Hitlers Irishmen!

[karlo]

two irishmen beat up stalins son in a concentration camp
...think thats mad!?!?!?
its true....

Hitlers Irishmen is an interesting read

[Daniele C]

Karlo,

Im reading the book on the Luas right now and im half way!It s not too bad!There were more than 2 that worked with Abwher,etc.Ex British Army that caused a bit of troubles in the british Army and were imprisoned in Guernsey and then "Liberated" by the germans....

[Napalm]

I would love to beat the sh1t out of most of the feckers on the Luas as well :-) I take the Tallaght line to the square...:-)

[paddywhack]

i read that they tried to recruit a irish ss division but recruiters got beatin up by the lads they tried to recruit!!!

[Michael Fay]

i read that they tried to recruit a irish ss division but recruiters got beatin up by the lads they tried to recruit!!!

OK, I would like to know some more about this....anything to do with with the so-called Irish fascist movements like the Blue Shirts?
I never got much info on the Irish aspect of WWII, but I made sure to not forget about these movements for further research some day.
Can you imagine what kind of tab an SS Irish division would have had?
I imagine Himmler would have picked the image himself and used the stylized image of crossed Shillelaghs(walking sticks and clubs) or the Celtic Harp, or of course, the Shamrock.

[paddywhack]

id say they would have used a harp! il dig out the book where i read it! it was jackals of reich a book on the british ss volunteers !

[karlo]

interesting book

[Michael Fay]

id say they would have used a harp! il dig out the book where i read it! it was jackals of reich a book on the british ss volunteers !

The harp symbol makes sense, as Himmler had research done on old traditional musical instruments...really the Celtic Harp would have appealed to his romantic notions.
Will have to look more into this .
Thanks to all

[Napalm]

