John Amery

John Amery (14 March 1912-19 December 1945) was a British traitor, Nazi propagandist and founder of the British Legion of St George, the group that later became the British Free Corps.

Bio
John Amery was born in Chelsea in 1912 to British statesman Leopold Stennett Amery and a Jewish woman, Florence Greenwood. A difficult child, Amery attempted to make a living as a filmmaker when he was older, however all private film companies set up by Amery.

When he was 21, Amery married former prostitute Una Wing, however his career failings left him without money and he went bankrupt in 1936, moving to France. He met fascist Jacques Doriot in Paris, and was shown the effects of fascism, which they both embraced as an alternative to communism, by him. When the Nazi Party invaded France in 1940, Amery attempted to sign up to work for the Nazis in Germany but was unable to obtain a permit. In 1942, Amery received a permit from Werner Plack and travelled to Berlin, where he made several propaganda broadcasts and began trying to set up a paramilitary group to fight the British.

In 1943, Amery ran into Doriot again, and discovered he was a member of a Vichy French paramilitary organization fighting alongside the Nazis. This inspired Amery to form his paramilitary unit, the British Legion of St George, which would be comprised of British traitors such as himself and committed to fighting the allied forces. When the group was formed, there was a serious recruitment issue, resulting in Amery, former soldier Kenneth Berry and another traitor being the only members. This caused the BLST to be disbanded with immediate effect and re-formed into the British Freedom Corps, of which, out of the three BLST members, only Berry was a member of. Amery continued his propagandist job until the end of the war.

In 1944, Amery travelled to Italy in order to fight the US forces (backed by the Mafia) battling Benito Mussolini. However, Amery was captured by partisans, who realised he was British and handed over to the UK military. After being charged with treason, Amery initially claimed he was mentally ill, however he soon realised this line of defence would not work and pleaded guilty. Amery was hanged at Wandsworth prison in December 1945.