After occupying Denmark and Norway the Germans sought volunteers for their battle against the Soviet Union. On June 28, 1941, they formed the voluntary "Free Corps Denmark". 480 Danes were initially assigned to the corps. These men were given SS uniforms and sent to Hamburg for training. At the end of 1941 the corps had a strength of two battalions with a total strength of 1,160 men and was considered ready to be sent to the Eastern Front.
A Dane, Christian Pender Krising, was put in charge, but he was expelled in 1942 as not completely pro-Nazi. The administration was then taken over by the Nazi Dane of German origin, Christian von Salburg. The corps initially joined the 3rd SS Division "Totenkopf" (death's head) fighting north with Army Group "North".
After the defeat of the Germans at the gates of Moscow the Soviets also counterattacked in the Leningrad region, at the beginning of 1942, trapping six German divisions - Demyansk enclave . The Germans nevertheless held out and an operation to break the cordon was planned. The Free Corps "Denmark" was also part of the liberating force.
The Danes fought for the first time in Ramutsevo, keeping open the "corridor" that had been opened and through which the trapped German forces escaped. The Soviets suffered very heavy losses attacking continuously, unorthodoxly, under pressure from the "commander-in-chief" Stalin. The Danes who also suffered casualties, including their commander Salburg who was killed, returned home where the corps filled the gaps and reorganized.
The corps returned to the Eastern Front in October 1942 under the command of Danish resident officer Knud Martinsen (executed as a traitor and war criminal after the war in Denmark). The corps was sent to Latvia and took part in the great battle of Velikiye Luki where the Soviets forced their opponents to retreat. After this the corps was disbanded but many of its men joined the newly formed Waffen SS division 'Nordland'. Included in it, a regiment of Danes fought to the end in favor of the Germans. Over 6,000 Danes served in the corps during its existence.
The Norwegian Legion
In Norway there was already a pro-German movement before the war under the notorious traitor Quisling. After the occupation of the country, the Legion was formed with a strength of 1,300 men. The first commander was the Norwegian adventurer colonel Finn Kjelstrup, but he disagreed with the Germans and retired. He was succeeded by the major and famous equestrian athlete Artur Kvist. The Legion was sent to the Leningrad front in February 1942 and fought alongside the 1st SS Brigade and the Spanish Azoul division.
Particularly fierce was the battle in the village of Urizk where the Soviets launched a massive attack on the Norwegian sector. Due to outdated tactics, however, the overwhelmingly superior numbers and supported by tanks, the Soviets, were defeated state by state. The Norwegians had only 10 dead compared to hundreds of Soviets. The Legion continued to hold the front in the Leningrad region when, in the spring of 1943, it was disbanded and 600 of its men joined, like the Danes, the "Nordland" division of the Waffen SS.