SS Leibstandarte, Ace of the Waffen SS, Werner Herman Gustav Pötschke

SS Leibstandarte, Ace of the Waffen SS, Werner Herman Gustav Pötschke
Author: David G Williams
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2015-09-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1326421328

This book covers the life of Knights cross winner SS-Sturmbannführer Werner Pötschke, a little known officer of the Waffen SS. This book also examines in detail the question of his personal involvement in the Malmédy massacre at the Baugnez crossroads. This book is not an expose of the Nazi organisation, or a concise history of the SS, it will not come to the jaw dropping conclusion that Werner Pötschke was or was not a Nazi, he was a committed Nazi, he was an officer in the Waffen SS, he was also a ferocious warrior and combat leader. He was also quite possibly a mass murderer. He was unusual in many ways, but what is truly striking about him is just how much front line combat he was personally engaged in during WWII. From the very beginning of the SS foundation unto the last month of the war this man was totally committed to the fight, unquestioning and uncompromising. For the 'men of steel' there was only victory or Valhalla.

Waffen-SS

Waffen-SS
Author: Adrian Gilbert
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Total Pages: 589
Release: 2019-06-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 0306824663

From an award-winning and bestselling historian, the first comprehensive military history in over fifty years of Hitler's famous and infamous personal army: the Waffen-SS. The Waffen-SS was one of the most feared combat organizations of the twentieth century. Originally formed as a protection squad for Adolf Hitler it became the military wing of Heinrich Himmler's SS and a key part of the Nazi state, with nearly 900,000 men passing through its ranks. The Waffen-SS played a crucial role in furthering the aims of the Third Reich which made its soldiers Hitler's political operatives. During its short history, the elite military divisions of the Waffen-SS acquired a reputation for excellence, but their famous battlefield record of success was matched by their repeated and infamous atrocities against both soldiers and civilians. Waffen-SS is the first definitive single-volume military history of the Waffen-SS in more than fifty years. In considering the actions of its leading personalities, including Himmler, Sepp Dietrich, and Otto Skorzeny, and analyzing its specialist training and ideological outlook, eminent historian Adrian Gilbert chronicles the battles and campaigns that brought the Waffen-SS both fame and infamy.

Bourbon and Bullets

Bourbon and Bullets
Author: John C. Tramazzo
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2021-07
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 1640124284

John C. Tramazzo highlights the relationship between bourbon and military service to show the rich and dramatic connection in American history.

The 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitlerjugend"

The 12th SS Panzer Division
Author: Adrian Dragoș Defta
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 544
Release: 2021-06-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 1527571351

This book demythologises one of the top Waffen-SS units during the Second World War, the Hitlerjugend Division. In addition to bringing together new research in European historiography, it also represents an innovative scientific approach using social psychology. It provides insights into inner psychological mechanisms that facilitated moral disengagement and culminated in the division’s unparalleled combat motivation and war crimes. Best known for their alleged fanaticism, Nazi indoctrination and inclination to perpetrate atrocities, Hitlerjugend soldiers are analysed here using perspectives drawn from across sociology, anthropology and psychology.

A Stranger to Myself

A Stranger to Myself
Author: Willy Peter Reese
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Total Pages: 223
Release: 2005-11-02
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 142999875X

A Stranger to Myself: The Inhumanity of War, Russia 1941-44 is the haunting memoir of a young German soldier on the Russian front during World War II. Willy Peter Reese was only twenty years old when he found himself marching through Russia with orders to take no prisoners. Three years later he was dead. Bearing witness to--and participating in--the atrocities of war, Reese recorded his reflections in his diary, leaving behind an intelligent, touching, and illuminating perspective on life on the eastern front. He documented the carnage perpetrated by both sides, the destruction which was exacerbated by the young soldiers' hunger, frostbite, exhaustion, and their daily struggle to survive. And he wrestled with his own sins, with the realization that what he and his fellow soldiers had done to civilians and enemies alike was unforgivable, with his growing awareness of the Nazi policies toward Jews, and with his deep disillusionment with himself and his fellow men. An international sensation, A Stranger to Myself is an unforgettable account of men at war.

Beginning Of The End: The Leadership Of SS Obersturmbannführer Jochen Peiper

Beginning Of The End: The Leadership Of SS Obersturmbannführer Jochen Peiper
Author: Major Han Bouwmeester
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
Total Pages: 148
Release: 2014-08-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1782894241

SS Obersturmbannführer Jochen Peiper was one of Germany ‘s most colorful military leaders of World War II with an audacious reputation. The name Peiper will always be linked to the Malmédy Massacre, the death of Belgian civilians and more than seventy American soldiers, but there is still a myth around Peiper. Why was a twenty-nine year old Waffen-SS officer chosen to lead the German spearhead unit during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944? Peiper was a special leader within the one of the most elite Waffen-SS divisions, the Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler. Peiper was charismatic and extreme loyal to his unit. His men trusted him as a leader, even under the most extreme conditions. In Germany he was a well-known war hero. It was a logical decision that Peiper became the commander of the spearhead unit, but there were other factors leading to this decision: tactical considerations, a we-know-what-to-expect-principle, and Peiper was lucky that he was still alive and serving in the Waffen-SS.

Snow & Steel

Snow & Steel
Author: Peter Caddick-Adams
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 929
Release: 2015
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199335141

A new assessment of the Battle of the Bulge, the largest and bloodiest battle fought by U.S. forces in World War II, offers a balanced perspective that considers both the German and American viewpoints and discusses the failings of intelligence; Hitler's strategic grasp; effects of weather and influence of terrain; and differences in weaponry, understanding of aerial warfare, and doctrine.

Hitler

Hitler
Author: R. H. S. Stolfi
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Total Pages: 622
Release: 2011-12-13
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1616144750

This fascinating and richly detailed new biography of Hitler reinterprets the known facts about the Nazi Fuehrer to construct a convincing, realistic portrait of the man. In place of the hollow shell others have made into an icon of evil, the author sees a complex, nuanced personality. Without in any way glorifying its subject, this unique revision of the historical Hitler brings us closer to understanding a pivotal personality of the twentieth century.

Knight's Cross and Oak-Leaves Recipients 1939–40

Knight's Cross and Oak-Leaves Recipients 1939–40
Author: Gordon Williamson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2012-05-20
Genre: Antiques & Collectibles
ISBN: 1780967926

In 1939 a new grade in the Iron Cross series was introduced, the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes). It was awarded for a variety of reasons, from skilled leadership to a single act of extreme gallantry, and was bestowed across all ranks, grades, and branches of service. As the war progresed, further distinctions were created for bestowal on existing winners, namely Oak-Leaves (Eichenlaub); Oak-Leaves with Swords (Eichenlaub und Schwertern); and Oak-Leaves with Swords and Diamonds (Eichenlaub, Schwerter und Brillanten). This book, the first in a sequence of four, covers winners of the Knights Cross and the Oak-Leaves distinction in the period 1939-40.