Frikorps Danmark
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Frikorps Danmark (Free Corps Denmark) was a Danish volunteer army corps established to fight against the Soviet Union during the fighting in the USSR. On the 29th of June, 1941, days after the invasion of the USSR, it was set up at the initiative of the SS and the Danish Nazi Party (DNSAP) during the German Occupation of Denmark. The Nazi paper Fædrelandet proclaimed the creation of the corps on 1941-06-29 [1]. The corps was disbanded in 1943.
In the end, between 4-10,000 Danes joined the corps, including 77 officers.
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[edit] Establishment
According to Danish law, it was not illegal to join a foreign army but active recruiting on Danish soil was illegal. The SS disregarded this law and began recruiting efforts - predominantly recruiting Danish Nazis and members of the German minority. [2] The Danish government found out and concentrated on persuading the Germans not to recruit underage boys. General Prior wanted to sack C. P. Kryssing, a Danish army officer put in command of the unit, and his designated second-in-command but decided to consult the cabinet. It agreed that Kryssing should be sacked in its meeting on 1941-07-02, but this decision was later withdrawn when Erik Scavenius - who had not attended the original meeting - returned from negotiations and announced that he had reached an agreement with Cecil von Renthe-Fink, German plenipotentiary, that soldiers wishing to join this corps could be given leave until further notice. The government issued an announcement stating that "Lieut.Colonel C.P. Kryssing, Chief of the 5th Artillery Regiment, Holbæk, has with the consent of the Royal Danish Government assumed command over 'Frikorps Danmark'". The Danish text only explicitly says that the government recognizes that Kryssing had been given a new command, it does not sanction the creation of the corps which had already happened without consulting the government [3]. In July 1941 Heinrich Himmler complained that Denmark was unofficially trying to stop recruitment since the word ran in the army that anyone joining would be committing treason. The government later instructed the army and navy not to obstruct applications from soldiers wishing to leave active duty and join the corps.
[edit] The Corps' Activities
With about 1,000 recruits, the unit went to Langenhorn barracks near Hamburg for basic training in late July 1941. By September 15 the unit was considered ready for action and went to Owinska in Poland.
Krysing was dismissed in February 1942 for insufficient ideological adherence to Nazism. Christian Frederik von Schalburg replaced him as leader.
On the 1942-05-08 the unit was ordered to the front line. The unit fought near Demyansk south of Lake Ilmen and Novgorod under the name "Kampfgruppe von Schalburg" starting on May 20th. On the night of June 2nd/3rd von Schalburg was killed. Hans Albert von Lettow-Vorbeck, a German replacement, was killed only a few days later. On 1942-07-11 Knud Børge Martinsen took command.
From August to October the unit returned to Denmark, and met much hostility from the civilian population. On 1942-11-13 the unit was deployed to Jelgava in Latvia. Originally the unit was intended for anti-partisan activities, but was then moved up to the frontline. In December the unit fought around navel and then Velikiye Luki. In the Christmas/New Years period the fighting was quite intense.
In March the unit was transferred to Grafenwöhr near Nuremberg in Germany. Then on the 1943-06-06 the unit was disbanded. Many soldiers were transferred to "Regiment Dänemark" in "Division Nordland". Others joined groups such as the HIPO Corps or Schalburg Corps.
After the war, most surviving members were charged under a retro-active law which made it a crime to have fought in the German army. Most were imprisoned for 2 years, and officers a little more.
[edit] Composition
A 1998 study showed that the average recruit to Frikorps Danmark was a Nazi and / or a member of the German minority in Denmark and that recruitment was very broad socially. [4]. Bo Lidegaard notes: "The relationship between the population and the corps was freezing cold, and legionaires on leave time and again came into fights with civilians meeting the corps' volunteers with massive contempt." Lidegaard gives the following figures for 1941: 6,000 Danish citizens had signed up to German army duty (1,500 of these belonged to the German minority in Denmark).[5]
[edit] Commander
- SS-Obersturmbannführer Christian Peter Kryssing 19.7.1941 – 23.2.1942
- SS-Obersturmbannführer Christian Frederik von Schalburg 1.3.1942 – 2.6.1942
- SS-Obersturmbannführer Hans von Lettow-Vorbeck 9.6.1942 – 11.6.1942
- SS-Obersturmbannführer Knud Børge Martinsen 11.6.1942 – 21.3.1943
- SS-Sturmbannführer P. Neergard-Jacobsen 21.3.1943 – 20.5.1943
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