The Eastern Front was the scene of the most decisive campaign of World War II. Hitler’s élite soldiers, the Waffen – SS, fought in the East from the beginning of the Russian campaign in 1941 to the fall of Berlin in May 1945, and the SS’s development and military professionalism is bound up with the war in the Soviet Union. As the war in Russia progressed, the formations of the Waffen – SS distinguished themselves in the most demanding theatre of World War II. And the premier Waffen – SS formations, the SS – Leibstandarte – Adolf Hitler, Das Reich, Totenkopf and Wiking Divisions, showed themselves to be masters of mechanised warfare and the all – arms battle.
SS: Hell on the Eastern Front is a detailed account, enhanced by more than 100 exciting black and white photographs, of every aspect of the Waffen – SS’s war on the Eastern Front: its battles, its organisation, tactics and equipment.
Read what it was like to take part in Operation “Barbarossa†, THE OPENING ASSAULT AGAINST Russia in the summer of 1941, when the Waffen – SS fought its way to the very gates of Moscow; the first dreadful winter in Russia, during which temperatures dropped to 40 degrees below zero; the clash of massed Armour at Kursk; and other epic encounters of the war in the East.
However, this book is more than an account of the battles and campaigns of the Waffen – SS in the East: it also examines the recruitment and organisation of those foreign legions of the SS that fought on the Eastern Front.
Also covered in full is every aspect of the Waffen – SS’s war – away from the battlefield – against Soviet partisans. In addition, the book examines the military consequences of Waffen – SS soldiers being ideologically indoctrinated, their concept of hardness and disregard for life, which often resulted in atrocities and murder of civilians and prisoners. Above all, SS: Hell On The Eastern Front provides an insight into how Waffen – SS individuals and units met and often mastered their Red Army adversaries, first during the offensive campaigns of 1941 – 43, but most strikingly during the great defensive actions of the last two years of the war. With detailed appendices covering the order of battle of the Waffen – SS in the East, plus rank and award tables, SS: Hell On The Eastern Front is the most detailed study of the Waffen – SS’s war in Russia yet published.
