No True Cause: The story of the Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism

We’ve all heard the jokes about the French Army, and their performance in World War II. There’s infamous jokes like “A French rifle, never fired and only dropped once” along with numerous quips about white flags, and their cowering capitulation at the hands of the German invaders. As we learn more about history, we have recognized the great misconceptions about the French and the Second World War.

France, like the rest of the world, was unprepared for the war. The German plow that pushed through Europe, in the very early days of the war, took out many of Europe’s armies. The French Army of 5 million men, was subjected to bad command decisions, and a lot of surprises on the behalf of their enemy. Germany invaded through the Ardennes, catching the French off-guard, and allowing the Germans to blindside their strongest forces.

France, in one month of battle, took over 375,000 casualties. The French struggled behind their inferior equipment, like weak tanks, and obsolete aircraft. During the Battle of France, the French lost over 1700 tanks, 2200 aircraft and over 1.5 million men were captured. In turn they did inflict over 150,000 German casualties, and according to some sources, they knocked out over 1800 German tanks. The Battle of France was far heavier, in terms of combat, than many remember

Aftermath of the Battle of France-1940

After the one-month long, disastrous battle of France, and the evacuation of British Forces at Dunkirk, the situation in France became sticky, politically. France was split, with many willing to side with Germany, to become the Vichy French, while others tried to flee, or resist the German occupation in secret. There were several groups in France who sympathized with Nazi ideology (on some level, albeit not as extreme), and all of these groups created fractures within French society.

 Some within France, were eager to join the Germans. These collaborators wanted to create a French fighting unit that would help the German war effort, thus forming the  Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism. While this title is a mouthful, it doesn’t accurately convey the actual makeup of this unit. This group was made up of French Foreign Legion members, Russian defectors, members of the French Popular Party, the Social Revolutionary Movement, and many other groups. 

Recruiting poster used to drum up volunteers for the LVF.

This mishmash of French social groups, and political ideologies created a tense situation among the leadership within the unit. A lot of these French soldiers were seen as “Nationalists” and the Germans were weary of this idea. The Nazi’s only really wanted one group of Nationalists in their regime, and those of course were German Nationalists. That being the case, the French LVF (as it is often referred), were forced to wear German uniforms, and the only symbol of their nationality was a tiny French flag worn in the shape of a shield, on their right shoulder. 

Symbol worn on the right sleeve of every LVF uniform. This was the most the Nazis were willing to give the French volunteers. The Nazis were not willing to allow the LVF to appear anymore independent from the German Army, than a simple insignia, and the LVF were required to wear German uniforms.

The initial LVF unit was composed of 850 men, and these poor souls were recruited just in time for use on the Eastern Front. The LVF became the 638th regiment, and their ranks grew to nearly 2500 men. They were rolled into the 7th Infantry Division. The regiment was used in the push on to Moscow, and performed poorly. Like the rest of their division the LVF was basically annihilated and by Spring, 1942, they were sent to Byelorussia. In their years of service in what is now modern-day Belarus, they were used in fighting partisans, or as the Germans called them “Bandits”.

By June 1943, wholly unlucky for the LVF, their commanding officer Colonel Roger Labonne was sacked, and the unit was sent back to the heavy fighting of the Eastern Front. Through 1943 the unit fought in Ukraine, and were then allowed to return home to France. As the men prepared to head back to their homes, news arrived from the front: Army Group Center collapsed in June of 1944. For those that aren’t familiar with the story of the Eastern Front, this is essentially the beginning of the end.

Members of the LVF on the Eastern Front. Here they show their flag, and as you’ll note, many in the picture are not wearing the unit insignia, a shield on their right shoulder. The LVF paid a heavy price for fighting alongside the Nazis. Even as their ranks were constantly refilled, less than 100 would be around to see the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945.

The LVF fought in delaying actions that were obviously futile. On June 25th 1944, the LVK, an SS-Police Division, and five Tiger I tanks fought for 48 straight hours. With their backs to the Babruyka River, waves of Soviet tanks attacked, along with droves of infantry. Stuka bombers swooped overhead, and along with the five Tiger I’s the unit helped stop over 40 Soviet tanks dead in their tracks.

For the rest of the war the LVF was treated to a large number of inexperienced replacements. Through the course of fighting the unit had received over 11,000 soldiers to fill their ranks. A Lot of these replacements came, thanks to recruiting drives, from the Vichy government. By the war’s end the unit was filed down, and rolled into several units, including an SS Division. The final SS Division was a conglomerate of French forces rolled into one division. By the end of the war, the LVF had its ranks mowed down to less than 60 men. 

The LVF, never really received a warm reputation by German commanders. The unit was quite radical in their beliefs, however, taking the lives of many Jews and partisans as they fought a policing action in Belarus. It is a strange concept to grasp, as to why these French soldiers did it? Why these men fought for the Nazi’s?

While the LVF was made up of many “nationalistic” soldiers, they were never going to benefit from a German victory. The Nazis never would have condoned French Nationalism, so there was never much to gain from fighting for the Germans. A lot of the French fighters were criminals who sought combat as an alternative over prison. In the end it’s hard to imagine that these men had any true cause to unite over, and their only real driving factor, was likely carrying on the fight for their comrades.