The Flemish Legion (Dutch: Vlaams Legioen, pronounced [ˈvlaːms leːɣiˈjun]) was a collaborationist military formation recruited among Dutch-speaking volunteers from German-occupied Belgium, notably from Flanders, during World War II.

It was formed in the aftermath of the German invasion of the Soviet Union and fought on the Eastern Front in the Waffen SS alongside similar formations from other parts of German-occupied Western Europe.

There were several political parties in Belgium at the time of the German invasion in May 1940 that were broadly sympathetic to the authoritarian and anti-democratic ideals represented by Nazi Germany.

Hoping to expand its support in Flanders and influenced by Nazi racial ideals, it adopted the so-called Flamenpolitik which gave preferential treatment to the Flemish population over the French-speaking Walloons in areas such as the repatriation of Belgian prisoners of war.

After the start of the occupation, it shifted its ideological position to be more compatible with Nazi ideas and suspended demands for Flemish secession from Belgium.

[3] In the first months of the occupation, the VNV's privileged position was increasingly challenged by smaller and more radically collaborationist groups including the Algemeene-SS Vlaanderen and DeVlag which embraced Nazi ideology and were more explicitly pro-German.

[4] In September 1940, the Algemeene-SS Vlaanderen announced its intention to recruit Flemish volunteers for the Waffen-SS, initially sent to the SS-Division Wiking.

[5] The German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 expanded the activities of collaborationist groups in Belgium and elsewhere in German-occupied Europe.

On 8 July 1941, the VNV announced its intention to recruit a "Flemish Legion" to fight as part of the German forces on the Eastern Front.

It was advertised that the unit would be commanded by Flemish officers, and volunteers who had previously served in the Belgian Army were told that they would be able to retain past ranks and privileges.

The first signs of dissatisfaction began to emerge as it became apparent that the unit would actually be commanded purely by Germans and that many of the other promises made during the recruitment campaign would not be kept.

[9] In practice, the autonomy of the Flemish Legion would be increasingly ignored by the German military authorities and the VNV was unable to protest without compromising its own political position.

According to the historian David Littlejohn, "the Germans were anxious to convey the impression of a semi-independent national unit" but the distinction was always illusory and was eventually abandoned in 1943.

The Flemish Legion was declared to be battleworthy and was deployed to the sector around Leningrad in November 1941 to participate in the military blockade of the city which had begun two months earlier.

Reimond Tollenaere, a leading figure within the VNV who had enlisted in the unit, was killed in a friendly fire incident in the same month.

Fighting alongside the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich, the brigade participated in the heavy defensive battles in the region of Kiev and Zhitomir.

KG Rehmann, consisting of the Langemarck's 2nd battalion was sent to the Narva front to become a part of Felix Steiner's III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps which was defending the Tannenberg Line.

Over the next few months, Langemarck, along with the remainder of Steiner's Corps, executed a fighting withdrawal into the Kurland Pocket, the brigade being in combat for much of the retreat.

In September 1944, the remains of KG Rehmann were evacuated by ferry over the Baltic to Swinemünde and joined the rest of the Brigade.

The offensive had been conceived by Generaloberst Heinz Guderian as a massed assault all along the front, but had then been reduced by Hitler to the level of a local counterattack.