SS Charlemagne: The 33rd Waffen-Grenadier Division of the SS

In October 1944, the SS Main Office transferred several thousand [1,500] members of the Milice Française to the Charlemagne Division. They had retreated into southern Germany with their chief, Darnand, ahead of the advance of General de Gaulle’s liberation forces. The latter (Darnand) remained in Sigmaringen, sending his followers to Wildflecken, where their arrival posed a problem for the already assembled volunteers, especially those from the Storm Brigade, who refused to accept them. This was particularly due to Darnand’s activities as the Vichy Government’s Chief of Police. They believed, not without reason, that the particular nature of the Milice’s employment in France would harm the reputation of other members of the Division in the eyes of their fellow countrymen. Apart from this, in their constituent formation the militiamen were an insecure factor for the whole Division. With the Inspector’s [Krukenberg’s] permission, they were divided up among all the units and their new oath taking ceremony ordered for [12] November.

Without being invited, Darnand wanted to come and watch this at Wildflecken. He arrived late and after the ceremony. He vividly criticised the fact that his men had not been kept in a specially separated unit and above all that we had not been satisfied with the initial oath [they had previously taken] to him personally. He expressed his two criticisms in a letter to SS-Obergruppenführer Berger, Chief of the SS Main Office, whom he considered his personal friend, firstly because they had fought against each other in the same sector during the First World War, and secondly because they had been in agreement over the actions conducted in occupied France. Darnand complained to the German Inspector – and also to the Laval Government – that ‘he had been deprived of his last combatants.’ On Himmler’s orders, he was nevertheless obliged to retract his letter.

This did not prevent Darnand from appearing again soon – still without warning – at the Division, this time in the uniform of an SS-Sturmbannführer [Major]. To the Inspector, who asked him if he wanted to demonstrate his membership and stay a while with the troops, he said that he had come charged with a mission from the French Government, of which he was a member with the rank of Secretary of State. He wanted to address the Charlemagne. The Inspector said that he was not competent to authorise such a step, and Darnard became very angry.