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Old 30-05-2011, 20:02   #29
DaveinGermany
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Re: East Lancs War Weekend

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gremlin View Post
What amused me though was that two of the SS chaps were coloured lads.
Not totally beyond the realms of imagination. In the early years as Germany invaded many countries some of the locals sympathised with the Germans & were encouraged to join "Frei Korps" similar to the modern day Foreign legion. Mainly as an arm of SS Batallions but some Wehrmacht units made use of the volunteers, the entry levels & standards weren't as idealistic as was originally set out for German SS troops, but the attrition meant replacements were required.

As the original comment was about coloured troops. I'd just like to point out the Germans raised the DAL (Deutsche Arab Lehrabteilung) in North Africa with volunteers from Iraq, Palestine, Syria & North Africa, amongst these would certainly have been "Black Troops". Added to that there was also an Indian SS Legion. I suppose if further time was given over to searching many such anomalies can be found regarding the perceived views of Nazi Germany & their use of non Aryan peoples to fuel their war machine.

German Militaria Blog: The Waffen-SS Indian Legion

http://www.histomil.com/viewtopic.php?f=212&t=1498
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