![\"WW2\"](\"https:\/\/hcsblogdotorg.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/05\/ww2.jpg?w=620\")
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\u201cHundreds of thousands of foreign troops flocked to Nazi Germany to fight in World War Two. Known as <\/em>Freiwillige or \u201cvolunteers,\u201d they came from a surprisingly diverse array of nations.\u201d<\/em><\/h3>\nIT WAS IN<\/strong>\u00a0the bombed-out ruins of the Berlin, just a few hundred meters from Hitler\u2019s notorious F\u00fchrerbunker<\/em><\/a>, that the dying Third Reich decorated one of its last (and most unlikely ) heroes.<\/p>\nOn April 29, 1945, a SS general by the name of\u00a0Wilhelm Mohnke<\/a> took advantage a lull in the savage street-to-street fighting to award a Knight\u2019s Cross<\/a> to the commander of one particularly stubborn band of soldiers.<\/p>\nHenri Joseph Fenet<\/a>, a 25-year-old veteran of the Eastern Front, had won the prestigious commendation\u00a0for his unit\u2019s destruction of more than 50 Soviet tanks over the preceding five days. Facing certain defeat, Fenet and his comrades were determined to fight to the death rather than surrender. That\u2019s because their unit, the 1st<\/sup> Battalion of the 33rd Waffen Grenadiers<\/a>,\u00a0was part of the \u00a0SS Charlemagne Division<\/a>, a unit comprised almost entirely pro-Nazi Frenchmen. Each member of the brigade had been branded a traitor by the Allies \u2014 each expected\u00a0to be shot if captured.<\/p>\nThe Charlemagne Division, which was formed in 1943 by fascist paramilitaries and collaborators from across France, boasted 7,000-soldiers at its peak; now less than 400 men remained. Ironically, turncoats like these would put up some of the stiffest resistance in the war\u2019s final hours. The few French volunteers that did survive the conflict\u2019s\u00a0final inferno were captured by the Soviets and turned over to their countrymen\u00a0for judgement;\u00a0many\u00a0were executed outright. Surprisingly, Fenet escaped a firing squad but was tried in 1949 and sentenced to 20 years hard labour. He earned his freedom in 1959 and became a small businessman. He died in Paris in 2002 at the age of 83.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, hundreds of thousands of foreign troops flocked to Germany to fight\u00a0under the Swastika in World War Two. Most\u00a0were ardent nationalists who looked to the Nazis to liberate their homelands from the communists or Western imperialists. Others were motivated by racial hatreds. Some\u00a0were simply\u00a0enemy POWs who chose to enlist\u00a0rather than spend the war in prison camps. Known as Freiwillige<\/a> <\/em>or \u201cvolunteers,\u201d they came from a surprisingly diverse array of nations.\u00a0Here are SOME examples:<\/p>\n
On April 29, 1945, a SS general by the name of\u00a0Wilhelm Mohnke<\/a> took advantage a lull in the savage street-to-street fighting to award a Knight\u2019s Cross<\/a> to the commander of one particularly stubborn band of soldiers.<\/p>\n Henri Joseph Fenet<\/a>, a 25-year-old veteran of the Eastern Front, had won the prestigious commendation\u00a0for his unit\u2019s destruction of more than 50 Soviet tanks over the preceding five days. Facing certain defeat, Fenet and his comrades were determined to fight to the death rather than surrender. That\u2019s because their unit, the 1st<\/sup> Battalion of the 33rd Waffen Grenadiers<\/a>,\u00a0was part of the \u00a0SS Charlemagne Division<\/a>, a unit comprised almost entirely pro-Nazi Frenchmen. Each member of the brigade had been branded a traitor by the Allies \u2014 each expected\u00a0to be shot if captured.<\/p>\n The Charlemagne Division, which was formed in 1943 by fascist paramilitaries and collaborators from across France, boasted 7,000-soldiers at its peak; now less than 400 men remained. Ironically, turncoats like these would put up some of the stiffest resistance in the war\u2019s final hours. The few French volunteers that did survive the conflict\u2019s\u00a0final inferno were captured by the Soviets and turned over to their countrymen\u00a0for judgement;\u00a0many\u00a0were executed outright. Surprisingly, Fenet escaped a firing squad but was tried in 1949 and sentenced to 20 years hard labour. He earned his freedom in 1959 and became a small businessman. He died in Paris in 2002 at the age of 83.<\/p>\n Interestingly, hundreds of thousands of foreign troops flocked to Germany to fight\u00a0under the Swastika in World War Two. Most\u00a0were ardent nationalists who looked to the Nazis to liberate their homelands from the communists or Western imperialists. Others were motivated by racial hatreds. Some\u00a0were simply\u00a0enemy POWs who chose to enlist\u00a0rather than spend the war in prison camps. Known as Freiwillige<\/a> <\/em>or \u201cvolunteers,\u201d they came from a surprisingly diverse array of nations.\u00a0Here are SOME examples:<\/p>\n