The 11th SS "Nordland" Volunteer Mechanized Infantry Division formed on the cadre of the Nordland Regiment, stripped from the Wiking Division and disbanded, to which more West European volunteers were added from the former legions and new recruits to form the 23rd "Norge" and 24th "Danmark" Mechanized Infantry Regiments. Ethnic Germans, principally from Romania filled over half the ranks of these regiments, as well as most of the artillery regiment and the battalions of tank, armored reconnaissance, engineer, antitank, antiaircraft and signal troops. A third planned mechanized infantry regiment of Dutch volunteers instead formed the basis for the 4th SS "Nederland" Brigade and 23rd SS Division (q.v.). As the best division, although never an elite one, forming with the III SS Armored Corps, this division fought hard on the North Russian front at Oranienbaum, Narva and Courland. It later fought east of Berlin and in part within the city center itself. After March of 1945, it lacked sufficient infantry replacements to serve as an effective division, however.
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