Kříž dobrovolníků jednotek SS

This cross was intended to honour and reward the bravery of Finnish soldiers, volunteers serving in the German SS units (Viking Division and Nord Division).

The history of these soldiers, members of the SS units, begins in 1940 shortly after the end of the war waged against Finland by the Soviet Union.

The leading "recruiter" and personnel officer, and not only in Finland, was SS Obergruppenführer Gottlob Berger (1896-1975), who already in early 1941 had the first volunteers, veterans of the Winter War. Official negotiations with representatives of the Finnish government started on 22 February 1941.

With some problems, because the Finnish government was not very interested in sending volunteers to the SS units, the first 700 volunteers (Finns and Swedes) left Finland. The Germans even took advantage of the situation by recruiting workers to work in German industry, but they were essentially seasoned veterans of the 1939-1940 war who had reported to SS units in Germany. In this first phase, the Germans also guaranteed the transfer of Finnish ranks comparable to those of the SS troops.

On July 5, 1941, the last group of Finns left and after training were assigned to the SS Viking unit, which was somewhat disappointing for the Finns as they wanted to fight in a separate unit. At this point, the division commander Felix Steiner intervened and sensitively resolved the Finns' situation with a promise of further action acceptable to the Finnish soldiers. The Finns overcame the initial problems of the service, leaving for the Eastern Front where they fought bravely.

In addition to these volunteers, the German command also used instructors, Finns, veterans of the Winter War, to train their special units, who prepared the German soldiers well for war in the harsh winter conditions beyond the Arctic Circle.

By September 1941, the Finnish units are already listed and designated as the "Finnish Volunteer Battalion."

The SS units were strongly anti-religious, but in this case the German command relented and allowed the Finns to serve as field chaplains. The first chaplain was SS Untersturmführer Ensio Pihkala, who was killed. He was replaced by SS-Hauptsturmführer Kalervo Kurkiala.

The Finns signed a two-year service commitment. In 1943, the Finnish volunteers retreated back to their homeland. Besides, Marshal Mannerheim, who was the supreme commander of the Finnish army, expressed that he did not wish to replenish the SS forces with Finnish volunteers. The Germans, although reluctant, respected this wish.

The Finnish battalion had no military strength after the regrouping and the soldiers were assigned to Finnish Army units.

STATISTICS :

During the period 1941 - 1943 :
Finns killed : 222
Finns wounded : 557

After the armistice with the USSR, only a few soldiers remained in the SS units, fighting and leaving with the division soldiers from Finland.

Description of the cross :

The original of the cross is unknown to us. It is a type of Iron Cross in shape, with a golden eagle in its centre, the eagle's talons holding a swastika, in this case the Finnish swastika.

Note :

The Finnish government set three conditions for its volunteers, which the Germans accepted :

1. No volunteer would be forced to fight against Britain or Greece or in Africa. This also applied to other countries that were in a state of war with Germany, except for the USSR

2. No Finnish soldier would take an oath of allegiance to Adolf Hitler

3. If another Finnish-Russian war breaks out without German participation, Finnish soldiers will return home immediately

Literature :
Christopher. Ailsby : Hitler's renegades
D.A. Taras : War honors of Germany's allies. Minsk 2003

The military service of Swedish volunteers in 1939-45 is closely connected with the Finnish army and therefore it will be better to connect the Swedes with the fight against a common enemy, Bolshevism, which in anti-communist Swedish society was understood as a communist system of government in the USSR. Another problem was Sweden's neutrality, which was ambiguous, complex and partially violated by Germany.

Between 1939 and 1941, the Swedish government did not allow any recruitment of volunteers from any of the parties involved in its neutral territory. This situation changed after July 22, 1941. Under German pressure, the Swedish government began to turn a blind eye to the organized recruitment carried out in Sweden by the Auslands-Organization (a Nazi party agency responsible for supervising German life in foreign countries).

Senior officers of the Swedish army were strongly opposed to recruitment. Overall, this recruitment situation in Sweden was assessed negatively. However, the government recommended and supported the recruitment of volunteers to the Finnish army. This official government call was successful and enabled the creation of a separate Swedish battalion, HANGÖ. This battalion was part of the 19th Infantry Regiment of the Finnish Army and this unit showed great discipline and courage in the fight against the Soviet Army. There was even a section (department) at the Swedish Ministry of War at that time that dealt with the issue of "Finnish" volunteers, their social security and all personnel work.

The Swedish government has never set up a special award for its foreign volunteers. However, the Swedes proudly wore Finnish orders and decorations for their military service in the Finnish army. The military deployment in both the German and Finnish armies was recorded in the soldiers' master lists, and the ranks achieved, for example, obtained in the Finnish army, were recognized as ranks in the Swedish army even after 1945. However, it was also important that this service was included. for their pension provision.

The exact number of Swedes who fought in the German army is not known, and the Swedish side was not interested in specifying these numbers or punishing the soldiers. But the German SS records from 1942 list the first 45 names of SS volunteers. It can be assumed that this number must have been significantly higher, because German sources again mention 30 men who fell in battle. Swedish volunteers never allowed the creation of a separate unit, which was Himmler's pious but unrealistic wish.

The exact number of Swedes who served in SS units is unknown. If they were assigned to a unit, it was always just a few volunteers. When the Nordland Battalion was separated from the Viking Division, from which a new division was to be built (Nordland), only 40 Swedes remain in the Viking unit.


Almost all volunteers had received proper training in the Swedish army, and many were specialists who had mastered the mortars.


The Swedes were scattered in other SS units, such as the 23rd Division Nederland.


In 1941, several Swedish volunteers fought in Yugoslavia, and were later deployed to the Eastern Front and fought in the Leningrad area. In 1944, other volunteers fought in the SS unit near Narva, Estonia. The last battle, where several volunteers from Sweden are registered, is the April 1945 defensive area of Berlin.


After the end of the war, many Swedes returned home, but their service with SS units was not recognized by the military authorities as military service under current Swedish law (unlike service in Finnish army units).