Britisches Freikorps was formed Jan 1943 as St. Georgs-Legion and was made up of British and Commonwealth volunteers. The forming of a British legion was first suggested by John Amery, son of Leopold Stennet Amery, Secretary of State for India in Winston Churchill's war cabinet, who also made a failed attempt to find volunteers for the unit.

Himmler became interested in the concept and a renewed attempt to find volunteers were made, but only approx 30 soldiers volunteered for this unit (including 3 Canadian, 3 Australians, 3 South Africans and 1 New Zealander).

It was renamed Britisches Freikorps Jan 1944 and attached to III SS Panzerkorps Feb 1945. The unit never saw any action, but a few men from this unit are believed to have fought in the battle of Berlin attached to 11. SS Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier Division Nordland.

The proclamation written by John Amery when the Legion of St. George, later renamed British Free Corps, was founded.

William Celliers, a policeman from Windhoek in Namibia, and James Conen, a taxi-driver from London served as auxiliary troops (hiwis) in the flak detachment of Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler in the fall and winter 1943-44 until the LSSAH was sent to the Western Front, both were awarded with the Iron Cross 2nd Class.
Other British volunteers include Railton Freeman in SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers and Frank Becker who served as an interpreter in Legion Freies Indien.

Insignia

The "British Free Corps" cuff title was authorized for this unit.

The collar tabs used in this unit shows three lions (sometimes incorrectly given as leopards due to the heraldic term leopard used to describe the posture of the lions).

An armshield with the Union Flag was also used.

In fiction

The novel "The Eagle Has Landed" by Jack Higgins features a BFC Officer named Harvey Preston, based on Douglas Berneville-Claye, who joins the Fallschirmjäger unit attempting to kidnap the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The character was not included in the 1976 movie with the same name directed by John Sturges.

Kenneth Berry and Alfred Minchin of the BFC

(Courtesy of Hjalmar)

Recruitment poster

(Courtesy of Ola)

Sources used

John R. Angolia - Cloth insignia of the SS

Dr. K-G Klietmann - Die Waffen-SS: eine Dokumentation

Frank Thayer - SS Foreign volunteer collar insignia and their reporductions (in The Military Advisor, Vol 4 No 2)

Adrian Weale - Renegades: Hitler's Englishmen

Gordon Williamson & Thomas McGuirl - German military cuffbands 1784-present

Reference material on this unit

Richard Landwehr - Britisches Freikorps: British volunteers of the Waffen-SS 1943-1945

Eric Pleasants - Hitler's Bastard: Through Hell and Back in Nazi Germany and Stalin's Russia

Ronald Seth - Jackals of the Reich: The story of the British Free Corps

Adrian Weale - Renegades: Hitler's Englishmen

Rebecca West - The New Meaning of Treason