"There are countless horrible things happening all over the world and horrible people prospering, but we must never allow them to disturb our equanimity or deflect us from our sacred duty to sabotage and annoy them whenever possible." -Auberon Waugh
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
Mark Felton pokes around in another obscure corner of WWII...
...and finds volunteers from a Waffen-SS unit fighting for the French in post-war Vietnam.
John Ringo or Tom Kratman, in one of the Posleen War novels, Watch on the Rhine, mentions that post-war, you had to be able to speak German to be in the Foreign Legion. Made sense to me. The French are the most positional-ethics people you'll meet.
Ringo and Kratman c-authored that novel, Die Wach am Rhine (The Watch On The Rhine),
The novel had former Waffen SS soldiers actively recruited into the Foreign Legion, and sent to Indochina. Being science fiction, that timeline doesn't match up with history, but it was a good read.
Germans, in general, did not fare well immediately following the end of WWII; those living outside of Germany had to refugee back to the Vaterland, and not all of them made it home.
And the French were more blunt to their collaborators and traitors, especially amongst the population.
So it's not surprising that the French treated their prisoners like garbage. But I am surprised to hear that some of them were allowed back into France as free citizens.
Or perhaps I shouldn't be, considering that a fair number of Nazis were set free after WWII, even those guilty of war crimes.
John Ringo or Tom Kratman, in one of the Posleen War novels, Watch on the Rhine, mentions that post-war, you had to be able to speak German to be in the Foreign Legion.
ReplyDeleteMade sense to me. The French are the most positional-ethics people you'll meet.
I've read a couple of books on the history of the French Foreign Legion, and Germans, for some reason, have always been significantly represented.
DeleteRingo and Kratman c-authored that novel, Die Wach am Rhine (The Watch On The Rhine),
DeleteThe novel had former Waffen SS soldiers actively recruited into the Foreign Legion, and sent to Indochina. Being science fiction, that timeline doesn't match up with history, but it was a good read.
Germans, in general, did not fare well immediately following the end of WWII; those living outside of Germany had to refugee back to the Vaterland, and not all of them made it home.
ReplyDeleteAnd the French were more blunt to their collaborators and traitors, especially amongst the population.
So it's not surprising that the French treated their prisoners like garbage. But I am surprised to hear that some of them were allowed back into France as free citizens.
Or perhaps I shouldn't be, considering that a fair number of Nazis were set free after WWII, even those guilty of war crimes.
It's been an open secret that many former Wehrmacht and even SS soldiers joined the FFL after the war.
ReplyDelete