33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne

The Waffen Grenadier Brigade of the SS Charlemagne (German: Waffen-Grenadier-Brigade der SS "Charlemagne") was a Waffen-SS unit formed in September 1944 from French collaborationists, many of whom were already serving in various other German units.

Named after the 9th-century Frankish emperor, the Charlemagne Brigade superseded two units of French volunteers already serving within the German Army and Waffen-SS, namely the Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism and SS-Volunteer Sturmbrigade France (SS-Freiwilligen Sturmbrigade "Frankreich"). The division also included French recruits from other German military and paramilitary formations and Miliciens who had fled ahead of the Allied Liberation of France (June–November 1944).

After training, the Charlemagne Brigade was reclassified as a division named 33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne (1st French) (33. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS "Charlemagne" (französische Nr. 1)). It had 7,340 men at the time of its deployment to the Eastern Front in February 1945. It fought against Soviet forces in Pomerania where it was almost annihilated during the East Pomeranian Offensive within a month. Around 400 members of the unit participated in the Battle in Berlin in April–May 1945 and were among the last Axis forces to surrender.

The Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism (Légion des Volontaires Français contre le Bolchévisme, or LVF) was a unit of the German Army (Wehrmacht) formed shortly after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 by a coalition of small far-right political factions within Vichy France. Although its supporters were more explicitly supportive of Nazi ideology and close collaboration with Nazi Germany than the Vichy regime itself, the German authorities remained skeptical of incorporating French soldiers and limited the unit's size significantly. Furthermore, it only succeeded in including 5,800 recruits between 1941 and its disbandment in 1944. It was also kept at arm's length by the Vichy regime. The LVF participated in the Battle of Moscow in November–December 1941 but suffered heavy casualties and performed poorly in combat. For most of its existence, it was confined to so-called "bandit-fighting" operations (Bandenbekämpfung) behind the front line in German-occupied Byelorussia and Ukraine. The Tricolour Legion (Légion Tricolore) formed in France with Vichy support was later also absorbed into the LVF. In early 1944, the unit again took part in rear-security operations. In June 1944, following the collapse of Army Group Centre's front during the Red Army's summer offensive, the LVF was attached to the 4th SS Police Regiment.

The SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade France (SS-Freiwilligen Sturmbrigade "Frankreich") was formed in July 1943 as the first French formation permitted within the Waffen-SS. It was led by SS-Obersturmbannführer Paul-Marie Gamory-Dubourdeau who had formerly served in the Foreign Legion. It attracted around 3,000 applicants in German-occupied France, many of whom were existing members of the collaborationist paramilitary Milice or university students. The official requirements were that the recruit had to be "free of Jewish blood" and between 20 and 25 years old. The approximately 1,600 men of the Sturmbrigade were attached to the 18th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Horst Wessel and sent to Galicia on the Eastern Front. In heavy fighting against the Red Army, 7 officers and 130 men were killed, while 8 officers and 661 men were wounded.

The LVF and the Brigade Frankreich were disbanded in September 1944 in the aftermath of the Allied Liberation of France. Their soldiers were folded into a new unit created the same month called the Waffen Grenadier Brigade of the SS Charlemagne (Waffen-Grenadier-Brigade der SS Charlemagne). Joining them were French collaborators fleeing the Allied advance in the west, as well as Frenchmen from the German Navy, the National Socialist Motor Corps (NSKK), the Organisation Todt and the detested Milice security police who had fled ahead of the Allied forces. SS-Brigadeführer Gustav Krukenberg was appointed to command the division, while Edgar Puaud, who had commanded the LVF, was the nominal French commander. The two main infantry regiments were designated as the 57th and 58th Regiments. Members of the LVF were the nucleus of the former and Sturmbrigade formed the core of the latter. The LVF also manned the artillery battalion, the headquarters company and the engineer company. In February 1945, the unit was officially upgraded to a division and renamed to SS Division Charlemagne. At this time it had a strength of 7,340 men; 1,200 men from the LVF, 1,000 from the Sturmbrigade, 2,500 from the Milice, 2,000 from the NSKK and 640 were former Kriegsmarine and naval police.

The division was sent to fight the Red Army in Poland, but on 25 February it was attacked at Hammerstein (present-day Czarne) in Pomerania, by troops of the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front. The Soviet forces split the French force into three pockets. One group with Puaud was destroyed by Soviet artillery and a second group tried fighting its way back westward, but by 17 March all had been captured or killed in action. A third group commanded by Krukenberg survived. It was evacuated from the coast by the German Navy to Denmark and later sent to Neustrelitz for refitting.

By early April 1945, Krukenberg commanded only about 700 men organized into a single infantry regiment with two battalions (Battalions 57 and 58) and one heavy support battalion without equipment. He released about 400 men to serve in a construction battalion; the remainder, numbering about 350, had chosen to go to Berlin. On 23 April the Reich Chancellery in Berlin ordered Krukenberg to proceed to the capital with his men, who were reorganized as Assault Battalion (Sturmbataillon) Charlemagne. As the men assembled at the Marktplatz of Alt-Strelitz, a black Mercedes approached fast. As the car went past the column of men, Krukenberg and several other officers quickly stood at attention, recognising Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, who had just come from a private meeting with Count Folke Bernadotte at the Swedish consulate in Lübeck to offer surrender terms to the Western Allies. The SS men were disappointed that Himmler did not stop and instead sped on past.