More than any of the other foreign volunteer units which enlisted in Adolf Hitler's crusade against Bolshevism, the Walloon Legion and its successor units are identified with one man.

He was Leon Degrelle, born 1906 into a family which a Belgian bishop once maliciously described as producing Jesuits from father to son. A historical romantic who dreamed of reestablishing the ancient kingdom of Burgundy (the Burgundy Cross was the Legion's basic symbol); a devout Roman Catholic; a monarchist; an idealist; a racist; a social revolutionary; and a despiser of democracy, capitalism, and plutocracy; Degrelle was the moving force behind fascism among the French-speaking or Walloon half of the Belgian people.

He created the Rexist movement -- (Christus-Rex; Christ the King) to purge Belgium of the corrupt and cynical politicians of the day, but except for one brief blip in 1936 was unsuccessful at the ballot box.

In 1941, Rex became the vehicle for enlisting volunteers for the war in Russia. For those who survived, there were job guarantees in Belgium or, if preferred, settlement in the east. At first the recruiting ages were 18 to 36, but in early 1942 they became 16 to 45.

While Degrelleel mouthed -- and believed -- the usual fascist rhetoric about saving Christian Europe from atheistic Asiatic Communism, on a deeper level he really saw the creation of the 'Legion Wallonie' as a blood sacrifice to gain Hitler's respectful attention.

"We had above all given this gift of our youth in order to guarantee the future of our nation ... a right acquired ... by the blood of thousands of Belgian volunteers. Our moral claim on the German Reich was unique in Europe, far superior to that of any other occupied country," Degrelle wrote in his memoirs.

Amazingly, Degrelle not only physically survived (though five times wounded) more than three years of East Front war, but he never lost his admiration for National Socialism asan ideology. Enlisting as a private, he rose to command the Walloon contingent. Militarily, he appears to have been brave, skillful, and, above all, devoid of fear. He was the only non-German to win the Oak Leaves on the Iron Cross. Hitler told him: "if I had a son, I would wish him to be like you."

There is little doubt he was the spiritual motor for the Walloon volunteers, regardless of who actually commanded.

First Volunteers

The first volunteers left Brussels 8 August 1941 for training in Poland. By autumn the Legion, 850 strong (three survived the war; one was Degrelle) under command of Pauly and officially designated the German 373 Infantry Battalion, moved east to join Army Group South. Unlike the Dutch-speaking Belgians called Flemings, the Walloons were not considered racially pure enough to serve as SS.

The army command saw the Walloons as a propaganda tool rather than soldiers, and distrusted their abilities. It initially used the legion in anti-partisan operations near the Dnepr (its first action was November 2, 1941).

Later, as the winter crisis deepened, the legion moved east to the Donets basin and entered the line technically attached to the 100th Light Infantry Division, but in practice on its own.

On 17 February, 1942, the Legion occupied Gromavaya-Balka, a village in a depression where it fought a two-week defensive battle against attacking Soviet forces which reduced its strength to one officer and 200 men out of 600 initially present--but it collected 33 Iron Crosses, which made Degrelle happy. The Germans were noticing the Walloons.

Moved into reserve and attached to the 68th Infantry Division, the Legion saw Pauly replaced in command by Lucien Lippert in May, the same month Degrelle made officer. After seeing minor action in the Kharkov spring offensive, the Legion was completely rebuilt in June 1942.

Attached to the 97 Light Infantry Division, it made the long march to the Caucasus and saw severe fighting on the approaches to Tuapse. When the unit was withdrawn in December only 187 men were left.

Into the SS

Heinrich Himmler was now interested, and in June 1943 the Legion was incorporated into the Armed SS, its racial origins forgotten, as SS Storm Brigade Wallonia (La Brigade d'Assault Wallonie) with 2,000 men and 354 vehicles, including a tank company.

In November 1943, it detrained in what would later be known as the Korsun Pocket, where it was attached to 5th SS Division Wiking. The last Axis unit to leave the banks of the Dnepr, the brigade was decimated as a fighting unit in the Korsun cauldron in February 1944. Degrelle, who assumed command in the pocket when Lippert was killed, says 682 men escaped (plus some earlier wounded).

The Soviets claim almost no one escaped, and a Soviet officer present at Korsun later said Degrelle fled by air. He added that the "Belgian SS were all thugs and adventurers of the worst kind."

Reorganized again, the brigade was raised to a strength of 3,000--as Soviet victory loomed closer more western Europeans volunteered to fight on the East Front, either out of anti-Soviet idealism or because as collaborators they had no future in their home countries anyway.

In August 1944, part of the brigade (450 men) was with Army Group North fighting to hold Estonia. In the battle for Tartu it suffered 96 per cent casualties.

Walloon Division

In October 1944, the brigade was nominally created a division (28th SS PzG) with Degrelle as commanding officer. In December, part of it served as non-combat occupation forces in areas taken by the Germans in the Bulge offensive. In January 1945 the "division" moved east to Pomerania, in February fighting at Stargard, in March at Stettin, in April on the west bank of the Oder. About 700 survived, part escaping to the west to give themselves up to the Western allies, part captured by the Russians. Degrelle escaped to Spain via Norway.

In all, according to Degrelle, 6,000 men passed through Legion Wallonie, of whom 2,500 were killed and as many again wounded. (Keegan in Asphalt Soldiers says 20,000 Walloons served in the SS). Many of the survivors were sent to prison by the Belgians.

Bibliography

Varieties of Fascism, by Eugen Weber (van Nostrand, 1964)
Campaign in Russia, by Leon Degrelle (Crecy Books, 1985)*
The Patriotic Traitors, by David Littlejohn (Doubleday, 1972)
Russia at War, by Alexander Werth (Pan, 1964)
Scorched Earth, by Paul Carell(Ballantine, 1966)
Foreign Volunteers of the Wehrmacht, by CC Jurado (Osprey, 1983), by Martin Windrow (Osprey, 1982)

* a rare bird, this is an unapologetic apologia for enlisting in the dark crusade--Degrelle is still a Hitler fan; light on hard data, and heavy on impressions, it skirts some things but is matter-of-fact about the horrors of war; Degrelle is disdainful of conscript forces except the German, where he is worshipful.