Current Affairs Auschwitz-Birkenau.......

[Disgruntledgoat]

There was a British brigade in the SS. And we shouldn't forget that closer to home it was only the British Communist Party, Labour Party and Independent Labour Party mobilising on the streets that smashed the native nazi thug movement, the British Union of Fascists, otherwise there could have been death camps set up here.

No Tory or businessmen were going to stand in their way.

I can think of several prominent Tories of the 1940s who were quite implacably opposed to Mosely and Fascism in general. And you seem to have forgotten which party he represented in his final stint in parliament.

 

[Toffee in Jandals]

There was a British brigade in the SS. And we shouldn't forget that closer to home it was only the British Communist Party, Labour Party and Independent Labour Party mobilising on the streets that smashed the native nazi thug movement, the British Union of Fascists, otherwise there could have been death camps set up here.

No Tory or businessmen were going to stand in their way.

The “British Free Corps”, recruited from POW camps to fight for the SS, ultimately only numbered around 50 members, hardly brigade-strength.

They also only fought at the front (Eastern front) in the last two months of the war, fought badly by all accounts, and most members either deserted, or surrendered to American forces.

 

[Harryflashman]

There was a British brigade in the SS. And we shouldn't forget that closer to home it was only the British Communist Party, Labour Party and Independent Labour Party mobilising on the streets that smashed the native nazi thug movement, the British Union of Fascists, otherwise there could have been death camps set up here.

No Tory or businessmen were going to stand in their way.

i think that’s a tad disingenuous to be honest , you’re talking a minimum of 3000 and up to significantly more in a brigade and the British friekorps in the SS never had more than 20 odd at any one time and overall I think only or 50 or 60 served . A lot of nations had people serving with them and I think ours was one of the worst staffed .

 

[Harryflashman]

The “British Free Corps”, recruited from POW camps to fight for the SS, ultimately only numbered around 50 members, hardly brigade-strength.

They also only fought at the front (Eastern front) in the last two months of the war, fought badly by all accounts, and most members either deserted, or surrendered to American forces.

beat me to it

 

[davek]

The “British Free Corps”, recruited from POW camps to fight for the SS, ultimately only numbered around 50 members, hardly brigade-strength.

They also only fought at the front (Eastern front) in the last two months of the war, fought badly by all accounts, and most members either deserted, or surrendered to American forces.

I think the numbers are massaged down to avoid embarrasment. The Nazi's also recruited for Irish prisoners of war too.

 

[davek]

i think that’s a tad disingenuous to be honest , you’re talking a minimum of 3000 and up to significantly more in a brigade and the British friekorps in the SS never had more than 20 odd at any one time and overall I think only or 50 or 60 served . A lot of nations had people serving with them and I think ours was one of the worst staffed .

Well, the terminolgy I used might be poor, and the numbers debateable, but the principle stands: Britons were involved with a death machine like the SS and they had many symapthisers amongst the BUF...who were only stopped in their tracks by the might of the organised street level left.

 

[Disgruntledgoat]

I think the numbers are massaged down to avoid embarrasment. The Nazi's also recruited for Irish prisoners of war too.

The Irish were neutral. There were no Irish POWs.

And you think, or you have evidence?

 

[Toffee in Jandals]

I think the numbers are massaged down to avoid embarrasment. The Nazi's also recruited for Irish prisoners of war too.

Incorrect Dave. When you consider the large numbers of British POW’s in Germany during the war, and in spite of Nazi attempts the tiny numbers of turncoats they got to their cause, it really is a credit to British and Commonwealth servicemen. There were far, far greater numbers of French, Belgian, Dutch and Scandinavian service personnel in “foreign” SS units.

 

[Harryflashman]

Well, the terminolgy I used might be poor, and the numbers debateable, but the principle stands: Britons were involved with a death machine like the SS and they had many symapthisers amongst the BUF...who were only stopped in their treacks by the might of the organised street level left.

nah they’re not debatable mate the Germans were scrupulous on their records . The legion of st George , that became the free Korps had 54 men and never more than 27 serving .

belgium 40,000
France 20,000
India 4,500
Denmark 6,000


and that’s just a start there were deffo loads more we pretty much had less than anyone , there were a couple of hundred thousand from the Soviet Union as well but they had about 7 regiments .

