Armenische Legion

Armenische Legion Armenian Legion
Sleeve patch of the legion
Active	4 July 1942 – 8 June 1944
Size	11,600 – 33,000
Engagements	World War II Eastern Front Allied invasion of Normandy
Commanders
Ceremonial chief	Drastamat Kanayan

The Armenische Legion (English: Armenian Legion) was a volunteer military unit of the Germany Army during WWII. It was recruited mostly from Soviet Armenian POWs and was commanded by Drastamat Kanayan. There were a number of other units that Armenians also served in fighting the Red Army on the Eastern Front. According to Joris Versteeg, the total number of Armenians serving in the German armed forces during the war was 18,000: 11,000 were placed in field battalions, while 7,000 were placed in logistic and non-combat units. Other sources, like Joris Versteeg, put the number at 33,000, of these, 14,000 were placed in field battalions, while another 7,000 served in logistical and other non-combat units. Some served in the Bergmann Battalion.

Infantry battalions

• 808th Battalion
• 809th Battalion "Zeytun"
• 810th Battalion
• 812th Battalion
• 812th Engineering Battalion
• 813th Battalion
• 814th Battalion
• 815th Battalion
• 816th Battalion
• I / 125 Battalion
• I / 198 Battalion
• II / 9 Battalion

History (809th Armenian infantry battalion)

In the initial stage of the war on the Eastern front the German Command organized the headquarters of so-called “Eastern Legions”. On Hitler’s order national legions were formed which had to fight against the Red Army for liberating their own oppressed national states on equal terms of the allies of Germany. In 1941 only four legions where formed which were armed organizations of the corresponding national committees in Berlin. In November-December of 1941 on Hitler’s order the following national legions were formed: Turkistan, Caucasian-Mohammedan, Georgian and Armenian. Subsequently new legions were formed and some of them were re-formed. They all submitted to the headquarters of the Eastern legions (Ostlegionen) under general-major Max Ilgen’s command who in 1943 was replaced by Ernest Kostring, general of the cavalry. In spite of the fact that the German ministries were official organizers and creators, the real initiators and guardians were national committees, the members of which were anti-Bolshevik White-immigrants, Dashnaks (Armenians), Musavatists (Azerbaijanis), Mensheviks (Georgians), nationalists or representatives of this or that immigrant organization. National Committees fulfilled the function of “governments in exile”, but in the middle of 1944 they were officially acknowledged as governments, and national legions were renamed into United national liberating units. Special training camps and staffs were organized on the territory of General-Governorship (Poland) for fighting units of national legions. The Armenian national legion had camps and headquarters in the area of the towns of Radom, Pulawa, Demblin but the central forming staff was situated in the region of the town of Pulawa, Lyublin region, on the bank of the river Visla. National immigrant leaders from the Caucasus in the rank of the German service-men were sent to the camps of the Red Army prisoners of war, they gathered the representatives of their nationalities, carried out explanatory work, trying to save them from the inevitable death, explained to them that Bolsheviks and Stalin’s regime but not Germany were their enemies. Many POW’s (Red Army Armenians) having heard the calls of national heroes such as Garegin Nzhdeh, Dro Kanayan, Hayk Asatryan and others, voluntarily joined the service in the National liberating legion.

It should be mentioned that none of the former legionaries was rehabilitated in the Red Army or had any rights to continue the military service. Some time later they fell into Soviet death camps. By forming national battalions from the people of the Caucasus the German command set out the task of using them in propaganda war against the Soviets without sending them to the front line like ordinary infantry units. In one of the articles about the first (808th) battalion of the Armenian legion of Wehrmacht I tried to reveal real causes of desertion, transition of some legionaries to the side of the Red Army and the causes of final reorganization and disbandment of the battalion, and the lessons which were taken into consideration by the Germans in forming other units. The 809th infantry battalion of the Armenian legion of Wehrmacht in comparison with the other Caucasian formations, was more efficient and of greater endurance; the personnel was brave and faithful to the German command, to their oath of allegiance and ideas of liberating fight against Bolshevism. Officially the second infantry battalion of the Armenian national legion was formed according to the order of the 29th of August 1942 in the camps of Pulawa and Radom. Immigrants recruited more than 700 former red-army soldiers-Armenians, prisoners of war from Demblin, Benjamine, and Riga camps for Radom combined camp from which, afterwards, only 500 men agreed to fight against the “Bolshevik plague” with arms in their hands. All that time the immigrants devoted much time to the prisoners of war in the camp. They told them about the terror in Armenia during the twenties and thirties, about the plans of the German leaders towards “the red” and to create a large independent country under the patronage of the Third Reich. Such ideological training was carried out all the time up to the time of sending the legionaries to the task. The future legionaries from the combined camp were sent to the forming training camp of Pulawa, where national and German commanders and over 300 legionaries recruited from the first battalion and afterwards left for new units, were already waiting for them. Here the legionaries dressed in French and Belgian trophy uniforms were divided into companies, squads and departments started training which at the first stage included physical training and drill, learning German commands and regulations. Some time later the immigrants A. Jamalian and H. Asatrian brought over 300 future legionaries from Dubnin and Lyublin POW camps. At the same time 2 Armenian non-commissioned officers and 2 interpreters were brought to the camp from the school of propagandists to carry out additional work with the future legionaries. As a rule, they were Armenian immigrants from Germany or from other European countries who voluntarily joined the Armenian legion; besides that, former red-army soldiers who had basic knowledge of the German language were chosen as interpreters.

