| abstract | - The Armenian Legion (; Haykakan legion) was the name given to the 812th Armenian Battalion, which was a foreign unit of the Germany Army Wehrmacht in Nazi Germany during World War II, composed largely of Armenians POW's of the Red Army, under the leadership of Drastamat Kanayan. Their established aim was the restoration of Armenia’s independence from the Soviet Union. The Armenian and Georgian battalions were ultimately sent to the Netherlands as a result of Adolf Hitler's distrust for them, and due further to low morale and poor training, many of them deserted, defected or revolted. The legion, like other Turkic and Caucasian forces formed by the Germans, has been described by one military historian as "poorly armed, trained, and motivated," and was "unreliable and next to useless." The Israeli scholar Yair Auron has noted that Turkish nationalist efforts to thwart recognition of the Armenian Genocide have resulted in the dissemination of various Turkish propaganda publications in regards to the Armenian Legion aimed at portraying Armenians in negative light.
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