LEGION WALLONIE - 5. STURMBRIGADE WALLONIEN -

28.SS-Frw.Gr.Div.WALLONIEN

by

eddy de bruyne

A. The Légion Wallonie ( August 1941 - May 1943 )

Belgium was going to raise two such legions on ethnic grounds : one Flemish, the Waffen-SS controlled Vlaams Legioen ; the other being the Wehrmacht tutored Légion Wallonie.

A special section within the Brussels Militärverwaltung, the Kommandostab Z under Hptm Baumann, was going to act as an intermediary agency between Fernand Rouleau, Degrelle's ambitious deputy and head of the Formations de Combat ( militia of the Rexist Movement ). Taking advantage of Degrelle's departure for Paris ( where he was to have talks with with ambassador Otto Abetz ) Rouleau started negociations on his own with a view to raising a Corps Franc Wallonie to be sent on the Eastern Front under his command.

Following order n° 3680/41 of the gKdos the Walloon volunteers had to be grouped into the Wall(onische) Inf. Btl. 373 ( Feldp. Nr 38918 ) and sent to Regenwumlager training camp at Meseritz, near the Polish border. Simultaneously the legion was allotted the replacement battalion identity Ers.Btl.36, whereas the Ers.Btl 477, under major Bode, was put in charge of the military and techncial training.

On August 8^th 1941 eight hundred sixty Walloon volunteers embarked at the Brussels Gare du Nord railroad station. Among the legionairs eye-catching volunteer number 237 : Léon Degrelle, acting as political leader.

Although Degrelle's main goal had been to remain in Belgium where he hoped to play a major political role, Rouleau's manoeuvring had left him no other choice but volunteer too lest his deputy should take over command and derive personal prestige and benefit from the operation. Whether he liked it or not Degrelle announced his departure for the front during a Rex meeting at Liège on July 20^th, 1941.

from July 8^th 1941 on,

• Corps Franc Wallonie used at the very beginning of the recruitment campaign as a reference to the post-WWI Free Corps operating in the Baltic countries.

• Légion Belge Wallonie used for a very short time in a vain attempt to impose a sole Belgian legion advocating a unitarian belgicist spirit as opposed to the Flemish separatist aspirations.

• Légion Wallonie, which is the final appellation.

Dates :

• August 12^th 1941 : arrival at Meseritz.

• August 25^th 1941 : oath of allegiance to Hitler as Chief of the armies.

Strength :

• 19 officers + 850 legionairs ( including three members of the Belgian nobility and a handful White Russians, veterans of the Wrangel armies ).

- Note that apart from the professional soldiers Lucien Lippert, Adolphe Renier, René Dupré and R. de M…., all cadre officers belonged to the Reserve Corps of the Belgian army, most of them being WWI veterans.

- Also note that unlike other foreign volunteers Walloon officers kept the rank they held in the Belgian army when joining the Wehrmacht ( and later on the Waffen-SS ).

Mission :

It was understood that the Legion was to be employed as a light infantry unit, after having undergone a few weeks of military training. Besides it was clearly laid down that the Walloon unit would have no front-line duties and would only be engaged in mob-up operations behind the main front-lines.

Since the German armies were victorious on all fronts at that time, Degrelle promised his men would be back before Christmas. At the same time he secretly endeavoured to join the front as soon as possible for fear he would arrive too late, after the collapse of the Russian armies when …everything would be over without having drawn the attention of the Germans…

The Légion Wallonie was articulated as follows :

Staff : 1Lt Lucien Lippert ( ° 1913 /+ 13.02.1944, Novo-Buda -Tcherkassy ).

Health Service : 1Lt Dr Pierre Jacquemin.

Roman catholic chaplain : Georges Sales, from the abbey of Clervaux.

German liaison officer : Lt Leppin.

Commanding frontline officers ( period November - December 1941 ) :

1 Company : Capt-Cdt Albert Van Damme ( August 41 - January 42 ).

2 Company : Capt. Willy Heyvaert ( August 41 - January 42 ).

3 Company: Capt. Georges Tchekhoff, former naval officer of the Czar's                          imperial marine and future Kdr of the Légion Wallonie in March                         1942.

4 Company : Capt. René Duprés ( + Grischino 1.12.1941 ).

As Léon Degrelle had no military experience ( as eldest son of a large family he had not been drafted like any other young Belgian ) he was refused the rank of Lieutenant when he in vain expressed the idea an officer's rank would suit his political status better. The German verdict stood no appeal : lack of military and technical knowledge, it said.…

Waiting for better times ( which weren't long to come ) Léon Degrelle served as a Schütze in the 1^st group of the 1^st platoon, of the 1^st Company. Degrelle's platoon commander was Oberfeldwebel ( and high-ranking officer of the Formations de Combat ) Jules Mathieu. The latter was to become Sturmbannführer and Kommandeur of the 69Rgt in October 1944.

( to be continued )

© text by Dddy De Bruyne / [email protected]

 Sources

• Kenneth William Estes, A European annabasis : Western European volunteers in the German Army and SS, 1940 -1945. University of Maryland, 1987.

• Egon Aloïs Berteto, Military Collaboration in the Germanic countries 1940-45. University of California, Los Angelos, 1966.

• Edgar E. Knöbel, Racial illusion and Military Necessity : A study of SS political and Manpower Objectives in Occupied Belgium. Univ. Colorado, 1965.

• Berndt Wegner, Hitler's Politische Soldaten - Die Waffen-SS 1933 - 1945. F. Schöningh /Paderbron, 1982.

• Martin Conway, Collaboration in Belgium - Léon Degrelle and the Rexist Movement. Yale University Press, 1993.

• Hans Werner Neulen, Europas Verratene Söhne - Die Tragödie der Freiwilligen im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Bastei-Lübbe-Taschenbuch, 1980.

• Eddy De Bruyne, Les campagnes de la Légion Wallonie, de la 5° Brigade d'Assaut Walllonie et de la 28° Division Wallonie.600 p. 1986. Unpublished.

• Eddy De Bruyne, Un aspect de la collaboration militaire dans la Belgique francophone, - Le recrutement d'éléments étrangers au sein de la Légion Wallonie. 1985, Unpublished.

• Eddy De Bruyne, Les Wallons meurent à l'Est - Degrelle et les légionnaires wallons au front russe 1941 - 1945. Didier Hatier, 1991. Out of print.

• Eddy De Bruyne, Francophone Collaboration in Occupied Belgium WWII, to be published.

• Personal memoirs of : Georges Tchekhoff, Jules Mathieu and Franz Hellebaut ( Operations officer of the 28.SS-Frw.Gr.Div. Wallonien ) ; - Archives of the author.