TIME and again contradictory information about numbers and battle feats of the British detachment in SS Waffen, which included several Australians, keep turning out in various books and Internet publications. For example till recently one could have come across allegations or speculations that this group of people took part in the defence of Berlin in April-May 1945.
The most comprehensive data based on document declassified in 1980-90-ties was given in the book “Renegades: Hitler’s Englishmen (Adrian Weale, 1994). This page is based on that book. It has to be emphasized that this story does not relate to the other group of the British renegades, which took part in Nazi propaganda war targeted against Great Britain.
This detachment commenced formation in the second half of 1943 when the strategic-military situation of Germany had greatly deteriorated. Volunteer POWs from Great Britain and her dominions became the main source of servicemen for the detachment. The first Commander of the Corps was Hauptsturmfurer SS Hans Werner Roepke an English-speaking German.