| South, cruel south, Dreary nights and days, Green, rolling green,
Where Death rides on the trails.
You're weary? Carry on!
Until the bitter end,
You are Devil's Guard,
The Battalion of the Damned.
A LEGION MARCHING SONG
The release of the book THE DEVIL'S GUARD caused a major scandal when it was first released in 1971 and tells the story of SS soldier Hans Josef Wagemueller who spent decades in continual combat, in 'unconditional warfare' as he called it.
After escaping from allied forces in WWII, he fled abroad where he joined the French Foreign Legion. There he claimed huge numbers of ex-Nazis had been recruited to fight the Vietnamese. The German FFL soldiers formed their own units and had German commanders assigned to them.
He related that they found their SS tactics perfectly suited to the jungle war against the communist 'sub-humans'.
After the war, he retired to an asian country where he related his memoirs to a writer.
Western authorities called the book 'communist propaganda' and the French denied that SS or Gestapo members were used in Indochina.
However... reading the book (http://www.xs4all.nl/~brandb/devils_guard.htm) it seems very convincing. Debate still rages on its authenticity.
It seems very real to me. What are your opinions? Fact or fiction?
(Warning: if you choose to read the text, be warned that it is rather shocking material, and the characters defend and propagate a pro Nazi ideology. Some may find it quite offensive.) |
