It was formed in German-occupied Norway on 29 June 1941, in support of the war aims of Nazi Germany.

Instead, the unit was deployed to Northern Russia in the occupied Soviet Union, in the Army Group North Rear Area.

This was done by the Germans to avoid reinforcing any Norwegian territorial claims to the Kola peninsula and the Finnish Petsamo region, which were desired by the Quisling regime.

[1] Initially, Quisling hoped to deploy over 30,000 Norwegian legionaries to Finnish Lapland, but this was rejected by both the Germans and the Finns.

[2] Coming under the control of the 2 SS Infantry Brigade, the Legion was stationed at Krasnoye Selo near Leningrad in February 1942.