World War II

I've been researching World War II and the associated conflicts for "knowledge" for many years now. I've read some very good books on the subject matter [Lost Victories - von Manstein, Russia At War - Werth, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - Shirer]. I'm entirely surprised how little the average American knows of World War II (especially considering how important we make ourselves & the UK appear).

Germany is always portrayed as a(n) universally hated aggressor. While this is largely true, many Latvians, Western Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Russians, Spanish and even French collaborated with them to fight the Soviets. [Feldgrau is a good source of anything related to the Wehrmacht, especially the Freiwillige]. Undoubtedly many of these nationalities were pushed into service, but many were volunteers. So I'll go through a list of many nations volunteers in the Wehrmacht Heer and Waffen-SS.

Franco's Spain had an entire division, División Azul, that volunteered for combat on the deadly and cruel Eastern Front.

France's LVF (anti-Bolshevik volunteers) sent a 2,452 strong group of men to fight in the Eastern front, this later formed into the 33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne and had a peak strength of over 5,500.

The Russian Vlasov Army was used to fight partisans initially (71 battalions) but many were transferred to man defenses in France (42 battalions). The recruits for the Vlasov Army were often POWs who had been starved into joining German puppet army. More details can be found here.

The Ukrainians were often employed as guards and in anti-Partisan duties. However some 14,000 Galician Ukrainians volunteered to join the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS "Galizien". Of course anti-Bolsheviks were still common here as it had been part of Poland and the home of support for Wrangel's White Army. Marshal Piłsudski was a hero to many Polish and to a lesser extent Ukrainians, he had fought Bolsheviks in the 1919-1922 War. Also many Ukrainian partisans fought against Soviet rule until 1953.

In Estonia over 38,000 were drafted into the German Army, Navy and Air Force. A further 4,000 Estonians fled to Finland (and many joined their army) to avoid service in the Wehrmacht. However Estonia resisted fiercely as the Soviets came to reconquer Narva, over 450,000 Soviet soldiers were killed.

Latvia had an unit of the police called the Arajs Kommando which numbered around 1,200 men and brutally fought partisans in Belarus. When Germany allowed the Latvians to handle their own defense they had formed the Latvian Legion, which eventually numbered over 100,000 volunteers and conscripts. The Latvian Legion and their German allies held out in Courland until mid May.

Over 125,000 Lithuanians had fought the Soviets in the early part of the war. Later 50,000 had served in the German armed forces (again not all willingly). Lithuania and other Baltic countries often resisted the Soviets during and after the war.

Scandinavians formed an entire SS Division, the 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division "Nordland", which served with ruthlessness and efficiency. Interestingly, about 800 Swedes fought in the Battle of Berlin.

Dutch SS volunteers formed the SS Volunteer Legion Netherlands which fought along with the 11th SS "Nordland" Division. In fact the first volunteer to get the Iron Cross was a Dutchman.

So in conclusion over 2,000,000 people served in the German Wehrmacht in World War II, if you include Hiwis it may be many more. During the Battle of Stalingrad 25-50% of the German's combat strength was foreign volunteers or conscripts. I don't know what is more saddening, that these people fought to help a genocidal dictator or that many were forced to do it... Any thoughts about World War II? I have been ignoring the Asian half of the conflict, so if you know anything about Japanese atrocities please share... (I haven't heard to much of them).

You should read Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. It is a satirical take on how the aftermath of the war effected multiple soldiers. I'll warn you, however, that he has the crazy ability to warp through time, but it adds to the irony that he was useless.

I'll check it out at the school library if we have it... but I generally prefer non-fiction.

haha, I am doing a book project on WWII now, and my dad is a frikken expert on it. My family loves history, specially wars, as my grandpa and dad were part of the national guard, and both are a expert in some war.

It really is surprising how much we know about it.

Care to share some knowledge? As for family military histroy both my grandparents served in World War II. My half-brother was in the Army, my oldest brother is still in the Navy, as is his wife. =\

I suggest you to read that one book about Hitler's life IF he had made it to Vienna Art Institute. People told me it is a stunning story and very realistic too.

. . .

Okay, my memory fails. I can't recall the book's title.

Care to share some knowledge? As for family military histroy both my grandparents served in World War II. My half-brother was in the Army, my oldest brother is still in the Navy, as is his wife. =\

Im not a human sponge XD

Though I have been taking it in all my life (as long as I could listen to what they were saying on history channel lol)

Though I cant really bring in specifics. ._.

