Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler at war 1939-1945: rare photographs from wartiem archives

Description

Introduction -- A brief history -- 1 Training for war -- 2 Baptism of fire, 1939-41 -- 3 Barbarossa, 1941 -- 4 Kharkov and beyond, 1942-43 -- 5 The last year, 1944-45 -- Appendix one: SS infantryman, 1939-1942 -- Appendix two: Combat uniforms of the Waffen-SS, 1943-45 -- Appendix three: The second model of the LSSAH standard -- Appendix four: Waffen-SS order of battle -- Appendix five: Ranks.;Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH) was formed as the Führer's personal bodyguard. Initially regimental size, the LSSAH grew into an elite division. With extensive text and many unpublished photographs with in-depth captions - the successful Images of War format - this book describes the Divisions fighting tactics, weapons and uniforms. It traces how the Division became an elite fighting unit both in offensive and defensive battles. The Division is shown as it battled its way through Poland, the Low Countries, the Balkans and then on the Eastern Front, where it fought tenaciously for Kharkov and in the 1943 battle of Kursk. In 1944 it was deployed to Normandy before the carnage of the Falaise Pocket. Soon after it was back in action during the bitter winter fighting in the Ardennes, before returning to the Eastern Front where it was shifted from one disintegrating part of the front to another. The Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH) provides a captivating glimpse of the history and inner workings of one of the most effective fighting formations of the Second World War.