Low morale in the Finnish Battalion

[Karelia]

[Split from "The Military Successes of the Waffen-SS"]

...

The “espirit de corps” in the SS varied from unit to unit and campaign to campaign. Waffen-SS units such as the Finnish Battalion, the 7th, 13th, 14th, 20th SS Divisions, etc. all went through periods of low morale. Even junior officers in the LSSAH in the 1943-45 period experienced a growing disillusionment with the progress of the War and their own personal chances of surviving it.

...

Which period/incident are you referring to?

[Rob - wssob2]

Responding to Karelia's question about the morale issues in the Waffen-SS Finnish Battalion:

Aug 25, 1941:
Battalion is transferred to the Grossborn training area in Pomerania. The music platoon leads the column, playing the rousing Third Reich pop song "We Are Marching against England!"The SS-FHA organizes the unit as three motorized infantry companies plus a motorized machine-gun company. However, poor treatment on the part of SS training officers provoke so much grumbling among the volunteers that the Finnish government threatens to demand the return of the troops. Gottlob Berger has to intercede to rectify the situation.

Jan 8, 1942:
Berger’s SS recruiting deputy in Finland files a report about his recent conversation with the Finnish State Police Chief Anltonen, who states that the Finns experience in the Waffen-SS is not going well. Finnish volunteers, many of them Winter War veterans, are angry at having to serve under German SS officers with less combat experience. The police chief reports that Finnish soldiers are threatening to frag their German officers. The Finnish Foreign Ministry is also filing an official complaint. Berger’s response is unknown.

Sources:
Hitler's Renegades - Christopher Ailsby - Brassey's - 2004

Siegrunen #43
- Richard Landwehr - International Graphics Corp. - Bennington, VT - 1987

The Waffen-SS: Hitler's Elite Guard at War
- George H. Stein - Cornell University Press - 1965

[Karelia]

Responding to Karelia's question about the morale issues in the Waffen-SS Finnish Battalion:

Aug 25, 1941:
Battalion is transferred to the Grossborn training area in Pomerania. The music platoon leads the column, playing the rousing Third Reich pop song "We Are Marching against England!"The SS-FHA organizes the unit as three motorized infantry companies plus a motorized machine-gun company. However, poor treatment on the part of SS training officers provoke so much grumbling among the volunteers that the Finnish government threatens to demand the return of the troops. Gottlob Berger has to intercede to rectify the situation.

Jan 8, 1942:
Berger’s SS recruiting deputy in Finland files a report about his recent conversation with the Finnish State Police Chief Anltonen, who states that the Finns experience in the Waffen-SS is not going well. Finnish volunteers, many of them Winter War veterans, are angry at having to serve under German SS officers with less combat experience. The police chief reports that Finnish soldiers are threatening to frag their German officers. The Finnish Foreign Ministry is also filing an official complaint. Berger’s response is unknown.

Sources:
Hitler's Renegades - Christopher Ailsby - Brassey's - 2004

Siegrunen #43
- Richard Landwehr - International Graphics Corp. - Bennington, VT - 1987

The Waffen-SS: Hitler's Elite Guard at War
- George H. Stein - Cornell University Press - 1965

Thanks, I thought you had missed that question...

OK, those quotes are plausible, since excessive bossing has always been opposed in the Finnish army. AFAIK the fighting morale was never in question though.

[Peeter]

The same goes on 20th wss too. Opposition to German officers, training instructors and political lecturers, but showing high fighting morale against Red Army.