[COLOR="RoyalBlue"]Universal hatred sure, the two "evils" that countries united against were Communism and Fascism. The fear of communism could be said to be one of the main reasons for Hitler gaining power in Germany in the first place, as seen with the communists gaining.. 15% of the vote of Germany at one point, and actually having a partially successful revolt against the Weimar Republic, aka the Spartacist Putsch. Mostly anyone who wasn't dirt poor was against communists anyways, because of their attack against the bourgeoisie and aristocracy . So its not too surprising that people joined their army willingly to fight against communism.

Russians, Spanish and even French

Russians who helped would probably be anyone who was aristocracy or had any form of power before the communist revolution, since they would be bitter and harbor feelings of hatred for them. While Spain didn't have a direct role, they were a fascist state, under the dictator Francisco Franco. France was Germany's peach soon after the war, so its not really surprising that people "willingly" helped with fighting. The rest of the countries, if I'm not mistaken, were also under German power eventually.

Considering the situation, I believe it's difficult to actually say whether they "volunteered" to fight with the Germans.

Eh. If you want anything about Japanese atrocities, ask any Korean. The Rape of Nanjing, while "technically" not in the WWII period, as it begins in 1937, is basicially the usual course of Japanese actions at the time. Comfort women were also especially horrid. Basicially women from occupied territories were used as sex toys for the Japanese military. Wikipedia link, but it has some decent stuff.

If you wanna read a crazy book, just go right to the source. Mein Kampf. It's completely stream of consciousness though, so its pretty difficult to read, even without the inane logic behind his actions.[/COLOR]

Vichi France was Nazi. Of course they fought for Germany.

Vichy France was a puppet state headed by Marshal Petain, it was not any more pro-German than it had to be. And the LVF was actually volunteers, primarily Third Positionists and other French Fascists.

As for Zaotsu: The Russian White Army and other loyalists to the old way would likely have joined the Vlasov Army (as officers no doubt) but the recruits were drafted from primarily Red Army POWs. Communists surprisingly only did well in the upper lower class. The Bavarian Soviet State ruthless in execution but was smashed by the Freikorps (if I remember correctly). This event largely helped encourage the Beer Hall Putsch and later formed Hitler's hot beds of support (Prussia for his revanchism and Bavaria for his pan-German ideals).

The Baltic nations, Eastern Poland, and Bessarabia(Romania) had all been independent prior to being annexed by Russia and viewed the Germans/Romanians as liberators for some time. Of course I agree with the "volunteer" sentiment, it was war, almost everything was forced (especially after "Total War" in 1943).

Franco was a wise man and knew that a world war would devastate Spain even more (the civil war had just ended). But he was committed to producing weapons (MP 40, K98K) and tanks (Pz. III & StuG. III) for Germany at a low cost and after the war many German weapon designers fled to Spain (they later helped CETME develop the Model C, Ameli and C2).

I've actually read parts of Mein Kampf, it isn't coherent enough to read the entirety and I'm not too fluent in German (is there an English version about?). Zweites Buch was better written but seemed more deranged. Thanks for the information on Japan though, seems like the situation in France (with the comfort women, but more forced). If anyone would like to learn of situation in Russia, I'd recommend reading "Russia At War" by Alexander Werth. Although he seems obsessed with the Polish problem (Army Krajowa & London Government vs. Stalin's Polish State) he describes war life in Russia quite well.

Vichi France was Nazi. Of course they fought for Germany.

All Vichi States were kinda like shams..
They gave up as soon as possible.
Well...
A couple Colonies didn't...
But generally Vichi(s) didn't have the moral to fight.

Alright well... I don't have much about the Japanese side, just some general information on their dealings with Taiwan, gathered from my grandfather and father over the years.

Be warned, these opinions may be somewhat biased and/or inaccurate; they are based on oral history from my memory.

Some background: From what my grandfather has said, the Japanese were not overly oppresive. Rather, they looked down on the Taiwanese as more of the lower class. The Japanese controlled the government there, and had troops in the country.

Here's where the World War II involvement more or less begins. When the United Nations ordered (I'm not quite sure about this...) the Japanese to withdraw, they did so. Jiang Jieshi, being seiged by communist troops from China, fled to Taiwan. He took over the government there. As far as I know from some reading, Taiwan is a territory under dispute. The Japanese withdrew from it, and the KMT took over as the government in control. However, there are varied viewpoints on what should have happened to Taiwan as a result of Japan's loss in World War II. Some believe that it should have been turned over to China, while others believe that Taiwan should be on its own, being under the rule of a new government. Some even believe that it should have belonged to the U.N. with the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender.

I do believe I have missed a lot from this. If anyone knows any more about this, feel free to correct me. I am not an expert on this, so don't take my word as law.