The 7th SS "Landstorm Nederland" Volunteer Infantry Brigade, as finally organized on November 1, 1944 incorporated the former Landstorm into the 83rd Infantry Regiment, and new recruits and an SS Wachtbataillon into the 84th Infantry Regiment. As collaborators filed into the remaining German-controlled parts of the Netherlands, many were recruited or coerced into the brigade, causing the Germans to raise it to division status in February 1945 as the 34th SS "Landstorm Nederland" Infantry Division. However, the Dutch volunteers primarily filled the infantry ranks and odd German units were grafted into the formation as makeshift artillery and support units. After the opening skirmishes with British forces during the Arnhem operation and an ironic encounter with the Princess Irene Brigade of the Free Dutch forces, the Landstorm troops settled into quiet security duty in the interior of German-occupied Holland.
|