Wikipedia
Ostlegionen ("eastern legions"), Ost-Bataillone ("eastern battalions"), Osttruppen ("eastern troops"), Osteinheiten ("eastern units") were military units in the Heer (army) of Nazi Germany, during World War II that were made up of personnel from countries comprising the Soviet Union. They represented a major subset within a broader use of use of non-German forces by the Wehrmacht (which, apart from the Heer, included the Waffen SS).
Some members of these units were conscripted or coerced into serving, whilst others volunteered. Many were former Soviet personnel, recruited from prisoner of war camps. Osttruppen were frequently stationed away from front lines and used for coastal defence or rear-area activities, such as anti-partisan operations, thus freeing up regular Axis forces for front line service.
They belonged to two distinct types of units:
- Ost-Bataillone were composed of various nationalities, raised mostly amongst POWs captured in Eastern Europe, who had been formed into battalion-sized units, which were integrated individually into German combat formations, and;
- Ostlegionen were larger foreign legion-type units raised amongst members of a specific ethnic minority or minorities, and comprising multiple battalions.
Members of Osteinheiten usually faced execution or harsh terms of imprisonment, if they were captured by Soviet forces or repatriated to the USSR by the western Allies.