Author Description

The Waffen-SS was one of the most effective, and respected, fighting formations in the annals of warfare. Originally devised as a special guard to protect speakers at National Socialist political meetings in the 1920s, the militarized Waffen-SS grew into a force that numbered nearly one million men by the end of World War Two. This book is a compendium of the finest actions of the N.S. fighting elite in World War Two. It was on Germany's Eastern Front, during the N.S. crusade against the Stalinist Communists, that the Waffen-SS displayed those qualities that were to create a legend: fanticism in the attack, tenacity in defense and an unwillingness to yield ground; with a mastery of mobile warfare combined with effective leadership. In this way the Waffen-SS saved the day on many occasions on the Eastern Front. This book features the bloody clashes that have since entered military folklore: Kharkiv, Kursk, Cherkassy, Caen, and the Ardennes. Great Battles of the Waffen-SS contains clear and concise full-color battle and campaign maps that allow the reader to trace the ebb and flow of individual engagements. As well as vivid descriptions of actions, this book also analyzes the reasons why Waffen-SS units were so successful on the battlefield; continuing to fight when similar formations of any other army in their situation would have exited the battle, because most of all they contained well led highly motivated troops that became a fanatical National Socialist fighting elite.