Armenische Legion

Background

The short-lived First Republic of Armenia established in 1918 by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF, Dashnaks) was conquered by the Russian Bolsheviks in 1920, and ceased to exist. During World War II, some of the Dashnaks tried to counter Turkish propaganda which falsely portrayed Armenians as a Semitic people close to the Jews to ensure their genocidal destruction should Soviet Armenia fall under Nazi rule. To fight Turkey's anti-Armenian politicking, the Dashnaks entered into negotiations with Berlin, and reluctantly agreed to participate in the formation of the legion. The majority of the soldiers in the legion were former Soviet Red Army prisoners of war, who had opted to fight for German forces rather than face the genocidal conditions of the Nazi POW camps. Some Berlin-based representatives of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, though repudiated by the official party organs, made an agreement with the Nazis in 1942 to support the Germans against the Soviet Union.

On December 30, 1941 they formed a battalion of 8,000-strong known as the "812th Armenian Battalion of Wehrmacht" under the command of Drastamat Kanayan (Dro). A number of Armenian veterans who had escaped to the US after World War I came back to Europe to head it. General Drastamat "Dro" Kanayan, former Defense Minister of the First Republic of Armenia, led the legion, and fought on the Eastern front. French genocide scholar Yves Ternon, who has studied the battalion, suggested that while there were no "substantial" fascistic inclinations among the Armenians in general, Kanayan was an exception; Ternon characterized "Dro" as possessive of substantial "fascist deviation."

Size

According to Joris Versteeg, the total number of Armenians serving in the German armed forces during the war reached 33,000: 14,000 were placed in field battalions, while another 7,000 served in logistical and other non-combat units. Ailsby puts the number at 11,600.

Armenian infantry battalions

808th Battalion

Formed in July 1942 in Poland. Consisted of 916 Armenians and 41 Germans. Participated in the battles in the area of Tuapse. In October 1942, the battalion was disarmed and reformed into road construction.

809th Battalion "Zeytun"

Formed on 29 August 1942 in Poland. Consisted of 913 Armenians and 45 Germans. Part of the 128th Grenadier Regiment, 48th Infantry Division. Commander was Hermann Becker. On 18 November 1942, was sent to join operations in the Caucasus. Participated in the battles in the areas of Nalchik, Mozdok, Kuban and the Battle of the Kerch Peninsula. Later served in the Netherlands, and on 16 October 1943 the battalion arrived in Belgium.

From 29 November to 20 December 1943, the battalion conducted training exercises at the training ground in Sissonne. On 8 January 1944, it was moved to South Beveland and occupied a defensive line for the defense of the Atlantic Wall. The number of all personnel at the beginning of February 1944 the year was 844, consisting of 792 Armenians. The battalion was transferred to Normandy in August 1944, where as a result of the Allied Operation Overlord ceased to exist due to large losses.

810th Battalion

Formed in 1942 in Poland.

812th Engineering Battalion

Began organization on 25 November 1942 and was finally formed on 1 February 1943 in the city of Puławy, Poland. The battalion service in the Polish city of Radom. It was relocated on 10 March 1943 to the Netherlands in order to strengthen the defense capability of the Atlantic Wall and was placed near the town of Bergen op Zoom. The battalion had its own priest and the ability to carrying out religious activities. Strictly in accordance with the Armenian calendar, the battalion observed Christian holidays and baptisms were held.

813th Battalion

Formed in February 1943 in Poland. Served on protecting the Atlantic Wall.

814th Battalion

Formed in the summer of 1943 in Poland.

815th Battalion

Formed in August 1943 in Poland.

816th Battalion

Formed in late 1943 in Poland.

I / 125 Battalion

Formed in February 1943 in Ukraine. Was transferred to the Western Front to defend the south of France, located 30 kilometers north of the city of Marseille, near the town of Aix-en-Provence.

I / 198 Battalion

Formed in September 1942 in the Ukraine. Was transferred to the Western Front to defend the south of France, located on the south-west of Toulon.

II / 9 Battalion

Formed in September 1942 in the Ukraine. Was transferred to the Western Front to defend the south of France, located in the small town of Hyères, in the direction of Saint-Tropez by the coast.

Activities

The legion participated in the occupation of the Crimean Peninsula and the Caucasus.

Several Jewish soldiers serving in the Red Army and captured as POWs were saved by some of the Armenians in the Legion. Josef Moisevich Kogan, a Jewish Red Army soldier captured by German forces, noted the help he received by an Armenian doctor in the 812th Battalion when he was sneaked into the battalion itself and later escaped with the help of Dutch underground resistance members. Other instances included Jews being sent to the battalion to evade detection by the Nazis. Hans Houterman reported that in one case a battalion in the Netherlands where the legion was stationed even revolted.

One part of the Armenian Legion formed the 4th Battalion of the 918th Grenadier Regiment, 242 Infanterie-Division, one of the few Eastern Legion units to be given German insignia after March 18, 1944. The battalion participated in the unsuccessful defense of Toulon. At the end of the war, the remaining members in the battalion surrendered to the Western Allied forces. If not detained by them, they were turned over to Soviet authorities who, under an order enacted by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, were sent to camps in Siberia as punishment for surrendering to Axis forces and "allowing themselves to be captured," a fate suffered by nearly all of the former Soviet prisoners of the war.

Nazi perspective

Alfred Rosenberg, Hitler's Minister of the Occupied Territories, declared that the Armenians were Indo-European, or Aryans, and thus they were immediately subject to conscription. According to Versteeg, however, "Although Armenians officially were considered 'Aryans', the notion of them being 'Levantine traders', similar to the Jews, was deep-seated in Nazi circles, and racial 'purists' along with Hitler himself were prone to look upon the Armenians as 'non-Aryans.'"

Hitler himself expressed his doubts on the Armenian and other Soviet battalions. Speaking about military units from Soviet peoples, Hitler said: "I don't know about these Georgians. They do not belong to the Turkic peoples...I consider only the moslims [sic] to be reliable...All others I deem unreliable. For the time being I consider the formation of these battalions of purely Caucasian peoples very risky, while I don't see any danger in the establishment of purely Moslim units...In spite of all declarations from Rosenberg and the military, I don't trust the Armenians either."