Editing British Free Corps (section)

==Formation==
[[File:BFCgroup.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Two early recruits to the BFC: [[Kenneth Berry (British Free Corps)|Kenneth Berry]] (second left) and [[Alfred Minchin]] (second right), with German officers, April 1944]]
The idea for the British Free Corps came from [[John Amery]], a [[British Fascism|British fascist]], son of the serving British [[Secretary of State for India]], [[Leo Amery]]. John Amery travelled to Berlin in October 1942, and proposed to the Germans the formation of a British volunteer force to help fight the [[Bolshevik]]s. The British volunteer force was to be modelled after the {{lang|fr|[[Légion des volontaires français contre le bolchévisme]]}} (Legion of French Volunteers against Bolshevism), a [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France|French collaborationist]] force fighting with the German {{lang|de|Wehrmacht}}. In addition to touting the idea of a British volunteer force, Amery actively tried to recruit Britons. He made a series of pro-German [[propaganda]] radio broadcasts, appealing to his fellow countrymen to join the war on communism.

The first recruits to the Corps came from a group of [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] (POWs) at a 'holiday camp' set up by the Germans in [[Genshagen]], a suburb of Berlin, in August 1943.<ref>Weale (2014), Kindle Location 1948.</ref> In November 1943, they were moved to a requisitioned café in the [[Pankow]] district of Berlin.<ref>Weale (2014), Kindle Location 2002.</ref> Recruits also came from an interrogation camp at [[Luckenwalde]] in late 1943.<ref>Weale (2014), Kindle Location 2083.</ref> The Corps became a military unit on 1 January 1944, under the name 'The British Free Corps'.<ref>Weale (2014), Kindle Locations 2172–2173.</ref> In the first week of February 1944, the BFC moved to the St Michaeli Kloster in [[Hildesheim]], a small town near [[Hanover]].<ref>Weale (2014), Kindle Location 2264.</ref> Uniforms were issued on 20 April 1944 (Hitler's 55th birthday).<ref>Weale (2014), Kindle Location 2331.</ref> On 11 October 1944, the Corps was moved to the {{lang|de|Waffen-SS}} Pioneer school in [[Dresden]], to start military training for service on the Eastern Front.<ref>Weale (2014), Kindle Locations 2529–2530, 2793.</ref> On 24 February 1945, they travelled from Dresden to Berlin, where they stayed in a requisitioned school on the [[Schönhauser Allee]].<ref>Weale (2014), Kindle Locations 2979–2980.</ref> On 8 March 1945, they were moved to the village of [[Niemegk]], a few miles to the south-west of Berlin.<ref>Weale (2014), Kindle Location 3007.</ref>

Recruiting for the Free Corps was done in German POW camps. In 1944, leaflets were distributed to the POWs, and the unit was mentioned in ''Camp'', the official POW newspaper published in Berlin. The unit was promoted "as a thoroughly volunteer unit, conceived and created by British subjects from all parts of the Empire who have taken up arms and pledged their lives in the common European struggle against Soviet Russia".

The attempted recruitment of POWs was done amid German fear of the Soviets; the Germans were "victims of their own propaganda" and thought that their enemies were as worried about the Soviets as they were. In one Dutch camp, cigarettes, fruit, and other items were lavished on the POWs while they listened to Nazi propaganda officers who described the good that the Germans were doing in Europe, then asked the men to join in fighting the real enemy, the Soviets.<ref name="The Toronto Daily Star">{{cite news |last1=Kinmond |first1=William |title=Nazis' 'British Free Corps' One Of Their Bigger Flops |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jPE6AAAAIBAJ&pg=2971,11553908&dq=british+free+corps&hl=en |work=The Toronto Daily Star |page=18 |date=8 September 1945}}</ref>