 

[Harryflashman]

I think the numbers are massaged down to avoid embarrasment. The Nazi's also recruited for Irish prisoners of war too.

2 Irish men I think

 

[davek]

The Irish were neutral. There were no Irish POWs.

And you think, or you have evidence?

Ha Ha Ha.

FFS.

The Irish serving with British forces.

During the Second World War, two young Irishmen served in the armed forces of Nazi Germany, swearing the oath of the Waffen-SS and wearing the organisation's uniform and even its distinctive blood group tattoo.Ironically these young men had originally joined an Irish regiment of the British army, and but for a twist of fate would have ended up fighting against the Germans. Instead, the pair were recruited to the German special forces after they were captured on the island of Jersey.Under the command of Otto Skorzeny, the man who rescued Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from a mountain top prison, they were involved in some of the most ferocious fighting of the war in the last days of the Third Reich.This account, which also covers some of the other Irishmen who sided with Nazi Germany, draws heavily on their own accounts and on state papers which have been released in recent years.

 

[Harryflashman]

Ha Ha Ha.

FFS.

The Irish serving with British forces.

During the Second World War, two young Irishmen served in the armed forces of Nazi Germany, swearing the oath of the Waffen-SS and wearing the organisation's uniform and even its distinctive blood group tattoo.Ironically these young men had originally joined an Irish regiment of the British army, and but for a twist of fate would have ended up fighting against the Germans. Instead, the pair were recruited to the German special forces after they were captured on the island of Jersey.Under the command of Otto Skorzeny, the man who rescued Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from a mountain top prison, they were involved in some of the most ferocious fighting of the war in the last days of the Third Reich.This account, which also covers some of the other Irishmen who sided with Nazi Germany, draws heavily on their own accounts and on state papers which have been released in recent years.

Is I said above mate , two

 

[davek]

Incorrect Dave. When you consider the large numbers of British POW’s in Germany during the war, and in spite of Nazi attempts the tiny numbers of turncoats they got to their cause, it really is a credit to British and Commonwealth servicemen. There were far, far greater numbers of French, Belgian, Dutch and Scandinavian service personnel in “foreign” SS units.

nah they’re not debatable mate the Germans were scrupulous on their records . The legion of st George , that became the free Korps had 54 men and never more than 27 serving .

belgium 40,000
France 20,000
India 4,500
Denmark 6,000


and that’s just a start there were deffo loads more we pretty much had less than anyone , there were a couple of hundred thousand from the Soviet Union as well but they had about 7 regiments .

I think you're getting hung up on the numbers - a case of 'never mind the quality, feel the width'.

Whether there were a battalion, a brigade, or a small corp - there were British people serving in that organisation.

The overarching point is sustained: they were there, and their comrades back in England werr only crushed by left wing mobilisation on the streets.

 

[Disgruntledgoat]

Well, the terminolgy I used might be poor, and the numbers debateable, but the principle stands: Britons were involved with a death machine like the SS and they had many symapthisers amongst the BUF...who were only stopped in their tracks by the might of the organised street level left.

The idea that the BUF were a government in waiting is absolutely laughable too. The British public's reaction to authoritarianism has always been scorn and derision. In truth, Mosely's power base was in the same working class London wards as blocked his march in 1936.

The Conservative government moved in 1937 to prohibit organising, training or equipping an "association of persons ... for the purpose of enabling them to be employed in usurping the functions of the police or of the armed forces of the Crown", or "for the use or display of physical force in promoting any political object". His major political win was having 3 councilors elected in London and drawing 10,000 people in a city of 3 million to a rally. More people watched Arsenal at home on the same day. Any attempts to put up candidates outside of London were met with indifference or scorn.

 

[davek]

Is I said above mate , two

There were more than those two. I've read extensive extracts of that book. They recruited more than two but they didn't see active service.