Join the SS-Sturmbrigade Langemarck
Recruitment poster from German-occupied Flanders calling on its residents to join the Flemish Waffen-SS division known as the SS-Sturmbrigade (Dutch: Stormbrigade) Langemarck. Originally established as the Flemish Legion in 1941, the unit would be reorganized several times throughout the course of the war, being reformed as the SS-Sturmbrigade Langemarck (SS Assault Brigade Langemarck) in 1943. The unit’s name was inspired by the Battle of Langemarck of 1914, in which poorly trained, German volunteer troops faced off against seasoned Allied units near the Flemish village of Langemarck, suffering devastating casualties. These young German soldiers, many of whom were students, were later mythologized within Germany’s military tradition as selfless martyrs of the fatherland. By naming the Flemish Waffen-SS brigade after this event, the Germans sought to tie the myth of the Langemarck martyrs to this new generation of Flemish volunteers, with the hopes that they would fulfill their duty to the Reich with the same zeal, while also serving to symbolize their shared, pan-Germanic heritage.
Having long existed as second-class citizens within the nation of Belgium dominated by the French-speaking Walloons, many Flemings sided with the Germans during the Second World War in the hopes of gaining the blessings of their occupiers and ultimately achieving independence. Adolf Hitler himself is said to have stated of these Flemish soldiers that they “have indeed shown themselves on the Eastern Front to be more pro-German and more ruthless than the Dutch legionaries”.
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Recruitment poster from German-occupied Flanders calling on its residents to join the Flemish Waffen-SS division known as the SS-Sturmbrigade (Dutch: Stormbrigade) Langemarck. Originally established as the Flemish Legion in 1941, the unit would be reorganized several times throughout the course of the war, being reformed as the SS-Sturmbrigade Langemarck (SS Assault Brigade Langemarck) in 1943. The unit’s name was inspired by the Battle of Langemarck of 1914, in which poorly trained, German volunteer troops faced off against seasoned Allied units near the Flemish village of Langemarck, suffering devastating casualties. These young German soldiers, many of whom were students, were later mythologized within Germany’s military tradition as selfless martyrs of the fatherland. By naming the Flemish Waffen-SS brigade after this event, the Germans sought to tie the myth of the Langemarck martyrs to this new generation of Flemish volunteers, with the hopes that they would fulfill their duty to the Reich with the same zeal, while also serving to symbolize their shared, pan-Germanic heritage.
Having long existed as second-class citizens within the nation of Belgium dominated by the French-speaking Walloons, many Flemings sided with the Germans during the Second World War in the hopes of gaining the blessings of their occupiers and ultimately achieving independence. Adolf Hitler himself is said to have stated of these Flemish soldiers that they “have indeed shown themselves on the Eastern Front to be more pro-German and more ruthless than the Dutch legionaries”.
Text reads: With the SS-Stormbrigade Langemarck | Join Up!
