Panzergrenadier Divisions of the Waffen-SS

Panzergrenadier Divisions of the Waffen-SS
Author: Rolf Michaelis
Publisher: Schiffer Pub Limited
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2010
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780764336607

This new book is a concise combat history of the six Waffen-SS panzergrenadier divisions in World War II. The formation and combat histories of each are discussed in detailed text, along with maps and rare photographs and includes: the 4th SS-Polizei Panzergrenadier Division; 11th SS-Freiwilligen Panzergrenadier Division Nordland; 16th SS-Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS; 17th SS-Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen; 18th SS-Freiwilligen Panzergrenadier Division Horst Wessel; 23rd SS-Freiwilligen Panzergrenadier Division Nederland.

The 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich

The 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich
Author: Yves Buffetaut
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
Total Pages: 173
Release: 2017-08-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 1612005268

“Certainly my first recourse from now on when looking at the SS panzer divisions. Give yourself a treat and buy a copy ASAP if tanks are your thing” (Army Rumour Service). The Das Reich Division was the most infamous unit of the Waffen-SS. Originally a paramilitary formation raised to protect the members of the Nazi Party, it was founded in 1934 as the SS-Verfügungstruppe. During the invasion of Poland, the unit fought as a mobile infantry regiment. After the Battle of France, the SS-VT was officially renamed the Waffen-SS, and in 1941, the Verfügungs-Division was renamed Reich, later Das Reich. By the time Das Reich took part in the battle of Moscow, it had lost sixty percent of its combat strength. It was pulled off the front in mid-1942 and sent to refit as a panzer-grenadier division. Returning to the Eastern Front, Das Reich took part in the fighting around Kharkov and Kursk. Late in the year, it was designated a panzer division. In 1944, the unit was stationed in southern France when the Allies landed in Normandy. The following days saw the division commit atrocities, hanging one hundred local men in the town of Tulles in reprisal for German losses, and massacring 642 French civilians in Oradour-sur-Glane, allegedly in retaliation for partisan activity in the area. Later in the Normandy fighting, Das Reich was encircled in the Roncey pocket by US 2nd Armored Division, losing most of their armored equipment. Das Reich surrendered in May 1945. “Another fascinating piece of military history from the opposite point of view . . . this doesn’t purport to be an illustrated history of the Reich, but it damn well is!” —Books Monthly

The 10th SS-Panzer-Division "Frundsberg"

The 10th SS-Panzer-Division
Author: Rolf Michaelis
Publisher: Schiffer Military History
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2008-12-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780764330995

The 10th Waffen-SS Division "Frundsberg" was formed at the beginning of 1943 as a reserve for the expected Allied invasion of France. However, their first campaign was in the Ukraine in April 1944. Highly motivated after combat success in Ukraine the unit was then transported back to the west where they fought the Allies in France and Arnhem. The division was later transported to Pomerania then fought southeast of Berlin in the Lausitz area to the end of the war.

The 1st SS Armored Division

The 1st SS Armored Division
Author: Herbert Walther
Publisher: Schiffer Military History
Total Pages: 128
Release: 1989
Genre: History
ISBN:

Photographs and text chronicle the experiences of the men serving in the Waffen-SS in World War II.

Waffen-SS

Waffen-SS
Author: Ray Merriam
Publisher: Merriam Press
Total Pages: 85
Release: 1999-03
Genre:
ISBN: 1576381684

Das Reich

Das Reich
Author: Max Hastings
Publisher: Quarto Publishing Group USA
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2013-06-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 161058824X

