With the beginning of the Operation Barbarossa more than 100,000 Ukrainians volunteered for the fight against Stalin and communismn. These volunteers were put into Schutzmannschafts-Bataillone under the control of the German Police. After Stalingrad however, Ukrainians were allowed to build up a division sized unit for the frontline. Around 15,000 Ukrainians were drafted and their first combat was at the Brody front in Galicia in summer 1944.