SS

SS
Author: Chris Bishop
Publisher: Spellmount, Limited Publishers
Total Pages: 202
Release: 2005
Genre: History
ISBN:

This illustrated book provides an in-depth examination of the 350,000 or so foreign volunteers who fought for Hitler and Germany in World War II and it explores the background to their recruitment and also describes on a unit-by-unit basis their structure and combat record.

Hitler's Home Guard: Volkssturmmann

Hitler's Home Guard: Volkssturmmann
Author: David Yelton
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2006-09-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781846030130

Osprey's study of Germany's Home Guard during the latter part of World War II (1939-1945). The creation of the German Home Guard or Volkssturm on 18 October 1944 was a desperate measure by the Nazi regime to utilize every available manpower resource in their last-ditch attempts to delay their inevitable defeat. All able-bodied males between the ages of 16 and 60 who were not already members of the German Armed Forces were conscripted into one organization. The aim of the Volkssturm was to shore up the defense of the Reich, but also to restrict any possible revolt or dissent by exercising military discipline over the entire male population of fighting age. This Nazi fantasy was the creation of a new force of highly-motivated Aryans dedicated to the heroic defense of their fatherland. However, the Volkssturm failed due to poor equipment, lack of training, and low morale. Men who had no experience of combat and little or no inclination to fight, and who had little interest in the Nazi regime found themselves sent into battle against impossible odds and achieving little or nothing. The focus of the book is the section of Germany's western front where the Volkssturm fought in vain to slow the advance of Canadian forces and where the desertion rate was very high. David K. Yelton follows the experience of a Volkssturm conscript from his call-to-arms, into action and through to his capture and time as a POW, examining his personal reaction to the creation of the German Home Guard and his response to the fighting into which he was thrust.

Soldiers of Destruction

Soldiers of Destruction
Author: Charles Sydnor
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 400
Release: 1990-05-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780691008530

Surveys the emergence of the Nazi SS and its Death's Head Division, noting the impact of this elite and powerful army upon military history.

SS Polizei at War, 1940–1945

SS Polizei at War, 1940–1945
Author: Ian Baxter
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2018-01-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1473890993

Formed in 1939 SS-Polizei Division were not considered initially as an SS fighting force, and this status was reflected in the quality of the equipment they were issued. Following operations in France, Greece and then Russia, it was not until 1942 the division was transferred to the Waffen-SS, and eventually upgraded to a Panzergrenadier division, the 4th SS-Polizei-Panzergrenadier Division.The book describes how the SS-Polizei Division fought across the Low Countries, the Eastern Front, before deploying to the Balkans and Greece where it committed numerous atrocities. During the last days of the War it was assigned to Army Detachment Steiner defending Berlin where many soldiers fought to the death.This book is a unique glimpse into one of the most infamous fighting machines in World War Two and a great addition to any reader interested Waffen-SS history.

Deutsche Soldaten

Deutsche Soldaten
Author: Agustin Saiz
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
Total Pages: 159
Release: 2008-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 1932033963

A visual history of the German soldier, providing a unique insight into how they lived, ate, maintained themselves at the front, and how they behaved when out of line, through a collection of personal items and artifacts they left behind.

Hitler's War

Hitler's War
Author: Heinz Magenheimer
Publisher: Arms & Armour
Total Pages: 352
Release: 1998
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781854094728

This is a closely argued and wide-ranging assessment of just how, with so many alternatives open, the German High Command chose the path that led, ultimately, to its own destruction. Heinz Magenheimer examines in detail the options that were open to the Germans as the war progressed. He identifies the crucial moments at which fateful decisions needed to be taken and considers how decisions different from those actually taken could have propelled the conflict in entirely different directions. Using the very latest source material, in particular new research from Soviet/Russian sources, the author analyses motives and objectives and considers the opportunities taken or rejected, concentrating especially on specific phases of the conflict.

