The Corps () was a unit of the Waffen SS during World War II consisting of British and Dominion prisoners of war who had been recruited by the Nazis. The Corps used the SS rank structure. The column 'MI5 no.' refers to the number allocated to the member in question in MI5's Report on the British Free Corps dated 27 March 1945, which is printed in Appendix 1 of 'Renegades'.Weale, Adrian (2014-11-12). Renegades (Kindle Locations 3505-3506). Random House. Kindle Edition. Starting in February 1944, BFC members were ordered to adopt aliases for official purposes, although several declined to do so.Weale, Adrian (2014-11-12). Renegades (Kindle Locations 2289-2290). Random House. Kindle Edition.
After the War, some members of the Corps were prosecuted. Of those members, those who had been serving in the armed forces were court-martialed, while the merchant seamen and other civilians were tried in the Old Bailey. The column 'Seymer Category' refers to a list prepared by Colonel Vivian Home Seymer of MI5 on 30 August 1945 and which is held in file KV 2/2828, entitled 'The British Free Corps. Papers about the military unit established by the German authorities to exploit renegade British prisoners of war' in the National Archives.
Another list, containing at least 165 names, appears in Richard Landwehr, Britisches Freikorps PP77–88, Lulu, 2008. . However the author records many members of the Corps separately under their real names and their aliases, as set out in the list below: Wilhelm August 'Bob' RösslerWeale, Adrian (2014-11-12). Renegades (Kindle Location 154). Random House. Kindle Edition (4), Walter Plauen (100) (an alias used in 'Jackals of the Reich' PP 20 ff for "Hauptmann Werner Plack of the England Committee … Amery's aide-cum-minder") Weale, Adrian (2014-11-12). Renegades (Kindle Locations 1085–1087). Random House. Kindle Edition. and ‘Fred’ StürmerWeale, Adrian (2014-11-12). Renegades (Kindle Locations 2804–2805). Random House. Kindle Edition (156) (who appears on page 106 of 'Jackals of the Reich' as Captain Harry Mehner (106)) who were Germans connected with the Corps. Men who served in other German units (see list below), without citing any reference stating that they were also in the British Free Corps. John Amery (1), George Logio (86) and Maurice Tunmer (90), who were involved with the 'Legion of St George', a forerunner of the Corps 'Tunmer, through contacts in the French Resistance, was organizing a journey across the Pyrenees so that he could travel to Britain and join de Gaulle's Free French forces in England.'Weale, Adrian (2014-11-12). Renegades (Kindle Locations 1208–1210). Random House. Kindle Edition. Raymond Davies Hughes (47), Arthur Chapple (52), Carl Hoskins (159), R. Spillman (161), William Humphrey Griffiths (163) who were 'Service renegades [who had] been employed in editing, writing scripts, and broadcasting for the enemy, and in certain cases the same men [were] also employed in journalism'.Weale, Adrian (2014-11-12). Renegades (Kindle Locations 3649-3661). Random House. Kindle Edition. – this category also covers Railton Freeman and Walter Purdy who also served in the SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers. Gordon Bowler (20), John Henry Owen Brown DCM (49) (a British espionage agent), Douglas Maylin (76), Joseph Trinder (84) and RAF Bombardier Marshall (85), who had all been on the ‘staff’ at a 'holiday camp' set up by the Germans in Genshagen, a suburb of Berlin, in August 1943Weale, Adrian (2014-11-12). Renegades (Kindle Locations 3181-3182). Random House. Kindle Edition. – Maylin decided to join the Corps but was prevented from doing so by Thomas Haller Cooper. Sgt. Cushing (60), Pte. Walsh (61), Pte. O’Brien (62) and Pte. Murphy (63), "four Irishmen who ... eventually found themselves incarcerated in a special compound of Sachsenhausen concentration camp as German doubts about their essential loyalties grew. The Germans were right to be sceptical: none of the four had any real intention of working for the Nazis ... they finished the war with no stain on their characters."Weale, Adrian (2014-11-12). Renegades (Kindle Locations 1503–1507). Random House. Kindle Edition. See Friesack Camp#Training. John WelchWeale, Adrian (2014-11-12). Renegades (Kindle Location 2041). Random House. Kindle Edition. (92), who was on the 'staff' of an interrogation camp at Luckenwalde. 'Lieutenant Tyndal of the US Army Air Corps – this man is referred to as 'Lieutenant Tyndall' on page 80 of 'Jackals of the Reich', whose author states on page 10 that he has 'given every man a pseudonym'. This may be a reference to Martin James Monti, but Landwehr gives no reference that he was either a British subject or a member of the British Free Corps. Harold Cole (158), a British soldier who assisted and later betrayed the French Resistance during World War II, and who was killed while resisting arrest after the war ended. He cites no reference that Cole was a member of the Corps.
