Africa Corps

A new Russian military formation with the same name as a Nazi unit is trying to recruit former Wagner Group mercenaries and soldiers who fought in Ukraine for combat operations in Africa.

Russia's defense ministry created the Africa Corps over the summer as a means of expanding Moscow's footprint on the continent and in the Middle East, and the new force appeared to announce an extensive recruitment campaign...

It's promising an unspecified "high salary," payments in foreign currency, service under "competent commanders," medical care, and social benefits.

In one ominous message, the unit directly appealed to veterans who can't find themselves in a "peaceful life" and referenced the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan or the Chechen wars, saying those veterans suffered from post traumatic stress disorder, went into crime, or developed serious drinking problems.

The Africa Corps specified a few restrictions for interested applicants, one of them being that personnel currently fighting in Ukraine can't transfer over, nor can individuals in the Rosgvardia — Russia's national guard — before their contract is over.

The name for the new unit, Africa Corps, is the exact same one used by a German expeditionary force that was active on the continent during World War II. Nazi leadership formed the unit, which was active during the North Africa campaign, in 1941, but it eventually surrendered to Allied forces in 1943, with most of its prisoners of war transferred to camps in the US.