Entry #16: British Free Corps

     CHAPTER 8:

     "[Howard W. Campbell Jr.] had come to the slaughterhouse to recruit men for a German military unit called 'The Free American Corps.'  Campbell was the inventor and commander of the unit, which was supposed to fight only on the Russian front." (page 162) 

     

      As I was reading this passage caught my eye.  I've studied World War II in the past, but I had never heard of the "Free American Corps" unit.  When I researched it, I found that this unit never did actually exist, however there was a British Free Corps unit.  With research I found that the details Vonnegut uses to describe the "Free American Corps" is parallel to the actual events that took place involving the British Free Corps.  

Nazi propaganda for the British Free Corps.

A soldier of the British Free Corps talking
with German officials.

     "He was Howard W. Campbell, Jr., an American who had become a Nazi."  The real man behind the British Free Corps was John Amery, the son of Leo Army who was the British Minister of India.  He believed that the Jews and Soviet were planning to overthrow western civilization and when his views became known in Germany, he was invited to Berlin in 1942.  The Germans realized that using the son of a British government official would go a long way for Nazi propaganda.  

     I Nazi officials sent him to France where he learned of a group of pro-Nazi Frenchmen that fought for the SS, this inspired him to create the British version that would be used to fight against the Soviets.  The Nazis were able to recruit 30 men for this unit, however they would make no impact on the war.  In 1944 when the Allies landed in Normandy the British Free Corps were sent into battle, however they believed that they would only be fighting the Soviets and refused to fight their fellow countrymen.  The unit was removed from the battlefield and sent to Russia where they were held in reserve.  

     When the war finally ended the men who had been in this unit were viewed as a joke by the public. A few were jailed, but most were simply questioned and then released.  John Amery, the founder of the unit, had a public trial where he was found guilty and hanged.