setting up a black market scheme, smuggling in contraband to give to his men and also to buy off the guards. Later Brown learned the POW message codes created by MI9 and began to operate as (in his words) a "self-made spy". Once he understood his role concerning the "holiday camps", he determined that he was in a unique position to both hinder the formation of this unit and to obtain intelligence — while also making sure the men who came to the camp actually got a holiday.

Related Topics:
Black market - MI9

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At this time, another Briton, Thomas Cooper (who used the German version of Cooper – Boettcher – as his last name), arrived at the camp. Cooper, unable to obtain public service employment in Britain due to his mother's German nationality, joined the BUF and during a visit of Germany in 1939 was trapped there by the war, and joined the Waffen-SS. He was posted to the SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler (LAH), where he eventually was transferred to the infamous

Related Topics:
1939 - Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler

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SS "Totenkopf" infantry training battalion, and became a machine-gun instructor with the 5th Totenkopf Regiment and was made an NCO. Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union, he was assigned to the Wachbattaillon Oranienburg outside Krakow in Poland, where he allegedly told BFC men that he committed atrocities against Soviet and Polish POWs, civilians, and Jewish prisoners. Later, he served as transport driver in the SS-Polizei-Division, which was posted to Schablinov, a town on the Leningrad front, replacing the mangled forces of the Spanish Blue Division. The division was subjected to a Soviet attack on February 13, 1943, Cooper was hit in the legs by shell splinters, evacuated, and awarded the Wound Badge in Silver, becoming the only Englishman to obtain a German combat decoration.

Related Topics:
NCO - Krakow - Poland - Soviet - Jewish - Schablinov - Leningrad - Blue Division - February 13

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Besides Cooper and the young Berry, a handful of other Britons had drifted into this group. Most notable was Roy Courlander, who also used the pseudonym of Reg. The son of a Lithuanian Jew and an English woman, he was serving in the New Zealand army in Greece when captured in 1941. He expressed extreme anti-Russian views, and had participated in Nazi broadcasts for England before he joined.

Related Topics:
Lithuania - New Zealand - 1941 - Russia

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When the first batch of 200 POWs arrived in the camp, Brown and his men did their

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best to entertain the prisoners while Cooper and other pro-Nazi men worked the crowd, seeking

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ex-BUF members or other ex-Fascist group members as well as finding out attitudes about the

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Communists. This treatment displeased many of the POWs, who demanded to be sent back to their camps. To try and calm this, the most senior British POW, one Major-General Fortune, was

Related Topics:
Communist - Major-General

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asked to send a representative to the holiday camp to inspect it; he selected Brigadier Leonard Parrington, who inspected the facilities, and incorrectly reported it was indeed a holiday camp and the POWs should not worry. Brown did not feel safe in informing Parrington of the purpose of the camp. While Parrington's visit was successful in calming the POWs, this recruiting effort gained only one confirmed recruit, Alfred Vivian Minchin, a merchant seaman whose ship, the SS Empire Ranger, was sunk off Norway by German bombers. Brown, following the first batch, learned of the full scope of the project from Carl Britten, who said he'd been forced into the BFC by Cooper and Leonard Courlander. Brown was unable to persuade Britten to quit the BFC, but MI9 got a very revealing transmission from Brown.

Related Topics:
Brigadier - Merchant seaman - Norway

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