List Of Members Of The British Free Corps
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British Free Corps The British Free Corps (german: Britisches Freikorps; BFC) was a unit of the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II, made up of British and Dominion prisoners of war who had been recruited by Germany. The unit was originally known as the ...
. It is based on the list printed in Appendix 5 of
Adrian Weale Adrian Weale (born 9 February 1964) is a British writer, journalist, illustrator and photographer of Welsh origin. He was educated at Latymer Upper School, University of York, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and the Joint Services Command and ...

''Renegades: Hitler's Englishmen''
London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1994. . The Corps (german: Britisches Freikorps) was a unit of the Waffen SS during World War II consisting of British and
Dominion The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire. "Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at the 192 ...
prisoners of war who had been recruited by the
Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...
. The Corps used the SS rank structure. The column 'MI5 no.' refers to the number allocated to the member in question in
MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...
's Report on the British Free Corps dated 27 March 1945, which is printed in Appendix 1 of 'Renegades'. Starting in February 1944, BFC members were ordered to adopt aliases for official purposes, although several declined to do so. After the War, some members of the Corps were prosecuted. Of those members, those who had been serving in the armed forces were court-martialed, while the merchant seamen and other civilians were tried in the Old Bailey. The column 'Seymer Category' refers to a list prepared by Colonel Vivian Home Seymer of
MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...
on 30 August 1945 and which is held in fil
KV 2/2828
entitled 'The British Free Corps. Papers about the military unit established by the German authorities to exploit renegade British prisoners of war' in
the National Archives National archives are central archives maintained by countries. This article contains a list of national archives. Among its more important tasks are to ensure the accessibility and preservation of the information produced by governments, both ...
Another list, containing at least 165 names, appears in Richard Landwehr
''Britisches Freikorps''
PP77–88, Lulu, 2008. . However the author records many members of the Corps separately under their real names and their aliases, as set out in the list below: * Wilhelm August 'Bob' Rössler (4), Walter Plauen (100) (an alias used in 'Jackals of the Reich' PP 20 ff for "Hauptmann Werner Plack of the England Committee … Amery's aide-cum-minder") and ‘Fred’ Stürmer (156) (who appears on page 106 of 'Jackals of the Reich' as Captain Harry Mehner (106)) who were Germans connected with the Corps. * Men who served in other German units (see list below), without citing any reference stating that they were also in the British Free Corps. *
John Amery John Amery (14 March 1912 – 19 December 1945) was a British fascist and Nazi collaborator during World War II. He was the originator of the British Free Corps, a volunteer Waffen-SS unit composed of former British and Dominion prisoners-o ...
(1), George Logio (86) and Maurice Tunmer (90), who were involved with the 'Legion of St George', a forerunner of the Corps 'Tunmer, through contacts in the French Resistance, was organizing a journey across the Pyrenees so that he could travel to Britain and join de Gaulle's Free French forces in England.' * Raymond Davies Hughes (47), Arthur Chapple (52), Carl Hoskins (159), R. Spillman (161), William Humphrey Griffiths (163) who were 'Service renegades ho hadbeen employed in editing, writing scripts, and broadcasting for the enemy, and in certain cases the same men erealso employed in journalism'. – this category also covers Railton Freeman and Walter Purdy who also served in the SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers. * Gordon Bowler (20), John Henry Owen Brown DCM (49) (a British espionage agent), Douglas Maylin (76), Joseph Trinder (84) and RAF Bombardier Marshall (85), who had all been on the ‘staff’ at a 'holiday camp' set up by the Germans in
Genshagen Ludwigsfelde is a town in the north of the district Teltow-Fläming in Brandenburg. Geography Location The town is located south of Berlin in the district Teltow-Fläming on the plateau of Teltow. In earlier times, it was part of the district Zo ...
, a suburb of Berlin, in August 1943 – Maylin decided to join the Corps but was prevented from doing so by
Thomas Haller Cooper Thomas Haller Cooper (29 August 1919 – 1987 or late 1990s), also known as Tom Böttcher, was a member of the German Waffen-SS British Free Corps and former member of the British Union of Fascists. Biography Early life Thomas Cooper was born ...
. * Sgt. Cushing (60), Pte. Walsh (61), Pte. O’Brien (62) and Pte. Murphy (63), "four Irishmen who ... eventually found themselves incarcerated in a special compound of Sachsenhausen concentration camp as German doubts about their essential loyalties grew. The Germans were right to be sceptical: none of the four had any real intention of working for the Nazis ... they finished the war with no stain on their characters." See Friesack Camp#Training. * John WelchWeale, Adrian (2014-11-12). Renegades (Kindle Location 2041). Random House. Kindle Edition. (92), who was on the 'staff' of an interrogation camp at
Luckenwalde Luckenwalde (; Upper and dsb, Łukowc) is the capital of the Teltow-Fläming district in the German state of Brandenburg. It is situated on the Nuthe river north of the Fläming Heath, at the eastern rim of the Nuthe-Nieplitz Nature Park, about ...
. * 'Lieutenant Tyndal of the
US Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...
– this man is referred to as 'Lieutenant Tyndall' on page 80 of 'Jackals of the Reich', whose author states on page 10 that he has 'given every man a pseudonym'. This may be a reference to
Martin James Monti Martin James Monti (October 24, 1921 – September 11, 2000) was a United States Army Air Forces pilot who defected to Nazi Germany in October 1944 and worked as a propagandist and writer. After the end of World War II, he was tried and sentence ...
, but Landwehr gives no reference that he was either a British subject or a member of the British Free Corps. *
Harold Cole Harold Cole (24 January 1906 – 8 January 1946), also known as Harry Cole, Paul Cole, and many other aliases, was a petty criminal, a confidence man, a British soldier, an operative of the Pat O'Leary escape line, and an agent of Nazi German ...
(158), a British soldier who assisted and later betrayed the French Resistance during World War II, and who was killed while resisting arrest after the war ended. He cites no reference that Cole was a member of the Corps.


List of members


Other current or former British subjects who served in the German Armed Forces in the Second World War

This category includes citizens of neutral Eire who were captured while serving in the British Army – see British nationality law and the Republic of Ireland#British subjects with local Irish nationality. It does not include members of the BFC who also served in other units of the German armed forces, such as
Thomas Haller Cooper Thomas Haller Cooper (29 August 1919 – 1987 or late 1990s), also known as Tom Böttcher, was a member of the German Waffen-SS British Free Corps and former member of the British Union of Fascists. Biography Early life Thomas Cooper was born ...
(
Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...
),
Roy Courlander Roy Nicolas Courlander, (6 December 1914 – 1 June 1979), nicknamed 'Reg', was a British-born New Zealand soldier who became an Unterscharführer in the German Waffen-SS British Free Corps during the Second World War. Early life Born out of w ...
, Dennis John Leister and
Francis Paul Maton Roy Nicolas Courlander, (6 December 1914 – 1 June 1979), nicknamed 'Reg', was a British-born New Zealand soldier who became an Unterscharführer in the German Waffen-SS British Free Corps during the Second World War. Early life Born out of w ...
(all SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers) and Frank McLardy ( SS Medical Corps
Lichtenberg Lichtenberg () is the eleventh borough of Berlin, Germany. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it absorbed the former borough of Hohenschönhausen. Overview The district contains the Tierpark Berlin in Friedrichsfelde, the larger of Berlin ...
). (*) Not in Weale's list.


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Members of the British Free Corps British collaborators with Nazi Germany Expatriate military units and formations Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 Nazi SS Lists of British military personnel Nazi-related lists