The latter, in their turn, were also sent to different schools to master the language and so on. Moreover, their where other schools and vocational schools where the representatives of the Caucasian nationalities could have training. With the aim of preparing national officers and non-commissional officers the German command formed seven constantly working schools and collages from the former red-army soldiers and immigrants who showed excellent results in fighting. Vocational schools for the commanding complement were opened in the towns of Legionovo (Poland) and Bitsch (Elsaß) and schools for junior commanding complement were opened in the towns of Pulawa (Poland) and Kasters (France). Simultaneously, the German gendarmerie arrested suspected conspirators within the personnel of the 808th infantry battalion and sent the companies of the battalion to the military town in the suburb of Radom for the additional trainings; later the battalion was sent to the Eastern Front. The personnel of the forming second battalion did not avoid arrest, either. In the end by sending the battalion to the front the German command had completely got rid of the “untrustworthy elements”. The National Committee carried out corresponding trainings with the personnel of the battalion on the history of Armenia and on the history of the army. Trainings and discussions about the Genocide of the Armenians in Ottoman Turkey were carried out as well.

Debates about the future of the Armenian nation were carried out too: immigrants and Germans convinced the legionaries that the German leaders knew the history and fate of the Armenian people and that the German leaders counted on the National Committee creating battalions. The legionaries were also told that after the liberation from Bolsheviks their land would be given to the peasants and the country would be come independent and have national leaders. They were “allowed” to return the territories of Western Armenia and perhaps Cilicia which was under the Turkish heel. More than once announced that Great Armenia was advantageous for Germany to pursue its foreign policy in the Near East; that Hitler had done the Armenian soldiers the honor to liberate by themselves their lands from the Bolsheviks and further on from the Turks. At the same time filling the legionaries’ slightest doubt the Germans announced that the Armenians were acknowledged by the German scientists as the ancient Aryan people; that was the main reason for realizing profitable plans by both sides. Besides that, the Germans aloud the legionaries to express themselves freely by creating a friendly atmosphere between them. In its turn the German propaganda spread false information among the legionaries about the success of the German army on the Soviet front and about mass transition of the Armenians to their side in the foothills of the Caucasus; however the latter had a mass character only in August-October 1942.

Further on, legionaries-propagandists from the 809th battalion will effectively carry out propaganda calling the red-army soldiers-Armenians – to pass to their side and together with the liberation army to return home honorably. Besides that for stronger anti-Soviet sentiments, the German spread among the Armenian legionaries the information that “Stalin had decided to exile very many Armenians to Siberia” and that “the Soviets treated the Armenians as the Germans treated the Jews”. The German propagandists also told the Armenian legionaries over and over again about the cruel reprisal with them by the Soviet bodies in case anyone risked deserting and passing to the side of the Red Army. Both the Germans and Armenian propagandists or immigrants threatened them in the initial stage. All this went on until a legionary was absorbed in propaganda and as it was said in one of the editions of the weekly magazine “Hayastan” (“Armenia”), “each legionary regarded his entry into the German army a right and necessary action for the sake of liberation of his own country; he did that for the sake of future, for the sake of freedom”. Besides that, the best legionaries, 15-20 in number, were sent on the excursion to the cities of Germany. There Armenian legionaries were shown architectural monuments, plants, Germans’ everyday life; they were told that such care-free life was in store for them after National-Socialism had been established in Armenia. In the evening the legionaries were taken to the theater, to the banquets where the highest political figures including Göring, Bormann, Goebbels and even Hitler spoke before them. There were cases when groups of legionaries from the 809th battalion were also sent on the excursion. They returned with deep impressions and told other legionaries what they had seen.

