British Free Corps

The British Free Corps (formerly the British Legion of St George) were a paramilitary unit made up of British prisoners of war who had defected to the Axis Powers.

The British Legion of St George (or BLSG) was formed at some point in August 1943 by John Amery, a British fascist and traitor, who convinced the Nazis to let him travel to a POW camp in Genshagen, a suburb in Berlin, and convince British POWs to fight for the Axis in World War II. Despite Amery's efforts, and relocations to another district and eventually Luckenwalde, only he and recruit Kenneth Berry stayed in the BLSG, and it was remade into the British Free Corps (or BFC) in 1944, at which point Amery left.

The BFC continued to change location constantly as the actions of the Allies resulted in different areas needing their assistance. It was commanded by the "Big Six", a group of six of the most suited defectors, namely Thomas Haller Cooper, Roy Courlander, Edwin Barnard Martin, George Frank McLardy, Alfred Minchin and John Wilson. Other key figures were Hans Werner Roepke, Walter Kühlich and Alexander Dolezalek, the BFC's liaisons with the Schutzstaffel''. ''Other members included Berry, Douglas Berneville-Clay, William Brittain and Eric Reginald Pleasants.

Eventually, the Axis began to fall, and as it did, the BFC was slowly torn apart, with more and more members being captured. In the end, the Wehrmacht abandoned the BFC, and the last two remaining members, Cooper and another man, Fred Croft, surrendered to British forces.

After the war, Amery was hanged, whilst Berry, Cooper, Courlander, Martin, McLardy, Minchin, Berneville-Clay, Brittain and Pleasants were imprisoned. The fate of Wilson, Roepke, Kühlich and Dolezalek is not known.