Hitler's Arctic War

Hitler's Arctic War
Author: Chris Mann
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Total Pages: 319
Release: 2016-11-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1473884586

In the past the German General Staff had taken no interest in the military history of wars in the north and east of Europe. Nobody had ever taken into account the possibility that some day German divisions would have to fight and to winter in northern Karelia and on the Murmansk coast. (Lieutenant-General Waldemar Erfurth, German Army). Despite this statement, the German Armys first campaign in the far north was a great success: between April and June 1940 German forces totaling less than 20,000 men seized Norway, a state of three million people, for minimal losses. Hitlers Arctic War is a study of the campaign waged by the Germans on the northern periphery of Europe between 1940 and 1945.As Hitlers Arctic War makes clear, the emphasis was on small-unit actions, with soldiers carrying everything they needed food, ammunition and medical supplies on their backs. The terrain placed limitations on the use of tanks and heavy artillery, while lack of airfields restricted the employment of aircraft.Hitlers Arctic War also includes a chapter on the campaign fought by Luftwaffe aircraft and Kriegsmarine ships and submarines against the Allied convoys supplying the Soviet Union with aid. However, Wehrmacht resources committed to Norway and Finland were ultimately an unnecessary drain on the German war effort. Hitlers Arctic War is a groundbreaking study of how war was waged in the far north and its effects on German strategy.

SS: Hell on the Western Front

SS: Hell on the Western Front
Author: Chris Bishop
Publisher: SS
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015-03
Genre: World War, 1939-1945
ISBN: 9781782743149

Despite their success during the invasion of Poland in 1939, the Waffen-SS still had something to prove as a fighting unit when they arrived in the west for the attack on the Low Countries in May 1940. SS: Hell on the Western Front describes in vivid detail the exploits of the Waffen-SS in Western Europe from 1940 to 1945. The book begins with the formation of the Waffen-SS and its growth and development into a combat arm. The successes of 1940 are examined, as the SS troopers swept all opposition before them, as is the darker side of the organization, with the first atrocities committed against Allied prisoners. As the preparations for the invasion of the Soviet Union advanced, Hitler was distracted by the crisis in the Balkans, where the Waffen-SS added to their growing reputation by capturing Belgrade and driving Allied troops out of Greece. By 1944, the Waffen-SS were back in France in numbers, in readiness to repel the expected Allied invasion. After the loss of Normandy, the Waffen-SS fought hard at Arnhem and during the Ardennes offensive, winning respect from the Allied troops that faced them. SS: Hell on the Western Front features the actions of such famous Waffen-SS divisions as the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, Das Reich, Hitlerjugend and Totenkopf, and provides an insight into how these ideologically motivated units consistently outfought the Allies, even when seriously disadvantaged due to lack of fuel or air support. Illustrated with rare photographs, SS: Hell on the Western Front is a thorough study of the Waffen-SS in the western theatre.

Waffen-SS on the Western Front, 1940–1945

Waffen-SS on the Western Front, 1940–1945
Author: Ian Baxter
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2013-10-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 1473829917

This book in the popular Images of War series covers the deeds of the Waffen-SS on the Western Front during the Second World War. With extensive text and in-depth captions with many rare and unpublished photographs it describes the fighting tactics, the uniforms, the battles and the different elements that went into making the Waffen-SS such an elite fighting unit. It traces how the Waffen-SS carefully built up their assault forces utilising all available reserves and resources into a ruthlessly effective killing machine. It depicts how this awesome military formation grew to be used in offensive and then in defensive battles, and provides much historical information and facts about the weapons and all the components that fought on Western Front. The reader learns how the Waffen-SS battled their way through the Low Countries and the Balkans. After D-Day they played a key role in Normandy and fought at Arnhem, in the Ardennes and shifted from one disintegrating part of the front to another in a drastic attempt to stabilise the crumbling war effort.The Waffen-SS on the Western Front 1940 1945 provides an excellent insight into one of the most effective fighting formations in military history.

The Waffen-SS at Arnhem

The Waffen-SS at Arnhem
Author: Ian Baxter
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2022-02-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 1399012959

This pictorial WWII history examines the brutal Battle of Arnhem with particular focus on the SS units that fought the Allied push into the Netherlands. The 1944 Arnhem airborne operation, immortalized by the film A Bridge Too Far, will forever be remembered as a great British feat of arms. British and Polish paratroopers displayed outstanding courage and tenacity in a desperate last stand situation. And yet, as this book describes, the plan was fatally flawed as the 9th and 10th SS Panzer Divisions were recuperating and concealed nearby. What followed was a bloody battle of attrition the result of which was arguably inevitable. Drawing on rare and unpublished photographs, this volume in the Images of War series reveals the historical combat record of the Hohenstaufen and Frundsberg divisions. It describes the intensity of the fighting in and around Arnhem between these elite SS and supporting units against a lightly armed yet equally determined enemy. In spite of the increasing certainty of German defeat, the SS soldier remained fanatically motivated. This superbly illustrated book with its well-researched text and full captions captures the drama of that historic battle for a bridge over the Rhine.