[April 14, 2020] A common thesis throughout the existence of humanity is that betrayal is the lowest of lowly “sins.” When we think of traitors, Benedict Arnold and Judas Iscariot come to mind. For our neighbors, the British, the British Free Corps of World War II is what they contemplate as one of the most despicable chapters in the war between freedom and fascism.
“A nation can survive its fools and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman statesman
From 1939 to the end of the war in 1945, 2.9 million men served in the British Army. There were approximately 300,000 deaths and 376,000 wounded. The Brits suffered a great price for being the lone beacon of freedom during the darkest days early in the war. A source of pride was that Britain faced the entire Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan alone. Mistakes in strategy and errors in tactics aside, it remains a tribute to the nation’s character and an epic saga the world should remember.
The British Free Corps was a unit of the Nazi Waffen-SS made up of British and Dominion prisoners of war who were recruited by Germany. Research by Adrain Weale identified 54 men who belonged to the unit at one time or another.1 The idea came from John Amery, a British socialist, fascist, and anti-Communist. Amery was also the son of the serving British Secretary of State for India. From its inception in 1943, research has suggested the unit never fielded more than 27 men at once.
Unsurprisingly, given Briton’s strong defiance against Nazi Germany, the unit rarely saw combat and was an ineffective force. The unit performed some minor reconnaissance missions and mostly held in reserve without ever being involved in direct combat. Many saw members of the British Free Corps as little more than a joke which had fallen prey to Nazi propaganda. Most were given light jail sentences at the end of the war were simply released after being questioned. However, John Amery was no better than Lord Haw Haw2 and knew what he was doing. At the end of the war, Amery was tried and hanged for treason.
Betrayal is, indeed, the worst form of sin against another human. We memorialize traitors because there is a lesson behind the evil deeds of each of them. No one will ever forget whether it’s a Judas, Arnold, Brutus, Quisling, the Rosenbergs, Aldrich Ames, or Jane Fonda for their betrayal against their countrymen, nor should we. Most of them are simply known by their last names, their betrayals being so maddening and frustrating.
The British Free Corps may fade into the oblivion of trivia from WWII. It should not be so. The names of each traitor who were part of the unit should forever be written into the collective memory of each Briton. Otherwise, some will lack the strength of courage and, in a time of weakness, betray their country.
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- Ailsby, Christopher J. (2004). Hitler’s Renegades: Foreign Nationals in the Service of the Third Reich. Dulles, Virginia: Brassey’s. ISBN978-1-57488-838-6.
I don’t believe in western morality, i.e. don’t kill civilians or children,don’t destroy holy sites,don’t fight during holiday seasons,don’t bomb cemeteries,don’t shoot until they shoot first because it is immoral.
The only way to fight a moral war is the Jewish way:
Destroy their holy sites. Kill men, women and children (and cattle).
— Chabad Lubavitch Rabbi Manis Friedman Moment Magazine (May/June 2009). “Ask The Rabbi”
https://worldtruthvideos.website/watch/white-genocide-quotes-part-2_xR7zNrIyWUVlD9B.html
A little off topic but I wanted to get this out. I know that Gen. Satterfield wrote about the “Most Irresponsible Generation” meaning millennials. Here is an interesting article that takes up the same topic but with the opposite conclusion (hint, they are just victims of circumstance). What I wanted to contrast with today’s article on traitors is that there is NO EXCUSE. “Millennials Don’t Stand a Chance: They’re facing a second once-in-a-lifetime downturn at a crucial moment.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/millennials-are-new-lost-generation/609832/
No Greg, this is exactly what we like to see. You’ve found a link between traitors (no excuse, they made their bed) and millenails (no excuse for failure, they made their bed). Well, now they’ve got to sleep in it. If they failed to do those things to have a good job, work hard, save money, get married, and stay out of trouble with the law, then they deserve what they get.
Boo hoo for the Millenneals. No sympathy here. But maybe they’ll get a trophy for surviving.
Good article on a subject that is no longer taken seriously in the West. Traitors are treated like royalty and get rich off their ‘oddities.’
Reading the ancient Greeks, they wrote about traitors and such behavior. Betrayal was seen as the lowest a human could go. That is why they have them in their stories and name names. They don’t want them to be forgotten.
John Amery was sentenced to death in November 1945 for high treason, and hanged. Good!
Here is the Toronto Daily Star news article. Trial lasted 8 minutes.
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IZY6AAAAIBAJ&sjid=RCoMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3058,10264400&dq=british+free+corps&hl=en
The British Free Corps (interesting name) was never really free. As a unit, it was underwhelming. Maybe that is because it attracted only the lowest of the low. They could not be trusted. No commander would have them and thus they were in a kind of limbo as a unit. More propaganda than anything else.
Yeah, and here is a Wikipedia article that lists their names. Forever these names will be engraved on the alter of betrayal and cowardice.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_members_of_the_British_Free_Corps
And a book: Richard Landwehr. Britisches Freikorps. Lulu, 2008. ISBN 0-5570-3362-4 – ‘The story of the British volunteers of the Waffen-SS has long been treated with scorn and derision by the establishment media … This publication at least will try and change that perception.’
The unit was originally known as the Legion of St George.
The BFC did not have a “commander” per se as it was the intention of the SS to appoint a British commander when a suitable British officer came forward. However, three German Waffen-SS officers acted as the Verbindungsoffizier (“liaison officer”) between the SS-Hauptamt Amtsgruppe D/3, which was responsible for the unit and the British volunteers, and in practice they acted as the unit commander for disciplinary purposes at least.
Good info, thanks Yusaf. This is why I like reading the forums; great additional info for my thinking.
Best quote “No one will ever forget whether it’s a Judas, Arnold, Brutus, Quisling, the Rosenbergs, Aldrich Ames, or Jane Fonda for their betrayal against their countrymen, nor should we. ” Thank you Gen. Satterfield for getting right to the point.
I see you again picked out Jane Fonda for much deservedly labelled a traitor. She deserves it. She should have it stenciled on her forehead so that the airheads that follow her will know that she is evil in its deepest sense. Jane Fonda = traitor! No amount of apology or groveling or even being rich will take that from her.
Right and her saying it was her youthful ignorance and stupidity that led her to do what she did by cavorting with the North Vietnamese communists. That is simply not an excuse. There can never be an excuse. She should accept responsibility.
Jane Fonda the communist. She was and still is a communist (but only in the ideological sense). She made herself rich off her dad’s name. Oh well, now he also has the label pinned to his name.
Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda ….. traitor traitor traitor. You will never live it down. I would hope that it is on her tombstone.
Hanoi Jane, dumb and dumber —
https://2012patriot.wordpress.com/2010/02/17/jane-fonda-hanoi-jane-top-100-women-of-the-century/