The East came West : Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist volunteers in the German Armed Forces, 1941-1945 : [a study of East European & Middle Eastern collaboration with the German Armed Forces in World War II

During the Second World War tens of thousands of West Europeans volunteered for service in the German Army under the banner of anti-Communism. It is amazing that so many Europeans were willing to assist the Third Reich.. Fantastic still, is the fact that in the east, where the Nazi racial theorists claimed lived the majority of the so-called untermensche (sub-humans), the Nazis were to recruit close to two million of these men as volunteers. These were Soviet citizens and Arabs from the Middle East who donned the field grey uniform of the German Army and fought for the Third Reich.. More remarkable is the fact that tens of thousands of these volunteers called Islam, Hinduism, and even Buddhism as their religious faith! They fought alongside the German soldier, mostly until the bitter end of the war. The reasons why they did so are as varied as they are fascinating. This is the intriguing story of these men and the units in which they served. During the Second World War tens of thousands of West Europeans volunteered for service in the German Army under the banner of anti-Communism. It is amazing that so many Europeans were willing to assist the Third Reich. Fantastic still is the fact that in the East, where the Nazi racial theorists claimed lived the majority of the so-called untermensche (sub-humans), the Nazis were to recruit close to two million of these men as volunteers. Men who donned the field grey uniform of the German Army and fought for the Third Reich. More remarkable is the fact that tens of thousands of these volunteers called Islam, Hinduism, and even Buddhism as their religious faith! They fought alongside the German soldier, mostly until the bitter end of the war. The reasons why they did so are as varied as they are fascinating. This is the intriguing story of these men and the units in which they served. After extensive source study, spanning six years of research, the authors have compiled an extensive amount of photographs, documents, maps and data, providing the most complete account on the history of these men and their esoteric formations. Complete history of all German Army and Waffen-SS units made up of personnel of Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu beliefs. The work contains dozens of b&w, color illustrations, photos, line drawings, tables, charts, etc. Here are the peoples of the Soviet Union, Middle East, Balkans, even from Southeast Asia who donned the uniform of the Wehrmacht & SS! Complete with color dust jacket. Oversized. The process of forming Muslim Legions, just as with other foreign volunteer formation in the German Armed Forces, was not a one-time phenomenon.