Latvijas Vēsturnieku komisijas raksti - 23.sējums

Dr. Matthew Kott. What Does the Holocaust in the Baltic States Have to Do with the SS’ Plans?
that went through several editions during the war. The textbooks for “Soldier’s Training”
included Der Feuerkampf der Schützenkompanie and other works pertaining to general
infantry weapons and tactics. 75 Thus, those who had completed the course at Konsvinger
could be viewed as having pretty much the same level of training as the men of PB 9
had had when they were first deployed in active duty.
The real problem for Lie was that his men were not trained for trench warfare, which
is how they were actually being used on the Leningrad Front. Probably, Lie expected
something completely different for his men, i.e. that they would be used in the antipartisan
warfare mentioned in the protocol of the meeting with Göring.
Indeed, the Norwegian Legion at this time was included in SS-Kampfgruppe Jeckeln, 76
headed by Friedrich Jeckeln, the HSSPF for Ostland and North Russia, whose exploits
had included responsibility for the infamous massacres of Jews at Babiy Yar in the Ukraine
and Rumbula in Latvia. Jeckeln was to be one of the key figures in commanding the
various major anti-partisan operations on the north Russian front in 1942 and 1943. 77
In the latter half of 1942, sections of the Danish equivalent to the Norwegian Legion,
Frikorps Danmark, were to be transferred from SS-Kampfgruppe Jeckeln to bloody
anti-partisan operations in Belarus as part of the 1st SS Brigade. 78 Similarly, sub-units
of the Flemish and Dutch Legions on the Leningrad Front, also within Jeckeln’s overall
command, were sometimes temporarily assigned to anti-partisan operations. Was it not
conceivable that the Norwegian Legion, a formation of mere battalion strength, would
not also be used for such unpalatable activities? 79
It would appear that this was indeed the intention from the side of the German
SS leadership. The nationalistic commanding officer of the Norwegian Legion, Legion-
Sturmbannführer Arthur Quist, would, however, have none of it. He complained both
to Quisling and to friendly ears in Berlin, and thus managed to keep the Norwegians
in the trenches outside starving Leningrad, instead of having them sent into the woods
to hunt real or alleged partisans. This insubordination was not tolerated by Himmler for
long, though. Quist was forcibly removed from his command in February 1943, after
which Jonas Lie took over command of the entire Norwegian Legion. 80
By this point, however, the time had largely run out for the national legions within the
Waffen-SS. These smallish, tactically awkward, and potentially nationalistic units were
to be dissolved, and reformed into more mainstream Waffen-SS units: the Norwegian
case, this would be as SS Regiment 23 Norge of the planned SS Division Nordland.
The Norwegian Legion was withdrawn from Leningrad in stages for a group discharge
at the Waffen-SS base for Germanic volunteers in Jelgava, where they would
eventually be thanked for their services by Himmler himself. 81 In early March 1943, the
first unit to travel to Latvia was the 1st Police Company, several weeks ahead of the
rest of the Legion. The activities of the Police Company during this a two-week period
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