Bevo-woven manufacture with inscription “Georgien”, unissued condition. Condition 2+.
Price per piece EUR 150.--.
The Georgian Legion was established by the Wehrmacht at the Mitte training ground near Radom in the General Government of Poland. It comprised over 12,000 soldiers serving in 12 battalions, each consisting of approximately 800 soldiers in five companies. Additionally, there were about 3,000 soldiers serving as German cadre personnel. The commander was Georgian Major General Schalwa Maglakelidse, Governor General of Tiflis from 1919 to 1920. He was assisted by a German command staff subordinated to the Command of the Eastern Legions.
Units of the Georgian Legion were deployed in 1943 initially in the northern Caucasus, then in Crimea, and from 1944 in France and the Netherlands.
In November 1943, the Army High Command considered dissolving Georgian Field Battalion I./9 due to “unreliability” after the 10th Company deserted. However, it was transferred partly by air and partly by sea to Crimea and deployed at various locations in railway security service. On April 15, 1944, it was evacuated by sea to Romania. Railway transport to France and deployment in Mazamet and Agen in railway security service. From August 19, 1944, in retreat, the unit capitulated on August 31, 1944, in the Ardèche Department to the Allies.
Georgian Infantry Battalion 822 led the Georgian Uprising on Texel in the Netherlands in April 1945.
List of Units of the Georgian Legion
Battalion 795 “Schalwa Maglakelidse” – Combat operations: 1942 in North Ossetia, 1943 in France
Battalion 796 – Combat operation: 1942–1943 in Tuapse, northern Caucasus
Battalion 797 “Giorgi Saakadse” – Combat operation: 1943–1944 in France
Battalion 798 “King Irakli II. Bagrationi” – Combat operation: 1943–1944 in France
Battalion 799 “King David Bagrationi-Agamaschenebli” – Combat operation: 1943–1944 in France
Battalion 822 “Queen Tamara” – Combat operations: 1943–1944 in France, Texel Island, Netherlands
Battalion 823 “Schota Rustaweli”
Battalion 824 “Ilia Tschawtschawadse” – Combat operation: 1944 in Lviv, Poland
In total, approximately 30,000 Georgians served in the ranks of the Wehrmacht.
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