emphasised the anti-communist dimension of the German war effort and argued that collaboration was compatible with Belgian patriotism. The unit encountered various internal problems with some volunteers being unwilling to swear personal allegiance to Adolf Hitler and others being classed as medically unfit; almost a third of the volunteers were repatriated before October 1941. Over the winter of 1941–1942, it participated in training and security operations near Donetsk in Ukraine. Eastern Front In the Wehrmacht, 1941–43 For the first months after its deployment, the Walloon Legion was deployed in "minor mopping-up operations" behind the Eastern Front from November 1941. One of the Russian émigrés who served in the Legion, Rostislav Zavadskii, at the end of November wrote in his diary about the shootings of civilians suspected of being partisans. Although Feldgendarmerie units did the killing, one Walloon legionary also took part, with Belgian officers and soldiers standing by to watch and taking photographs. The Legion was then attached to the Romanian Army and later to the 100th Jäger Division. It fought its first major engagement against Soviet forces at Hromova Balka near Donetsk on 28 February 1942 as part of the 17th Army. It suffered heavy losses, both from disease and combat, and was reduced to 150 men within its first months. It continued to encounter "enormous losses" throughout 1942. The Legion was posted to the Don River in July 1942 and then moved south to the Caucasus. In one action alone, the unit lost 854 men and Degrelle was seriously wounded. By November 1942 it had been reduced to 187 men. The high attrition rate within the Walloon Legion required increasing focus on recruitment. The age requirements for volunteers were loosened in early 1942. A second recruitment drive was started in February 1942, recruiting 450 new volunteers of whom many came from Rex's small Rexist Youth (Jeunesse Rexiste) or its paramilitary Combat Formations (Formations de Combat). A third "frantic" campaign in November 1942 raised a further 1,700 men. These recruitment drives weakened many Rexist institutions by diverting manpower away from projects in Belgium. At the same time, it failed to secure more than 140 recruits from among the thousands of Belgian prisoners of war held in German camps. However, Degrelle became increasingly keen on the political potential of the Walloon Legion which he saw as a more effective political tool than the Rexist Party in Belgium. As the war