When Himmler decided to convert the western SS legions to Waffen-SS units, he ordered the Flemish formed into a separate brigade, to avoid nationalistic complications of integrating them with either the Dutch brigade or the Scandinavian "Nordland" Division. The resulting 6th SS "Langemarck" Volunteer Assault Brigade formed on May 31 with two infantry battalions (only one operational initially) and separate companies of infantry, assault gun, anti-aircraft, and anti-tank troops, all of these motorized. Assigned as a reinforcement to the SS "Das Reich" Division in 1944, the Flemish brigade performed well in tough fighting around Tarnopol and contributed to the defensive success in stopping the winter offensive. Another battalion fought as a reinforcement with the III (Germanic) SS Corps on the Narva front that summer. In October, the brigade began reforming as the 27th SS "Langemarck" Volunteer Mechanized Infantry Division, with three regiments, numbered 66-68, each of two battalions, an anti-tank company and a support company of infantry guns and mortars. In addition, the SS planned to form an artillery regiment, a mixed battalion with assault guns, heavy and light anti-aircraft batteries, a fusilier company, and support troops. In the final months of the war, only a regimental sized battle group could be formed and it fought with the III Germanic Corps in West Prussia in March and April, carrying out its last operations alongside the Walloon volunteers in the Stettin region. The survivors moved west and surrendered to British forces near Schwerin, joining the bulk of the "division," which had not left its training camps.
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