The British of the Waffen-SS: British Free Corp

The thought of a German invasion of Britain was something that scared many in the nation for years to come, and is currently a point of great hypotheticals. Even though the two nations were enemies of one another. A group of British individuals would flip sides, and join the German army. In today's video, we will covering that group. The British Free Corps

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When one thinks of fascism allies during the second world war, Great Britain is generally not on that list. The first nation, along with the French to declare war against the German Reich. Even still, a large Fascist movement had been built up in the nation prior to the war, the British Union of Fascists, which numbered nearly 50,000 members and was led by Oswald Mosley. The Fascist Union would be constantly at odds with not only the British government/police, but also the public, and consistent counter protests and anti-fascist demonstrations would occur throughout the 30's. Resulting in over 1,000 injuries and just as many arrests.

Another important individual would be William Joyce, who split from the BUF and created his own short lived Fascist party, the National Socialist League. However, it was his time after the party formation that he would be most well known for. He and his wife would emigrate to Germany shortly before the start of the second world war, with him becoming a naturalized citizen in 1940. Joyce would become a Nazi Propaganda broadcaster, hosting the English Propaganda radio show Germany Calling. Joyce would soon become the most well known English Propagandist, and given the name Lord Haw-Haw. In Britain, the listening to Germany Calling was not illegal, but heavily discouraged, nevertheless, Joyce at his height, would have nearly 6 million regular listeners within the isles and millions more in occasional listeners. The goal of these broadcasts, were mostly to demoralize the allied war effort via propaganda, and attempt to get the public to increase their calls for peace against the axis powers. They would do this primarily by giving heavily exacerbated reports of allied troop or material losses. However, it was generally the only avenue to learn of the fates of family or friends that ended up behind enemy lines, so many individuals, even though they were well aware it was Nazi Propaganda, tuned in.

The idea of the British Free Corps was constructed by British Fascist John Amery. He was the son of Leo Amery, the Secretary of State for India and Burma during the war. John had long been anti-Communist, and viewed the German style of fascism, as the only true way to block communism from taking over the world. He would emigrate to France in 1936, from their, joining the Spanish Civil War in connection with Italian volunteers for Francisco Franco, where he was awarded a medal of honor. He was in France during the German invasion, and found himself stuck in Vichy France, and having antagonized the government, attempted to leave, but was not able too for a multitude of reasons. When Germany invaded the USSR in the summer of 1941, Amery was shocked that his home nation had now allied itself, with the Communist USSR. Something that he viewed was betrayal of the Empire.