The Waffen SS in Combat: A Photographic History (Images of War)

The Waffen SS in Combat: A Photographic History (Images of War)

Language: English

Pages: 160

ISBN: 1473833531

Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub


This is the photographic history of the Waffen-SS in combat on all fronts. The short six year history of the Waffen SS spanned triumph and disaster, and their story can be traced through these powerful images, which clearly document the reality of combat from 1940 to 1945.

These rare images span the combat history of the Waffen-SS from the optimism of the opening phases of the war in the west through the challenges of Barbarossa and the long and bloody retreat against a numerically far superior enemy in both the east and the west. This powerful photographic record is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the course of the war from the German perspective and clearly demonstrates the scale of the task undertaken by the Waffen-SS on all fronts.

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1944 on the Eastern front. Given the speed of the Russian offensive they were often the only defensive positions they could construct. A reconnaissance troop makes its way to the Russian line in the northern sector of the Eastern front. Unlike the Wehrmacht morale among Waffen-SS remained in the main high. The mud splattered face of defeat on a motorcycle messenger of the Prinz Eugen Division. 154 Waffen-SS troops try in vain to stem the Soviet advance. By 1944 severe shortages of winter

Rotterdam, the Leibstandarte set out to capture The Hague, which they achieved on 15 May, capturing 3,500 Dutch prisoners of war. Fighting in an urban landscape was particularly stressful and costly. The buildings damaged or otherwise afforded the defender the advantage. With the upper storeys of buildings available to snipers and machine gunners the attacking Waffen-SS had to think in three-dimensions and consequently expend greater amounts of ammunition and manpower in urban battles. The

Barbarossa. The division was notorious for its ethnic cleansing. It’s Death’s Head insignia reflected the fact that many early recruits were concentration camp guards. Note the swastika on the side car of this Totenkopf motorcycle, used for recognition by the Luftwaffe. The autumn rains turned many roads into quagmires, and in turn, the Germans lost many vehicles. Waffen-SS troops storm a village during Operation Barbarossa. The Germans were surprised that the Soviets vigorously defended even

Iron Cross 2nd Class for bravery on the battlefield, 1941. Over 4.5 million Iron Crosses were awarded in World War Two. 64 Totenkopf troops crossing a makeshift bridge in a Horsh 108 troop carrier. Note the Death’s Head insignia on the rear. The Reconnaissance Battalion of the SS Wiking Division scout ahead of the infantry and tanks. Wiking Division was recruited from Scandinavian, Finnish, Estonian, Dutch and Belgian volunteers but served under German officers. 65 Waffen-SS troops using an

underlined in March 1943 when the SS Panzer Corps, under the charismatic leadership of Paul ‘Papa’ Hausser, nicknamed the father of the Waffen-SS, pulled off a spectacular victory at Kharkov temporarily halting the Soviet advance. The pictures in this book bear witness to the military skills and initiative those men showed in the face of an overwhelming enemy. However Hausser’s Panzer Corps had found themselves trapped in the city and with the defeat at Stalingrad still a fresh memory Hitler

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