Ring of the Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen

This volunteer combat battalion of the Waffen SS saw action on the Eastern Front during WWII. Many Finns were already serving with the SS Divsion Wiking, but this battalion, formed in 1941, was staffed with Finnish officers and NCO’s while Wiking was commanded by Germans. The battalion was made up of 1,200 Finnish volunteers who signed up to fight the Sovient Union for two years. After initial training in Vienna, the batalion was transferred to Stralsund in June 1941, and at the beginning of August, to the infantry barracks at Cross-Born, Pomerania for more training and where it was attached to SS Division Wiking. The battalion was sent to the Eastern Front in January 1942 forming the vanguard of the furthest south made by the Germans during the campaign, reaching the Grozny oil field in a heroic action, although badly outnumbered, but then were pushed back by the Reds. In May 1943, the battalion was transferred away from the Front, as the two years was at an end, and was disbanded in July 1943. Many members of the battalion wanted to further serve in the Waffen SS and they joined the SS Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier Division Nordland or SS Standarte Kurt Eggers. The battalion was praised by many Waffen SS Commanders, even by Heinrich Himmler, for its combat performance. Himmler said, “Where a Finnish SS man stood, the enemy was always defeated.” The ring is a smaller dimension style, but bold looking nonetheless. It has the eagle and swastika. The swastika, of course, was used as a symbol of Finland as the official national marking between 1918 and April 1, 1945 and it was used by the Finnish Air Force. So, it was only natural that the Finnish volunteers would have used the Germanic eagle with swastika as their symbol. The ring is in tip-top condition. This is a very rare ring.