Waffen-SS Dutch, Belgian, and Danish Volunteers

Waffen-SS Dutch, Belgian, and Danish Volunteers PDF Author: Ian Baxter
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 1399087657
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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Book Description
“This book is a treasure trove of inspiration for models, vignettes, and dioramas.” — IPMS/USA Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union, numerous Dutchmen, Belgians and Danes volunteered for the Waffen-SS. The largest division, SS Volunteer Legion Netherlands operated in Yugoslavia and then Northern Russia. It was later re-designated 23rd SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nederland. Fighting alongside the Nederland formation was the SS Volunteer Legion Flanders, manned mainly with Dutch speaking recruits from occupied Belgium. After being disbanded it was later reformed as the SS Assault Brigade Langemarck (SS-Sturmbrigade Langemarck). The SS Volunteer Legion Walloon, recruited from French-speaking volunteers from German occupied Belgium, was sent to Russia and later integrated with the SS Assault Brigade Wallonia (SS-Sturmbrigade Wallonien). Finally some 6,000 Danes served in Free Corps Denmark which went to the Eastern Front in May 1942. Within a year the formation was disbanded into Division Nordland, known as `Regiment 24 Danemark` Drawing on a superb collection of rare and often unpublished photographs, this fine Images of War book describes the fighting history of each formation, notably the 1944 battle of Narva, which was known as the battle of the European SS. As its forces were pushed further back across a scarred and burning wasteland it describes how these Dutch, Belgian and Danish units became cut off in the Kurland Pocket until some were evacuated by sea. The remainder were killed or captured in front of Berlin in April 1945.

Waffen-SS Dutch, Belgian, and Danish Volunteers

Waffen-SS Dutch, Belgian, and Danish Volunteers PDF Author: Ian Baxter
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 1399087657
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 162

Get Book Here

Book Description
“This book is a treasure trove of inspiration for models, vignettes, and dioramas.” — IPMS/USA Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union, numerous Dutchmen, Belgians and Danes volunteered for the Waffen-SS. The largest division, SS Volunteer Legion Netherlands operated in Yugoslavia and then Northern Russia. It was later re-designated 23rd SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nederland. Fighting alongside the Nederland formation was the SS Volunteer Legion Flanders, manned mainly with Dutch speaking recruits from occupied Belgium. After being disbanded it was later reformed as the SS Assault Brigade Langemarck (SS-Sturmbrigade Langemarck). The SS Volunteer Legion Walloon, recruited from French-speaking volunteers from German occupied Belgium, was sent to Russia and later integrated with the SS Assault Brigade Wallonia (SS-Sturmbrigade Wallonien). Finally some 6,000 Danes served in Free Corps Denmark which went to the Eastern Front in May 1942. Within a year the formation was disbanded into Division Nordland, known as `Regiment 24 Danemark` Drawing on a superb collection of rare and often unpublished photographs, this fine Images of War book describes the fighting history of each formation, notably the 1944 battle of Narva, which was known as the battle of the European SS. As its forces were pushed further back across a scarred and burning wasteland it describes how these Dutch, Belgian and Danish units became cut off in the Kurland Pocket until some were evacuated by sea. The remainder were killed or captured in front of Berlin in April 1945.

Hermann Göring

Hermann Göring PDF Author: Ian Baxter
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 139905046X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description
This entry in the popular Images of War series features graphic contemporary images of Göring and other leading Nazis. A former Great War fighter pilot, Hermann Göring became, at his height, the second most powerful Nazi. Ambitious and ruthless, in addition to being a primary architect of the Third Reich state police and Gestapo, his numerous appointments included Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe, Director of the Four Year Plan and playing a leading role in the Final Solution to the ‘Jewish Question’. By the outbreak of the war in 1939, he was acknowledged as Hitler’s successor and in 1940 was given the special rank of Marshal of the Empire and senior to all field marshals through the German armed services. Due to being held responsible for a number of military disasters, Göring’s pre-eminent position declined as the war dragged on to the point where he was expelled from the Party for ‘illegally attempting to seize control of the State’. Captured by the Allies, he was found guilty at Nuremberg of being a leading war aggressor and advocate of the persecution of Jews and other races. He cheated the hangman by committing suicide. The career of this leading Nazi is admirably described here in words and copious images.

Joining Hitler's Crusade

Joining Hitler's Crusade PDF Author: David Stahel
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316510344
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 457

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Book Description
A ground-breaking study that looks at why European nations sent troops to take part in Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union.

The Waffen-SS

The Waffen-SS PDF Author: Jochen Böhler
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198790554
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 407

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Book Description
This is the first systematic pan-European study of the hundreds of thousands of non-Germans who fought - either voluntarily or under different kinds of pressures - for the Waffen-SS (or auxiliary police formations operating in the occupied East). Building on the findings of regional studies by other scholars - many of them included in this volume - The Waffen-SS aims to arrive at a fuller picture of those non-German citizens (from Eastern as well as Western Europe) who served under the SS flag. Where did the non-Germans in the SS come from (socially, geographically, and culturally)? What motivated them? What do we know about the practicalities of international collaboration in war and genocide, in terms of everyday life, language, and ideological training? Did a common transnational identity emerge as a result of shared ideological convictions or experiences of extreme violence? In order to address these questions (and others), The Waffen-SS adopts an approach that does justice to the complexity of the subject, adding a more nuanced, empirically sound understanding of collaboration in Europe during World War II, while also seeking to push the methodological boundaries of the historiographical genre of perpetrator studies by adopting a transnational approach.