James Brady hailed from an agricultural family in rural Ireland. He was born Roscommon on the 20th may 1920, his mother dying when he was young, and he enlisted in the British Army in Liverpool in December 1938.
After he completed his basic training, Brady was posted in May 1939 to join the Royal Irish Fusiliers, who were then stationed on the Island of Guernsey. In the same month, he and Fusilier Frank Stringer got drunk, smashed up a pub and punched a policeman who had come to arrest them. For this offence Brady received a sentence of eighteen months hard labour, Stringer the more experienced soldier got twenty-one months. Both were to serve their sentences in the local prison.
Thus in July, when the Germans took control of the island, they became prisoners of war. In September they were moved to a temporary POW facility near Saint-Lo in Normandy. There they remained until December when the entire camp was shifted to Luckenwalde and shortly afterwards, on to Lamsdorff, where they joined a road making gang.
In May 1941, about fifty Irish POW's including Brady and Stringer, were segregated in a camp at Friesak under the supervision of Abwekr (counterintelligence) as the nucleus of the 'Irish Brigade'. They were a mixture of officers and other ranks, which were all volunteers in the British Army and were the forerunner of the British Free Corps.
In September 1941 Brady volunteered to fight for Germany against communism, and was then sent to Berlin where he underwent specialist training, bomb making and espionage operations. Stringer also underwent this course under the Abwehr. In September 1943 Brady was given the choice of service in the Armed Forces and release from the Abwehr.
Brady and Stringer reported to an office on the Scheerstrasse where they were inducted into the Waffen SS European Volunteers training camp at Sennheim in Alsace. They were issued with uniforms, had their blood groups tattooed on their left arms, and they went through a course of basic infantry training that lasted until march 1944. Deemed to specialist for the British Free Corp with all their specialist knowledge, Brady, Stringer and 30 others were informed they had been selected for training as part of a Special Forces commando unit. Shortly afterwards they were sent to a training camp at Friedenthal, near Berlin. The unit that they had joined had been set up as a direct result of Otto Skorzenys successful rescue of Mussolini. SS-Jagerbatallion 502. The training course that they joined followed a curriculum that will be familiar to any soldier who has served in commando or special force units. They received instruction in small arms, map reading, grenades, explosives and anti-tank warfare for more than three months before they were deemed ready to join an operational unit - in they case SS-Jagdverbande Mitte. Bored as simple infantrymen, no matter that it was with a special purpose unit, both requested that they receive a posting in accordance with their virtually unique abilities. To this end they were sent back to Friedenthal from where they were dispatched, with a group of fifty others, to conduct a scorched earth operation in Rumania, destroying road and rail bridges in the face of the advancing Red Army. Their task lasted for a mere three weeks but by the end of it the unit had been reduced to 22 survivors, including Brady and Stringer, who were able to return to Friedenthal for two weeks rest.
Operation Panzerfaust, the last meaningful special operation conducted on the Eastern Front, took place in Budapest in October 1944. Its background lay in the likelihood that erstwhile ally Hungary, under the dictator Admiral Horhy, seemed likely to sue for an armistice with the Russians. The operation was only in the reconnaissance stage when, on 30th august; Horhy dismissed his pro-German cabinet, and sent a Hungarian Field Marshall to Moscow to make peace. Panzerfaust was a complex plan, requiring amongst other things, the kidnapping of Horhy's son by SD officers, Brady and Stringer, as members of 2 company of Jagdverbande Mitte, had to storm the citadel - the Burgberg - in central Budapest and arrest Horhy himself. The operation was a complete success, Himmler himself told the German Finance Minister Schwerin Von Krosigk, that in the course of the last year, ' I have learned to believe in miracles again'.
Following the success of Panzerfaust, 2 company of Jagdverbande Mitte rested in Berlin, whilst their colleagues of 1 company disguised as American Soldiers took part in the 'Trojan Horse' operation during the Battle of the Bulge.
Then came the final battle for Berlin. In the days that followed the Nordland Division, with its British Free Corps volunteers fought to a standstill amidst the ruins of the city, alongside elderly Volksstrum men, young Hitler youths and foreign volunteers who included a French SS Brigade, a Spanish SS Battalion and James Brady and Frank Stringer. Only a handful survived, indeed it is most likely Frank Stringer laid down his life in the defence of Europe, on the battlefield in soviet captivity, as all records of him now cease.
James Brady's journey to the last battle was an eventful one. After the rescue of Admiral Horhy, his unit returned to Berlin until January 1945, but the imminent arrival of the Russians meant that even Special Forces had to be thrown into the battle as standard infantry. Along with the rest of his company Brady found himself holding the Schwedt bridgehead against powerful Soviet attacks. They hung on until the end of February when they were evacuated to a position on the Oder, where a couple of days later Brady was wounded during a Russian counter attack. Whilst he was convalescing he was attached to a training team teaching policemen how to use anti-tank weapons, before returning to the Oder on the 25th march where he was promoted to Sturmann. Two days later his unit was all but wiped out in a Russian attack and Brady himself was wounded in the head, causing him to be evacuated to Grunau where he remained until the Soviets arrived. He evaded capture and escaped from Grunau and made his way to Berlin where he was given the rank of Rottenfuhrer and took part in the last battle for the capture of the Reich.
During the Berlin fighting, Brady received his third and final wound in the service of the Waffen SS when he was hit in the legs by shrapnel; injuries that put him in a German military hospital until 10th may when it was overrun by the Soviets. Even so, he escaped from Russian captivity and went underground for over a year living on his wits and with the help of other SS Veterans, until he turned himself to the British Authorities in Berlin in September 1946, sixteen months after the end of the war. Unterscharfuhrer of the SS Jagdverbande James Brady was court-martialled in Curzon Street, Mayfair, London in December 1946, he was jailed for 12 years.

[Daniele C]

The Irish joined to form the BRITISH FREE KORP but it never reach even a platoon level....

The book says about some irish that were trained to be spys but some when back in ireland went to the brits and help them instead.So they canceled this Program.

there were no irish symbol for those who joined the SS.

Apparently James Brady used a fake name to join the british army.

[Old Smelly]

OK, ?
I imagine Himmler would have picked the image himself and used the stylized image of crossed Shillelaghs(walking sticks and clubs) or the Celtic Harp, or of course, the Shamrock.

These would all make sense but don't forget the spud, or maybe the collar tabs could have had a white line across the top to look like a pint
Lee

[münster]

I ran into some irish nazi podium banners, it was very nicely done. i have no idea what it was and maybe should have picked it up, interesting subject!

[Der Stahlhelm]

Hitler's Irishmen

Just finished the book this afternoon....worth reading !

[fozz]

irish nazis

My mate told me his dad fought for Franco during the Spanish Civil War and he has a picture of him in a German uniform. The beret he is wearing, in the photo has the Irish harp cap badge!! Keep badgering him for the photo

[leibermuster]

These would all make sense but don't forget the spud, or maybe the collar tabs could have had a white line across the top to look like a pint
Lee

All the White power kids in the US use a celtic cross as a symbol. It seems like that may have been appropriate back then as well.
Does the book say whether the Irishmen were Catholics or something else?