Service in The Waffen-SS
400 of the volunteers had previous military experience from the Winter War, and they were assigned directly to the Wiking division. They are known in Finnish literature as the "division's men", and were assigned to both the Nordland and Westland regiments, as well as to divisional units.
The main body of the recruits, some 800 men, were sent to Bad Tölz for training, and formed the Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the SS. The Finnish volunteers made up the rank and file of the battalion, and the officers and NCOs were German.
Most of the Finnish officers were sent to the division as part of the "division's men", and since the planned Finnish SS regiment never came about, many of them were returned to Finland before their two years of service were done.
Read more about this topic: Finnish Volunteer Battalion Of The Waffen-SS
Famous quotes containing the words service in the and/or service:
“Mr. Speaker, at a time when the nation is again confronted with necessity for calling its young men into service in the interests of National Security, I cannot see the wisdom of denying our young women the opportunity to serve their country.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“In public buildings set aside for the care and maintenance of the goods of the middle ages, a staff of civil service art attendants praise all the dead, irrelevant scribblings and scrawlings that, at best, have only historical interest for idiots and layabouts.”
—George Grosz (1893–1959)