List of members MI5 no. BFC Rank Surname Forename Alias Details Sentence MI5 Cat.Allocated by Colonel Vivian Home Seymer of MI5 Jackals of the Reich British Rank Unit/Ship Landwehr number 1.N/A SS-Mann Alexander William J. Clyde "arrived towards the end of September 1944... a Glaswegian … the victim of compulsion because of his sexual liaisons with a German girl" "Tough, tattooed". He was selected to box for the SS pioneers against the SS police in Prague in late 1944, but lost his bout. Planned to leave with Cowie, January 1945Weale, Adrian (2014-11-12). Renegades (Kindle Location 2933). Random House. Kindle Edition. Sent to the isolation camp at DrönnewitzWeale, Adrian (2014-11-12). Renegades (Kindle Locations 2523-2524, 2873, 2950). Random House. Kindle Edition. Home Office file – HO 45/25835"in the middle of 1946 ... called to an MI5 office and given a severe warning as to [his] future conduct". – Passed to DPS (sic) for consideration, August 1945 IVP105 – Pte Clyde (a corporal in the Highland Light Infantry) Private – 3314447 Highland Light Infantry 3. 128. 'Corporal Clyde' 2.N/A SS-Mann Axon Frank Atkins In late February 1945 ‘the last volunteer came forward. Frank Axon, from Crewe, had been taken prisoner in Greece in April 1941 ... Since then he had been employed as an agricultural labourer in detachments centred around Stalag XVIII-A at Wolfsberg in Austria, where in February 1945 he was accused of striking a cow, causing it to calve early. Threatened with punishment for this he was offered the alternative of joining the BFC which, unbelievable as it may seem, he accepted.’Weale, Adrian (2014-11-12). Renegades (Kindle Locations 2981-2984). Random House. Kindle Edition. Court martial papers – WO 71/11232 years’ imprisonment with hard labour at a court-martial"News in Brief." Times, London, England 10 Jan. 1946: 2. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 18 Feb. 2015. VIP143 – "Ronald Atkins, a driver in the RAMC", P164 re sentence Lance-corporal – 182828 Royal Army Service Corps 26. 3. 18 SS-Mann Barker Ronald Voysey ‘entirely seduced by the prospect of more food, alcohol, tobacco and, above all, the opportunity to associate with women. Described by Cooper as ‘a man of very inferior intelligence’, he was an Australian, from Goulburn, New South Wales, and was captured on his ship by the German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer in the Indian Ocean in 1941.’ Retrieved Cowie & Co. Shortly after 8/3/45 ‘Finally realizing that the British Free Corps was going to have to fight, Barker lost all of his former enthusiasm for anti-Communism and made himself ill by smoking aspirins; he was sent back to Berlin by a gullible medical officer.’ Took off towards Bremen, 9 April 1945Weale, Adrian (2014-11-12). Renegades (Kindle Locations 2360-2366, 2946, 3009-3011, 3187). Random House. Kindle Edition. Home Office file – HO 45/25822"Assisting The Enemy Charge." Times, London, England, 24 Dec. 1945: 2. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 18 Feb. 2015.