A world-renowned British historian recounts the actions of one of Hitler’s most elite armor units in one of World War II’s most horrific months. June 1944, the month of the D-Day landings carried out by Allied forces in Normandy, France. Germany’s 2nd SS Panzer Division, one of Adolf Hitler’s most elite armor units, had recently been pulled from the Eastern Front and relocated to France in order to regroup, recruit more troops, and restock equipment. With Allied forces suddenly on European ground, the division—Das Reich—was called up to counter the invasion. Its march northward to the shores of Normandy, 15,000 men strong, would become infamous as a tale of unparalleled brutality in World War II. Das Reich is Sir Max Hastings’s narrative of the atrocities committed by the 2nd SS Panzer Division during June of 1944: first, the execution of 99 French civilians in the village of Tulle on June 9; and second, the massacre of 642 more in the village of Oradour-sur-Glane on June 10. Throughout the book, Hastings expertly shifts perspective between French resistance fighters, the British Secret Service (who helped coordinate the French resistance from afar and on the ground), and the German soldiers themselves. With its rare, unbiased approach to the ruthlessness of World War II, Das Reich explores the fragile moral fabric of wartime mentality. Praise for Das Reich “A gripping blend of narrative and investigation.” —Evening Standard “This classic account of WWII is a microcosm of the global conflict. Hastings brings to life the horror that the 2nd SS Panzer division, Das Reich, inflicted upon the citizens living in a bucolic corner of France.” —Dennis Showalter, author of Patton and Rommel and Hitler’s Panzers

Panzers East and West

Panzers East and West
Author: Dieter Stenger
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 401
Release: 2017-09-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0811765903

Organized and trained during 1943, the 10th SS Panzer Division saw its first action in the spring of 1944 during the relief of an encircled German army on the Eastern Front. Several months later, in response to the Allied invasion at Normandy, the division returned to the West in mid-June 1944. Here the division engaged in a series of armored attacks and counterattacks against British and American forces. The 10th SS briefly held off a few enemy thrusts but gradually had to fall back to Falaise, where the division escaped the Allied encirclement with no tanks and only a fraction of its men. The 10th SS Panzer Division next defended against the Allied parachute assault during Operation Market Garden in September 1944. Depleted and now a division in name only, the 10th SS fought in Alsace before Hitler sent it to the Eastern Front again. There, east of Berlin, the division participated in the final battles to enable the escape of German soldiers and civilians from Soviet captivity.

The 3rd Waffen-SS Panzer Division Totenkopf, 1939-1943

The 3rd Waffen-SS Panzer Division Totenkopf, 1939-1943
Author: Massimiliano Afiero
Publisher: Schiffer Military History
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2018-02-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780764354625

One of the most infamous of all Waffen-SS formations, the 3rd SS-Panzer Division "Totenkopf" has always been identified as the very essence of the notorious "Black Order." Associated with war crimes in official historiography, formed initially with personnel coming from guard units from concentration camps, the unit was nevertheless able to prove itself on the battlefield, distinguishing itself in all of the main campaigns in which it fought, from France to the Russian front. This first of two volumes tells the story of the "Totenkopf" from 1939 to 1943: from the campaign in Poland in 1939; its employment on the Western Front in 1940; to the early campaigns on the Russian Front. Volume one culminates in the bitter fighting on the Demjansk front and to the Kharkov counteroffensive in 1943, finally ending with Operation Zitadelle. As with all of the volumes in this series, the detailed history of the division is accompanied by many first-hand accounts, documents, extracts from official reports, and from the division's war diary, and by over 860 photographs and maps.

Waffen-SS Divisions 1939–45

Waffen-SS Divisions 1939–45
Author: Chris Bishop
Publisher: Amber Books
Total Pages: 202
Release: 2007-10
Genre: History
ISBN:

Illustrated with detailed artworks of SS tanks and their markings with exhaustive captions and specifications, Waffen-SS Divisions 1939–45: The Essential Vehicle Identification Guide is the definitive study of the equipment and organization of Himmler’s armoured divisions. Organized chronologically by division and formation date, the book describes in depth the various models of tank and other armoured and soft vehicles in service with the ‘fighting’ SS, with listings of unit commanders, vehicle types and numbers and unit structure. Each divisional section is further broken down by campaign, accompanied by orders of battle, a brief divisional history of the campaign and any specific unit markings. Every SS division that saw combat is featured, from well-known units such as the elite Das Reich and Wiking divisions, to lesser-known divisions, such as the 11th Waffen SS Panzer Division Nordland and the Albanian-recruited 21st Waffen SS Gebirgs-Division Skanderbeg. With information boxes accompanying the full-colour artworks, all drawn to the same scale for easy comparison, Waffen-SS Divisions 1939–45 is a key reference guide for modellers and military history enthusiasts with an interest in the Waffen SS divisions of World War II.