The Waffen-SS - Heinrich Himmler's Elite Guard

The Wafen-SS
Nazi Field Marshal Model apologized to Wafen-SS Regimental Kommander Otto Kumm that he understood the rough time his unit had experienced but he could not afford to relieve them. Kumm asked the Field Marshal if he would like to inspect the regiment on parade outside. Model was shocked to see only 35 men standing out front in the cold.

This book is a must read for anyone interested in World War 2 and the rise and fall of the Third Reich. Unlike many illustrated world war 2 books this book is very readable. Of particular interest to me was the chapter "Hitler's Foreign Legions" on the foreign component that served in the SS. It may come as a surprise to many to learn that hundreds of thousands of Dutch, Belgian, French, Norwegian, Finnish, Danish, Hungarian, Romanian, Croatian, Serbian, Swedish, Italian, Ukraine, Albanian, Russian, Bulgarian and Bosnian nationalities voluntered and fought for the Germans in the ranks of the waffen SS Divisions. There was even a small contingent of British ex-POWs a few of whom fought in the Third Reich's final cataclysm in Berlin. Odly many of the foreign volunteers were from races distinctly non-aryan - a massive contradiction with the racial politics of Himmler, Hitler and the Nazis. The book outlines the beginnings of the SS through the years of German victories and then of German defeats to the destruction of the SS in the collapse of the Third Reich.

Soldiers of Destruction:
The SS Death's Head Division, 1933-1945
by Charles Sydnor
Paperback (1990)

This is a terrific book. As Sydnor points out, it has had a long life, & justly so. I found it very hard to put down. The author does an excellent job of placing you beside the action. His information on Eicke himself is equally impressive. It was fascinating reading about the care & amazing effort Eicke put into the division seemingly 24 hours a day. The entire book is meticulously researched & it has tons of great footnotes. To my knowledge it is the only sole work on the Totenkopf division. It definitely must be on the shelf of everyone interested in the Waffen SS or Wehrmacht. Although opinions of the SSTK's conduct may vary from the author's, thank you Mr. Sydnor for such a great study.
A very detailed account of the Topenkoff division which seeks to show that all SS where part of the concentration camp system. This is the classic book on 3rd SS Totenkopf. Theodore Eicke was the original, pre-war commander of the concentration camp system. At the start of WW2, he formed the Totenkopfverbande as a unit for occupation duty in Poland (primarily "Final Solution" executions and the like), which became a combat unit in the invasion of France, and ultimately became one of the foremost tank divisions on the eastern front. Their rise came primarily from their resolute defense of a wooded area near Leningrad, which was instrumental in convincing Hitler to expand the Waffen SS at the expense of the army in 1942. SS Totenkopf became a fire brigade sent in to stabilize the front where it seemed on the verge of collapse. They were known more for their resolute determination to fight to the last man, rather than for any tactical brilliance. This served them well in many unwinnable situations in the latter part of the war.

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