Wiking: A Dutch SS-er on the Eastern Front

Wiking: A Dutch SS-er on the Eastern Front PDF Author: Henk Kistemaker
Publisher: Eyewitness 1939 - 1945
ISBN: 9789089758811
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description
Henk Kistemaker wrote a unique report about his war experiences as a member of the Waffen-SS. Percentage wise most volunteers for the German Waffen-SS, about 25,000 men, came from the Netherlands. The first division in which a contingent Dutch men served, was the SS Division Wiking. This division was deployed shortly after the invasion of Russia in 1941. She fought among others in Ukraine. During the summeroffensive of 1942 Wiking was able to penetrate deep into the Caucasus. In 1944 the Russian encirclement at Tsjerkassy was broken. In May 1945, most Wikingers became American prisoners of war. Also the 18-year-old Henk Kistemaker volunteered, in a thirst for adventure and on the advice of his German-minded father, to be a participant in this war. On the Eastern Front he experienced the heavy and gruesome battles; first as an infantryman and later as a member of a Panther tankcrew. He was wounded three times. At the age of 22, when the war has ended, he was a warveteran. In the years before his death, in 2003, Henk Kistemaker wrote his memories. It became a fascinating and shocking report about a young Dutchman in the vortex of the war.

Wiking: A Dutch SS-er on the Eastern Front

Wiking: A Dutch SS-er on the Eastern Front PDF Author: Henk Kistemaker
Publisher: Eyewitness 1939 - 1945
ISBN: 9789089758811
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description
Henk Kistemaker wrote a unique report about his war experiences as a member of the Waffen-SS. Percentage wise most volunteers for the German Waffen-SS, about 25,000 men, came from the Netherlands. The first division in which a contingent Dutch men served, was the SS Division Wiking. This division was deployed shortly after the invasion of Russia in 1941. She fought among others in Ukraine. During the summeroffensive of 1942 Wiking was able to penetrate deep into the Caucasus. In 1944 the Russian encirclement at Tsjerkassy was broken. In May 1945, most Wikingers became American prisoners of war. Also the 18-year-old Henk Kistemaker volunteered, in a thirst for adventure and on the advice of his German-minded father, to be a participant in this war. On the Eastern Front he experienced the heavy and gruesome battles; first as an infantryman and later as a member of a Panther tankcrew. He was wounded three times. At the age of 22, when the war has ended, he was a warveteran. In the years before his death, in 2003, Henk Kistemaker wrote his memories. It became a fascinating and shocking report about a young Dutchman in the vortex of the war.

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.

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.

Adventures in My Youth

Adventures in My Youth PDF Author: Armin Scheiderbauer
Publisher: Helion and Company
ISBN: 1907677496
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 414

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Book Description
The personal memoir of a Nazi soldier, from joining the German Army in 1941 through his time as a Panzer on the Eastern Front. Originally written only for his daughter, Armin Schedierbauer’s Adventures in My Youth chronicles his time as a solider during World War II. As an infantry officer with the 252nd Infantry Division, German Army, Schedierbauer saw four years of combat on the Eastern Front. After joining his unit during the winter of 1942, he was wounded six times and had firsthand experience of the Soviet offensives in the summer of 1944 and January 1945. While fighting in East Prussia, he was captured by the Soviets and not released until 1947. Schedierbauer was only twenty-one years old when the war ended, and his memoir recollects the experiences he went through as a young man on the front.

Barbarossa Through German Eyes

Barbarossa Through German Eyes PDF Author: Jonathan Trigg
Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited
ISBN: 1398107239
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 526

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Book Description
The story of the world’s largest ever invasion through the voices of the men – and women – who witnessed it first-hand.

Goodbye, Transylvania

Goodbye, Transylvania PDF Author: Sigmund Heinz Landau
Publisher: Stackpole Books
ISBN: 0811715825
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
Rare memoir of a foreigner serving with the Germans on the Eastern Front. • Firsthand descriptions of combat at the siege of Budapest and the final battle for Berlin in 1945 • Insights into what motivated soldiers to fight for Nazi Germany • Copies of the out-of-print original edition are highly prized

SS-Wiking

SS-Wiking PDF Author: Rupert Butler
Publisher: Spellmount, Limited Publishers
ISBN: 9781862271746
Category : World War, 1939-1945
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
This military history examines the SS-Wiking, one of Germany's top fighting units in WWII, whom were largely recruited from foreign volunteers of German occupied countries. The author provides us with a full combat record, describing their service on the Eastern Front for the Nazi cause.

Blood and Soil

Blood and Soil PDF Author: Sepp de Giampietro
Publisher: Greenhill Books
ISBN: 1784383422
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
Available for the first time in English, a memoir of a member of the World War II Brandenburg German special forces unit. The Brandenburgers were Hitler’s Special Forces, a band of mainly foreign German nationals who used disguise and fluency in other languages to complete daring missions into enemy territory. Overshadowed by stories of their Allied equivalents, their history has largely been ignored, making this memoir all the more extraordinary. First published in German in 1984, de Giampietro's highly-personal and eloquent memoir is a vivid account of his experiences. He delves into the reality of life in the unit from everyday concerns and politics to training and involvement in Brandenburg missions. He details the often foolhardy missions undertaken under the command of Theodor von Hippel, including the June 1941 seizure of the Duna bridges in Dunaburg and the attempted capture of the bridge at Bataisk where half of his unit was killed. Given the very perilous nature of their missions, very few of these specially-trained soldiers survived World War II. Much knowledge of the unit has been lost forever, making this is a unique insight into a slice of German wartime history. Widely regarded as the predecessor of today’s special forces units, this fascinating account brings to life the Brandenburger Division and its part in history in vivid and compelling detail.

Obedient Unto Death

Obedient Unto Death PDF Author: Werner Kindler
Publisher: Frontline Books
ISBN: 184832734X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Between 1941 and 1944 Waffen-SS Oberscharfôhrer (Sergeant) Werner Kindler took part in 84 days of close combat, qualifying him for the Close Combat Clasp in Gold, the Third Reich's highest decoration for a frontline soldier. He was also awarded the German Cross in Gold, the Iron Cross First and Second Class and the Wound Badge in Gold.??Drafted into the SS-Totenkopf in 1939, he served with a motorised unit in Poland, and in May 1941 was selected for the Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler, with which he fought in the invasion of the Soviet Union. His unit converted to a Panzer Grenadier formation in 1942, and Kindler went on to fight at Kharkov and Kursk on the Eastern Front, and later in Belgium and France in 1944. At the end of the war, he was the last man of the Leibstandarte-SS to surrender to the Americans. This is one of the most dramatic first-hand accounts to come out of the Second World War.

Building a Nazi Europe

Building a Nazi Europe PDF Author: Martin R. Gutmann
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316608948
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
A compelling account of the men who worked and fought for Nazi terror organization, the SS, during the Second World War.