One of the most important events was the triumphal meeting of the legionaries with the immigrant leaders and national heroes. The latter made a great impression on them and had left influence on the ordinary soldiers. As a rule they drove in the expensive cars, had a squad or a company of the German guards, and had the rank of general or colonel of the German army. In early October 1942 general Drastamat Kanayan (Dro) arrived at the headquarters of Pulawa. Drastamat Kanayan was one of the founders of the Armenian legion, a national Armenian hero and a respectable person in the Command of Wehrmacht. He didn’t come alone, but with three German generals who in their turn had to speak before the personnel of the 809th Armenian infantry battalion. In the morning of the 8 of October drew up in the square of the town of Pulawa. First the German flag of the armed forces was raised on the flagstaff and then the three-color flag of the Armenian Republic of 1918-1920 was raised on the other flagstaff. At that moment one of the generals handed over the battalion banner to the aide-de-camp of the Commander H. Becker’s battalion. Hermann Becker was a Baltic German and spoke good Russian. He was a senior-lieutenant of the German army and 1942 got the rank of the captain and was appointed commander of the forming Armenian battalion.

After the order - “Attention!” the solders raised the point and middle fingers of the right hand to the eyebrow. Then they read the text of the oath of enlistment first in the German and than in the Armenian languages. The text was as follows: “I swear before God and Adolph Hitler to be devoted to the German country and Armenian land and to fight to the last for the cause of National-Socialism against Bolsheviks and Imperialists”. After that from the central platform rose Dro Kanayan and spoke about the importance of struggle against Bolshevism. In particular he especially pointed out the birth of new Armenia whose authors were the legionaries themselves. He announced that Germany and not the USSR was the ally of Armenians. The next was the German general – an official from the Ministry of Occupied Eastern Territories. He said that general Dro asked to keep them from bloody collisions with the Red Army, and those who wouldn’t like to fight would be sent to the rear and would join the national auxiliary units. And then Dro asked if there was anyone among the present who didn’t want to go to the front with the arm in hands and with the battalion banner to enter Yerevan together with him. The words of devotion came from the rows: nobody refused. A few minutes later Dro thanked “the real sons of the Armenian people” and expressed hope to meet them soon in Yerevan.

During two months the soldiers passed drills, mountain-preparatory, shooting, tactical preparations, learned German commands, regulations of the German army and the parts of the German and Russian weapons. First of all the main attention was paid to training shooting and offensive activities. According to the reminiscences of some German officers from the Stuff Armenian legionaries always began the attack with the cry “Hurray”, which caused bewilderment and panic in the ranks of the Soviet units. However, on the eve of sending legionaries to the front they were dressed in the old German uniform of 1933-34 pattern, some were even dressed in the uniform of the soldiers of the Red Army, they got horned helmets of the time of the World War I. The weapon was mixed – of the Soviet and German model. According to the German officers – witnesses of mass transition of some legionaries to the side of the Red Army or partisans, the legionaries had first of all to deserve the modern German uniform with the eagle embroided on the top of the right pocket – the symbol of the Aryan superiority. However, as far as the 809th Armenian battalion concerns, its solders showed steadiness, devotion and courage at the fronts. At the end of September 1942 the battalion consisted of 913 Armenians and 45 Germans. [...]

From the 29th of November to the 20th of December 1943 the 809th Armenian infantry battalion “Zeytun” organized additional trainings on the training ground in Sissone after which on the 8th of January 1944 it was sent to South Beverland (The Netherlands) and it occupied the defensive line in the area of the towns of Middelurg and Goes, where the headquarters of the battalion had settled down. The stuff was situated 4 km from the town of Borselle. One company was sent to North Beverland. Beverland is a part of the Netherlands and looks like a peninsula, surrounded by bays of the North Sea. Soon the battalion was re-informed and entered the complement of the 128th Grenadier-regiment of the 48th infantry division and became the 3rd battalion of the regiment named III (Armen.Inf.Btl. 809)/Gren.Rgt.128. Judging by documents the battalion entered the different regiments and divisions several times from February to March. In January a part of the battalion was re-formed and participated in the construction of defensive structures of Beverland peninsula. According to some dater the Germans included the 3rd Armenian construction company of the 148th constructional-engineer battalion into the battalion “Zeytun”. This battalion operated in the Netherlands till August 1944 when it was again re-formed into the rifle unit and sent to Normandy in the complement of the 48th infantry division. The Armenian battalion dislocated 100 km from Paris and had restrained the British troops’ onset for three days. But some days later the offensive began on the wide front. After violent battles a considerable part of the battalion was destroyed by the Allied troops. About 100 men were taken prisoners and only a small part was able to retreat with the German army. All the legionaries from the American occupation zone were handed over by the Americans to the representatives of SMERSH and NKVD. A small part of the battalion “Zeytun” returned home in 1945 but three years later all of them were convicted and got different terms. From some archival sources of National Security of the Republic of Armenia the survived legionaries of the 809th Armenian battalion “Zeytun” were exiled to Vorkuta camp of special regime for 20-25 years. Only a small number could withstand cold, famine and torture and return to Armenia.

See also

• Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts

External links

• Great Armenian Legion of Wehrmacht and SS