The East Came West: Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist Volunteers in the German Armed Forces, 1941–1945

During the Second World War tens of thousands of West Europeans volunteered for service in the German Army under the banner of anticommunism. It is amazing that so many Europeans were willing to assist the Third Reich. More fantastic still, is the fact that in the east, where the Nazi racial theorists claimed lived the majority of the so-called "Untermenschen" (sub-humans), the Nazis were to recruit close to two million of these men as volunteers. These were Soviet citizens and Arabs from the Middle East who donned the field grey uniform of the German Army and fought for the Third Reich. More remarkable is the fact that tens of thousands of these volunteers considered themselves followers of Islam, Hinduism, and even Buddhism! They fought alongside the German soldier, mostly until the bitter end of the war. The reasons why they did so are as varied as they are fascinating. This is the intriguing story of these men and the units in which they served.