The SS was intended to be an all-Aryan military force but it was extended to take recruits from ‘Germanic’ occupied countries across Europe and Scandinavia. The author has presented a very capable text to accompany the extensive, rare and excellent images that have made books in this series so popular – Much Recommended
NAME: Images of War, 5th SS Wiking At War 1941-1945, A History of the Division, Rare Photographs From Wartime Archives FILE: R2748 AUTHOR: Ian Baxter PUBLISHER: Pen & Sword BINDING: soft back PAGES: 136 PRICE: £14.99 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: WWII, World War II, World War 2, World War Two, SS, Waffen SS, Eastern Front, Soviets, Red Army, foreign recruits, foreign legion, Aryan, armour, grenadiers, mechanized infantry, anti-tank artillery, field artillery
ISBN: 1-52672-134-1
IMAGE: B2748.jpg BUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/yahd3lrx LINKS: DESCRIPTION: The SS was intended to be an all-Aryan military force but it was extended to take recruits from 'Germanic' occupied countries across Europe and Scandinavia. The author has presented a very capable text to accompany the extensive, rare and excellent images that have made books in this series so popular - Much Recommended The SS was expanded from its original role of close protection for Hitler into a significant internal security service, providing guards to the concentration and extermination camps, and then into a highly capable elite land force in the form of the Waffen SS. However, its ruthless achievement of objectives and the bitter fighting, particularly on the Eastern Front, saw it suffer heavy losses. It competed with the German Army for new recruits and needed to extend its recruiting pool. One solution was to form the German foreign legion of the SS Wiking, accepting new recruits with a slightly less stringent racial and political screening. SS Wiking was as deeply involved in atrocities as other SS Divisions and became a formidable fighting force. This book provides the images to convey the history of the 5th SS Wiking Division and will become a valuable addition to any enthusiast's library of WWII military history books.