âI swear to thee, Adolf Hitler, as FĂźhrer and Chancellor of the German Reich, loyalty and bravery. I vow to thee, and to the superiors whom thou shalt appoint, obedience unto death, so help me God.â
â SS Oath of Loyalty The divisions of the Waffen-SS were the elite of Hitlerâs armies in World War II. SS-Leibstandarte is an in-depth examination of the first Waffen-SS unit to be formed, the SS-Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler. The book explores the background of the unitâs formation, including its origins as the FĂźhrerâs bodyguard, the men it recruited, the key figures involved in the division, its organization, training, uniforms and insignia.
SS-Leibstandarte also provides a full combat record of the division, which fought on both fronts during World War II. The book outlines the unitâs involvement in the fall of France, its service on the Eastern Front, the desperate attempts to throw the Allies out of Normandy after D-Day, and the final, fruitless attempts to relieve Budapest and save Vienna from the Red Army.
Illustrated with rare photographs and written by an acknowledged expert, SS-Leibstandarte is a definitive history of one of Nazi Germanyâs most effective fighting units of World War II.