Finns of 1.Kp./Finnisches Frw.Bn.d.W-SS at Gross Born Truppenlager, 1941
Finnish Volunteer Battalion Cuff title, never offically issued
The story of Finnish volunteers in the service of the Third Reich began with a series of behind the scenes diplomatic negotiations between Germany and Finland at the post-March 1940 negotiated end of her "Winter War" with the Soviet Union. Because of their well proven fighting qualities, Reichsfuhrer-SS Himmler expressed interest in having a Finnish contingent become a part of his growing Waffen-SS. While the Finns were open to such a suggestion, both parties were quite aware that any open recruitment into Germany's armed forces of Finnish soldiers and citizens would certainly be interpreted as a belligerent provocation by the Soviets. Subsequently, every effort was made to disguise the enrollment of active-duty Finnish soldiers and other volunteers into the ranks of the Waffen-SS. There was also a stipulation made in a secret protocal by the Finnish government that no Finnish volunteers in the service of Germany would fight against Great Britain or Greece (this reflects the time-frame of the contract signing - Spring 1941, when the German incursion into the Balkans made these two governments the only active combatants against Germany); or any other nation, "except the Soviet Union." Clearly, the Finns wanted to respect the differences that western governments, (who had been generously forthcoming with critical military and logistical aid during the winter-war), had with Germany; but at the same time, wanted to align a major continental power in their corner against the threat of further Soviet hostilities. In this sense, the Finns decision to pursue a pro-Axis stance in the early months of 1941, well before the onset of an actual German-Russo conflict would reflect both self-interest, and an astute strategic grasp of their current geo-political situation.
In February, 1941, Himmler's Waffen-SS recruitment chief, Gottlob Berger, worked with the "Auslands-Amt" of the German Embassy in Helsinki to receive the first complement of 1000 Finnish volunteers into German service. These conscripts were publicly announced as "workers for German Industry" to avoid international complications. Because of minor differences, such as the Finnish objection to take the Waffen-SS oath to the Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler - the bulk of the initial contingent of 125 Officers, 109 NCO's,and 850 other ranks of Finnish soldiers were held up, and wouldn't reach German soil until June 5, 1941. Five batches of Finns were sent to Germany between May and June, 1941. The first three batches of men were those with previous military training experiance, and they were direcetly incorporated into the 5.SS Wiking Division (mot) already on the Eastern Front for the initial stages of the invasion of the Soviet Union on June, 22nd, 1941. The remaining 2 batches of Finnish recruits were those without previous military training and they were sent to Wien outside of Vienna to form the basis of the new Finnish Battalion. Fresh drafts of volunteers from Finland joined those at Wien to train as Waffen-SS combat infantrymen. This first contingent of Finns were organized as the SS-Freiwilligen Bataillon Nordost, but the unit was later renamed in September of 1941, to the Finnisches Freiwilligen Bataillon der Waffen-SS. The Finns liked to refer to themselves as the "Jagerbataillon" (light infantry battalion) in commemoration of the Finnish 27.Jagerbataillon that served with the Kaiser's forces on the Eastern front during the Great War.
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