Legion of French Volunteers – Fight for Europe
The Légion des volontaires français (LVF) was a collaborationist military unit composed of Frenchmen who fought for the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War, ostensibly to defend Europe against Bolshevism. It was later redesignated the Waffen-SS “Charlemagne” Brigade named after the legendary medieval Frankish King Charlemagne. The LVF originated as an independent initiative by a coalition of far-right factions in Vichy France who were disillusioned with the liberalism of the Third Republic.
The Charlemagne Brigade distinguished itself in the Battle of Berlin in 1945, where it remained as one of the last units fending off an insurmountable Soviet onslaught. In a powerful demonstration of chivalric gallantry befitting of their namesake, the Charlemagne Brigade made a last stand at the Reich chancellery, destroying 108 Soviet tanks in the process. Indeed, the last active defenders in the immediate surroundings of Hitler’s Führerbunker complex were none other than these Frenchmen. Eugene Vaulot, a 21-year-old Parisian who volunteered to partake in the defense of Berlin, knocked out 6 Soviet tanks on the 30th of April above the very bunker complex where Hitler would take his own life on the same day. Vaulot was shot and killed 2 days later by a Red Army sniper. It is a thought-provoking twist of fate that a patriotic band of Frenchmen should willingly serve as Hitler’s last line of defense.
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The Légion des volontaires français (LVF) was a collaborationist military unit composed of Frenchmen who fought for the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War, ostensibly to defend Europe against Bolshevism. It was later redesignated the Waffen-SS “Charlemagne” Brigade named after the legendary medieval Frankish King Charlemagne. The LVF originated as an independent initiative by a coalition of far-right factions in Vichy France who were disillusioned with the liberalism of the Third Republic.
The Charlemagne Brigade distinguished itself in the Battle of Berlin in 1945, where it remained as one of the last units fending off an insurmountable Soviet onslaught. In a powerful demonstration of chivalric gallantry befitting of their namesake, the Charlemagne Brigade made a last stand at the Reich chancellery, destroying 108 Soviet tanks in the process. Indeed, the last active defenders in the immediate surroundings of Hitler’s Führerbunker complex were none other than these Frenchmen. Eugene Vaulot, a 21-year-old Parisian who volunteered to partake in the defense of Berlin, knocked out 6 Soviet tanks on the 30th of April above the very bunker complex where Hitler would take his own life on the same day. Vaulot was shot and killed 2 days later by a Red Army sniper. It is a thought-provoking twist of fate that a patriotic band of Frenchmen should willingly serve as Hitler’s last line of defense.
