The SS Division Charlemagne and Charlemagne Regiment are collective names used for units of French volunteers in the Wehrmacht and later Waffen-SS during the World War II.

The Charlemagne division was not a single military unit but succession of groups of collaborating French volunteers (though the exact nature of "volunteering" has been disputed). The first unit was Légion des Volontaires Français (Legion of French Volunteers or LVF) that was mainly composed of right-wing Frenchmen and released French soldiers who preferred fighting to forced labour in Germany. It fought near Moscow in November 1941 but its commander colonel Roger Balonne was later relieved of his duties and in 1942 the men were assigned to antipartisan duties in Byelorussian SSR (Belarus). They were briefly joined by La Légion Tricolore (Tricolor Regiment) but this unit lasted only 6 months in 1942 and was later absorbed into LVF.

The men were loaned to various units without French commanders until June 1943 when colonel Edgard Puaud took command. They fought in Ukraine front against Soviet advance in 1944.

In the meantime, in July 1943, a new recruiting drive had begun in Vichy France. It attracted 3000 applicants like members of collaborating militias and university students. New Sturmbrigade unit was sent to Galicia to fight the Soviet advance and suffered heavy casualties. It was later absorbed into LVF. In late 1943 surviving French volunteers were inducted into the Waffen-SS Französische SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Regiment (Waffen-SS French SS-Volunteer Grenadiers).

In September 1 1944 the French volunteers were joined to the first Waffen-SS regiment named after Charlemagne - Waffen-Grenadier-Brigade der SS Charlemagne. It also absorbed French collaborators that had fled Allied advance and included Frenchmen from Horst Wessel brigade and Organisation Todt but also Vichy France Milice and other collaborationist organizations. Some sources claim that the unit included also volunteers from Switzerland and French colonies. SS General Gustav Krugenberg took the actual command with Edgard Puaud as nominal French commander.

In February 2 1945 the unit was officially upgraded to a division with the name 33rd Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS Charlemagne but was understaffed with 7340 men. It was sent to fight against the Red Army in Poland. In February 25 it faced Soviet troops of the 1st Belorussian Front and was split into three parts. Only the units with Krugenberg survived when they went to a Baltic coast, were evacuated to Denmark and later sent to Neutrelitz for refit.

In early April in Carpin General Krugenberg, commander of now 1100 men, released those who were disillusioned and about 700 chose to remain. 400 men later decided to stop being combatants and were made into a construction platoon.

In April 24-25 the rest of the unit was ordered to Berlin and placed under command of SS-Standartenführer Walter Zimmermann . 330 men reached it before the Soviet encirclement. They fought in the Battle of Berlin until the order of general surrender in May 2, when the 30 survivors surrendered to the Russians.

See also

• List of German divisions in WWII
• Waffen-SS

References