Irishmen in the Waffen SS

[SchnellMeyer]

Hello , I am doing some research on the British Free Corps and I came across some material that named some Irishmen who served in the ranks of the Waffen SS.
James Brady and Frank Stringer served in Jagdverband Mitte under Hauptsturmfuhrer Karl Fucker .There was also a doctor called Patrick o Neill who was in the SS Medical Department ,
I would be very grateful if anybody can help me with information on these men , thanks.

[Phil Don]

Hi

Here are the few info I have on theses volunteers:


James BRADY: born 20/05/1920.
Soldier in 1938 into the Royal Irish Fusiliers. Serve at Guernesey on the anglo-norman islands. Captured in 1940. Contacted by Abwehr for missions in Great Britain but missions canceled. Then contacted by Otto SKORZENY for serving into SS Jägerbatailon 502 after a training at SS Ausbildungslager Sennheim. Serve with the rank of SS Unterscharführer. Fight in 1944/1945 into SS Jagdverband and on Oder and Berlin in 1945. Captured and convicted at 15 years of prison.

For Frank STRINGER, I have less info: Captured in 1940 with James Brady. Like him, Abwehr, Sennheim and SS Jagdverbande. Rank: SS Unterscharführer and fight on Oder in 1945. captured by US Army. Fate unknown after the war.

SS Untersturmführer Patrick O'NEILL, serve as doctor into the SS Sturm Bataillon 500. I only know he was from the Donegall county. Killed in action in 1944.

Regards

Phil.

[Rand]

There are files on both Brady and Stringer at the National Archives in England.

[SchnellMeyer]

Hi Guys , many thanks for the replies . This information is most interesting .I am especially interested in Dr.Patrick o Neill . Phil where did you get his details from ? Do you know where he was killed? It would be really fantastic to properly research these men .I wonder if Brady or Stringer is still alive ?
Again thanks for replying to my post.

[Phil Don]

Hi

For Brady and Stringer, I think I've found the infos in a book (in french) on the SS training camp of Sennheim.
Many infos came fron:

http://www.csn.ul.ie/~dan/war/ssvols.htm

Phil.

[Fennicus]

Hi

For Brady and Stringer, I think I've found the infos in a book (in french) on the SS training camp of Sennheim.
...

Phil.

Hi Phil,

Could you please tell me the name of the Sennheim book? Any suggestions where I could buy it?

Regards
Markus

[Ljotrulf]

Fennicus

The book is now out of print but you can add it to a wish list on Amazon.fr or look for it eleswhere:
http://www.amazon.fr/Cernay-40-45-SS-Au ... 719&sr=8-1
The author is now deceased, so I cannot see that the book will be reprinted any time soon.

Information on Brady and Springer can also be obtained from the book "Renegades" by Adrian Weale:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Renegades-Hitle ... 971&sr=8-4
However, the best source of information on the 2 is "primary" coming from the statements of Stringer (I cannot find the ref. for Brady's file, although it does exist in the National Archive):
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/rele ... agents.htm

[Juanjo]

Hi Phil

Are you sure that Patrick O'Neill had the rank of Untersturmführer? Which is your source about it?

Regards
Juanjo

[Rand]

In addition to the file that Ljotrulf provided, there is the following at the National Archives:

WO 71/1132 - Stringer, F. S. Offence: Aiding enemy whilst P.O.W. 1946
WO 71/1149 - Brady, J. Offence: Aiding enemy whilst P.O.W. 1946

Ordering the NA files can be quite expensive, and if you want to save some money you can purchase a copy of Richard Landwehr's 'Siegrunen' Issue #65, which has word for word, James Brady's statement to MI5 after the war.

Rand.

[SchnellMeyer]

Well when I put up this post I did not expect so many guys to get involved in this topic , but I am delighted to see the interest shown.
Thanks Rand , I have issue of Siegrunen that you wrote about , it was most interesting to say the least.
The links that you sent Ljotrulf were super , I will follow up on these as there is mention of a photo of Brady in the National archives in England .I wonder if they will supply such a photo ?
Phil , have you any other details on Dr. Patrick o Neill ? very little is known on this person .
Please gentlemen keep the posts coming , thanks.

[Ljotrulf]

I don't think there is a photo of Brady in the national Archives but there are definitely 2 of stringer in British battledress.

[Ljotrulf]

Dr Patrick O'Neill was supposed to be a member of a German "Strafeinheit" SS-Sturmbataillon 500 together with his German cousin Dr Reiners and another member of this unit reports him as killed in action.

[harry palmer]

James Brady was one of two Irishmen known to have served in the Waffen-SS during World War Two.

Brady originally volunteered for the Royal Irish Fusiliers, an Irish Regiment in the British Army, in late 1938. After basic training in Hampshire, he was posted to the Channel Islands in May 1939. In that month he and another man, Frank Stringer, were imprisoned after attacking and injuring a local policeman, and were imprisoned to be captured by the Germans when they invaded in June 1940.

The Germans transferred the pair to a POW camp, but soon transferred them to the special Abwehr facility Friesack Camp in an attempt to recruit them as saboteurs. Stringer proved willing, and in September 1941, he and John Codd were transferred to Berlin to begin training at the Abwehr training camp at Quentzgut. That December, Brady and a group of other Irishmen also transferred to Berlin to begin similar training. This latter group, however would seem to have been working on the orders of the Senior British Officer at Friesack to sabotage the German scheme; by September 1943, all the Irishmen involved were imprisoned by the Germans, some in Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

In early 1943, Brady and Stringer were released by the Germans and kept in readiness for Operation Osprey. Subsequently they volunteered for the Waffen-SS and underwent training in occupied Alsace-Lorraine. In January 1944, they were recruited to SS Jager Battaillon 502, a special forces unit under the command of Otto Skorzeny.

In late 1944, Brady was involved in Operation Landfried (behind the lines operations in Romania) and in Operation Panzerfaust, the raid on Budapest to prevent Admiral Horthy siding with the Russians. He also fought at Schwedt on Oder with Skorzeny's ad hoc division in January 1945, and was wounded at the Zehden bridgehead in March. He subsequently fought in the Battle of Berlin.

He surrendered to the British Army in 1946 and was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. He was released in 1950 and returned to Ireland

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusilier_James_Brady

[harry palmer]

During the Second World War, two young Irishmen served in the armed forces of Nazi Germany, swearing the oath of the Waffen-SS and wearing the organisation's uniform and even its distinctive blood group tattoo.Ironically these young men had originally joined an Irish regiment of the British army, and but for a twist of fate would have ended up fighting against the Germans. Instead, the pair were recruited to the German special forces after they were captured on the island of Jersey.Under the command of Otto Skorzeny, the man who rescued Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from a mountain top prison, they were involved in some of the most ferocious fighting of the war in the last days of the Third Reich.This account, which also covers some of the other Irishmen who sided with Nazi Germany, draws heavily on their own accounts and on state papers which have been released in recent years.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hitlers-Irishme ... 1856355896

[harry palmer]

Hitler's Irishmen