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While World War II is often depicted as a battle between the forces of good—the Allies—and the forces of evil—the Axis powers—history is filled with strange, dark, and unsettling stories that challenge the simple narratives we like to tell ourselves. One of the most disturbing of these stories involves a small but chilling group of individuals within the Allied forces: soldiers who, for various reasons, wanted Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany to triumph over the Allies. These men were not spies or traitors, but rather, soldiers whose ideological beliefs or personal convictions led them to side with the enemy.
This phenomenon is best understood through the lens of political and ideological extremism, with several known instances of disillusioned or radicalized soldiers within the Allied ranks who saw Hitler’s fascist regime as a preferable alternative to the status quo. Their motivations varied—some believed in the ideals of Nazism, others were drawn to the idea of a strong, centralized government, and some simply despised the political systems of the countries they were supposed to be fighting for. Whatever the reasons, these individuals created an uncomfortable and unsettling chapter in the history of World War II.
The British Fascists Who Wanted Nazi Victory
One of the most disturbing examples of this allegiance to Hitler can be found in Britain, where a group of radical right-wing extremists actively supported Nazi Germany during the war. This group, known as the British Union of Fascists (BUF), was led by Sir Oswald Mosley, a charismatic and controversial figure who admired Mussolini’s Italy and Hitler’s Germany. Mosley and many of his followers, including a number of military veterans, saw Hitler’s regime as a bulwark against communism and a potential solution to the social and economic issues Britain was facing in the aftermath of the Great Depression.
Although the BUF was officially outlawed in 1940 and its members were heavily surveilled by British authorities, many of its members continued to agitate for a Nazi victory. Some were even suspected of attempting to collaborate with German agents, hoping that a German victory would result in the imposition of a fascist government in Britain. There were reports of British fascists attempting to create secret alliances with Nazi Germany, seeing Hitler as a figure who could restore Britain’s imperial grandeur while suppressing communist movements within the country. The idea of an alliance with Nazi Germany was a deeply disturbing and dangerous one, though it never materialized.
The American Nazi Sympathizers
Across the Atlantic, the situation was no less disturbing. In the United States, a number of individuals, particularly within certain right-wing and isolationist circles, openly supported Hitler’s regime. Some of these were not just passive admirers but active sympathizers, hoping for the success of Nazi Germany to keep the U.S. out of the war and protect the country from what they saw as the corrupting influence of globalism and communism.
The most infamous group of American Nazi sympathizers was the German-American Bund, a pro-German organization that held rallies in support of Hitler. Although the group’s members were mostly civilians, there were soldiers within the U.S. military who secretly admired Nazi Germany. They believed that America should abandon its democratic traditions in favor of a more authoritarian and militaristic model similar to that of Nazi Germany. These sympathizers had limited influence, but they were not without impact, particularly among certain extremist factions who saw Hitler’s rise as a model for achieving a strong, centralized government.
One of the most disturbing incidents was the story of an American soldier stationed in the Philippines during the war, who was later discovered to have been secretly funneling information to the Japanese. Although he did not explicitly support Nazi Germany, his actions were driven by the same extreme ideology that sympathized with fascist and totalitarian regimes. His betrayal of his comrades revealed how twisted loyalties could become during a time of war, and it showcased how some individuals could become entangled in misguided beliefs to the point of treason.
The German Prisoners Who Betrayed Their Own Allies
Even within the Allied POW camps, there were a small number of soldiers from occupied nations who had been convinced by Nazi propaganda or their own personal political beliefs to actively root for Hitler’s success. For example, during the war, a number of Soviet soldiers who had been captured by the Germans and later found themselves in British or American camps expressed sympathy for Nazi Germany, believing that Hitler’s vision of a strong Europe was preferable to Stalin’s communist dictatorship. They felt that the Nazi vision of national pride and anti-communism was something they could get behind, and some even hoped for the day when the Nazis would defeat both the Soviet Union and the Allies.
In fact, the Nazis exploited these sympathies to create alliances with local collaborators in occupied territories, many of whom viewed Hitler’s success as the lesser evil. While these collaborators weren’t technically soldiers in the traditional sense, their beliefs and actions played into the larger web of treachery that extended even into Allied ranks.
The Unsettling Legacy
These cases represent only a small segment of the wider network of Nazi sympathizers within Allied nations. Most soldiers and citizens of the Allied powers were unwavering in their opposition to Hitler’s tyranny. But for those who sided with the fascist ideals of Nazi Germany, their actions serve as a chilling reminder of the power of propaganda and ideological extremism to warp individuals’ perspectives—even in the midst of a war where the stakes couldn’t have been higher.
The disturbing reality of soldiers who hoped for Nazi victory is a dark reminder that the forces of evil are not always as easily identifiable as we might like to think. Sometimes, the enemy within is not a foreign power, but a deeply ingrained ideology that can cloud judgment and turn even the most committed patriot into a potential traitor. These individuals, for a time, wanted Hitler to win—not because they were spies or direct agents of the Nazis, but because they genuinely believed in the destructive promises of fascism and the Nazi vision of the future.
Ultimately, their actions were minor in the grand scale of the war, but they serve as a chilling reminder of how fragile loyalty can be in times of crisis, and how dangerous extreme ideologies can become when they take root even within the ranks of those fighting for freedom.