As political soldiers we face Moscow’s hordes: Dutch volunteers in the Waffen-SS

As political soldiers we face Moscow’s hordes: Dutch volunteers in the Waffen-SS PDF Author: Evertjan van Roekel
Publisher: Vernon Press
ISBN: 1648893341
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
During the Second World War, approximately 25,000 Dutchmen served within the ranks of the military branch of the German SS: the Waffen-SS. They volunteered to fight to secure the victory of Nazi Germany. These Dutch volunteers fought mainly on the Eastern Front, and to a lesser extent, within their own national borders. After the war, the Allied victors regarded them as part of a criminal organization and jointly responsible for the atrocious transgressions of the Nazi regime. In the Netherlands, these men were reviled, branded as traitors and became pariahs in their own country. Those who had devoted themselves to the Nazi regime caused so much grief to the Netherlands that they had to be held accountable. Despite their military achievements, their reputation was damaged forever. The Netherlands supplied the largest contingent of SS soldiers from the occupied North-western European territories. Who were these people? What led them to enlist, and what were the consequences of their choice? An important part of this study involves the autobiographical texts of nineteen Dutch volunteers in the Waffen-SS. These ego-documents recount their own immediate experiences and are mainly fragments from diaries, but there are also letters, individual notes, and memoirs. The ego-documents are placed within the larger historical context to provide an answer to the question of whether these men were only ideologically motivated and unconditional Nazi sympathizers, and for this, their criminal records are also researched. Among other topics, the book discusses their choice to enlist, their experiences at the front, and their involvement in genocide, providing a new perspective on the Eastern Front.

Summon Up the Blood

Summon Up the Blood PDF Author: Celia Wolfe
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 0850525373
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 214

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Book Description
A remarkable World War Two diary kept by Corporal Womack.

Hitler's Foreign Executioners

Hitler's Foreign Executioners PDF Author: Christopher Hale
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0752463934
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
In Hitler’s Foreign Executioners, Heinrich Himmler’s secret master plan for Europe is revealed: an SS empire that would have no place for either the Nazi Party or Adolf Hitler. His astonishingly ambitious plan depended on the recruitment of tens of thousands of ‘Germanic’ peoples from every corner of Europe, and even parts of Asia, to build an ‘SS Europa’. This revised and fully updated book, researched in archives all over Europe and using first-hand testimony, exposes Europe’s dirty secret: nearly half a million Europeans and more than a million Soviet citizens enlisted in the armed forces of the Third Reich to fight a deadly crusade against a mythic foe, Jewish Bolshevism. Even today, some apologists claim that these foreign SS volunteers were merely soldiers ‘like any other’ and fought a decent war against Stalin’s Red Army. Historian Christopher Hale demonstrates conclusively that these surprisingly common views are mistaken. By taking part in Himmler’s murderous master plan, these foreign executioners hoped to prove that they were worthy of joining his future ‘SS Europa’. But as the Reich collapsed in 1944, Himmler’s monstrous scheme led to bitter confrontations with Hitler – and to the downfall of the man once known as ‘loyal Heinrich’.

Dutch Waffen-SS Legion & Brigade 1941–44

Dutch Waffen-SS Legion & Brigade 1941–44 PDF Author: Massimiliano Afiero
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472840305
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 50

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Book Description
Goebbels' 1941 propaganda campaign to present Germany's invasion of the USSR as a battle for European civilization against Asian barbarism convinced many men in occupied 'Germanic' European countries, such as Scandinavia and the Low Countries, to volunteer to fight on the Russian Front. One of the strongest national legions of such a kind was raised in the Netherlands, where it was supported by a large pro-Nazi movement led by Anton Mussert. The 3,000-man Netherlands Volunteer Legion fought on the Leningrad front in regimental strength, from the Red Army's winter 1941/42 counter-offensive until April 1943. The survivors were then reinforced to form a 5,500-strong Panzergrenadier Brigade, and after anti-partisan service in Croatia, they returned to Army Group North as part of Steiner's III SS Panzer Korps, fighting in the most arduous battles of 1943–44 until driven back into Pomerania. In the final months of the war the division formed the nucleus of the new 23rd SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division 'Nederland'. In this illustrated study of the Dutch Waffen-SS Legion and Brigade, specialist Massimiliano Afiero explores the full history of this important formation from its establishment in 1941 until it was incorporated into the 'Nederland' Division in 1944. Contemporary photographs and full-colour illustrations support the text and reveal key details including aspects of uniform and insignia.

The German Army 1939–45 (5)

The German Army 1939–45 (5) PDF Author: Nigel Thomas
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 178200243X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 50

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Book Description
This book covers the high command, the developments in unit organisation, the campaigns and the uniforms and equipment of the German Army in the last two years of the war in North-West Europe and Italy. Despite the huge pressure of fighting on three fronts, ever-worsening shortages of manpower and equipment, and Allied command of the skies, Germany's decimated divisions fought on with impressive skill and determination. This period also saw a fascinating mixture of obsolescent, newly designed, and field-made combat clothing which gave the German soldier a radically different appearance from his predecessor of just five years before. Men-at-Arms 311, 316, 326, 330 and 336 are also available in a single volume special edition titled 'German Army in World War II'.

The Waffen SS

The Waffen SS PDF Author: George H. Stein
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801492754
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
This landmark study, first published by Cornell University Press in 1966, shows how Hitler's elite army grew from a praetorian guard of barely 28,000 men at the beginning of the Second World War to a combat-hardened army of more than 500,000 in 1945. George H. Stein examines in detail the structure and organization of the Waffen SS and describes the rigid personnel selection and intensive physical, military, and ideological training that helped to create the tough and dedicated cadre around which the larger force of the later war years was built.