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Loading... Waffen-SS: Hitler's Army at Warby Adrian Gilbert
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. In this wide-ranging study of the notorious SS field force, the main theme is on how much validity there is to Himmler's boast that he was building a pan-Germanic army to defend European values. In this kind of analysis units such as the Flemish and Dutch legions are as relevant as the panzer divisions and Gottlob Berger, Himmler's chief of recruitment, is as important a personality as field commanders such as Sepp Dietrich or Paul Hauser. This is particularly true as the dwindling area of control of the Third Reich was obsessively trawled for any manpower that be considered even marginally German, even for the front-line armored units. Perhaps the only thing that I can mark down this clear-eyed narrative for is that so much is covered at an increasing gallop that the chapters dealing with the climactic campaigns of 1944-1945 feel a bit shallow; it is a lot to cover organization, operations, atrocities and aftermath, even with 500-odd pages to work with. ( ) no reviews | add a review
The Waffen-SS was the military wing of Heinrich Himmler's SS and one of the most feared combat organizations of the twentieth century. During its short history, the elite divisions of the Waffen-SS acquired a reputation for military excellence, but their superb battlefield record was matched by their repeated atrocities against soldiers and civilians alike. The Waffen-SS was always more than just a simple combat force. Himmler envisaged it acting as the vanguard for a Pan-Germanic empire under the control of Europe's Aryan peoples. He actively sought out racially acceptable recruits from across the continent, ultimately transforming the Führer's protection squad into a vast multinational army with 900,000 men passing through its ranks. The role of the Waffen-SS in furthering the aims of the Third Reich is the central theme of this portrayal of Adolf Hitler's political soldiers. In this definitive single-volume history, the author considers the contribution of foreign troops to the Waffen-SS, examines its specialist training and ideological outlook, and describes the battles and campaigns that brought it both frame and notoriety. -- Dust jacket flap. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)940.54History and Geography Europe Europe 1918- Military History Of World War IILC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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