Author Adrian D. Gilbert https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Gilbert published the book “Waffen-SS: Hitler’s Army at War” in 2019. He has published more than a dozen books on military history.

I categorize this book as ‘PG’ because it contains scenes of violence. The book tells the history of the Waffen-SS (the armed SS). It began as the military branch of the Nazi party. Over the course of WWII units of the Waffen-SS served on both the Eastern and Western fronts. The units fell under the command of the OKW and fought alongside units of the regular army.

The SS was created in 1923. January of 1929 saw the appointment of Heinrich Himmler as Reichsführer-SS to lead them. The Waffen or armed SS was originally created as a small 120 man strong unit in March of 1933. Its purpose was the protection of Adolf Hitler. At its height of power in WWII, there were 36 Divisions of troops.

The SS and the army did not always get along. The regular army looked down upon most of the Waffen-SS officers. They did not have the military training of the regular army officers.

This book covers the Waffen-SS from its beginning days until the fall of Nazi Germany. The book includes stories of the growing pains experienced in the early days. The important leaders within the Waffen-SS and their backgrounds are given.

Units of the Waffen-SS served in almost all theaters of the war. Their actions in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, during the early NAZI expansion are told. They were a significant player in the 1940 invasion of the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. Events on the Eastern Front and in the West after the Allied D-Day invasion are cited. The Waffen-SS had a fanatical devotion to the Nazi party and its policies. This led to more atrocities committed by them than the regular army.

I enjoyed the 14+ hours I spent reading this 439-page WWII history. While this book is full of dates, facts, and names, it is easy to read. I learned quite a lot of new information as I read this book. The cover art is OK but it is very plain. I give this book a 4 out of 5.

You can access more of my book reviews on my Blog ( https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/).

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

Gilbert's work is written smoothly and unfolds in a straightforward way in an easy-to-follow narrative. I found the book to be very informative and engrossing. I want to stress that the writing is solid, not graphic, but not shying away from some of the more brutal features of the Waffen-SS over their years of existence. Every paragraph is essential to the author's development of the telling. There is no fluff and no "romantic" versions of his analysis.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this work to readers of general history and in the enigma of Nazi Germany specifically. This is a fascinating and well-written history with little to no "slow" spots.

The subject matter is difficult to begin with. All the various persons, groups, getting a hang of the German . . . it is almost as hectic as keeping track of the characters in 'War and Peace'. This puts most authors at a disadvantage, it is hard to talk about the SS in the narrative form. It is a shame because there was a lot of good information here. There were "stories" that I have not found in other books about the SS or the Nazis. This is important because these stories need to be told. One cannot be an ostrich in regards to History. The facts are great, the information is great, I am just not so happy about the presentation. I am a historian so I love this to begin with. But for most people I can see this as being a ponderous read. That being said I also do not like the marketing of History just for a better story. Still, I feel that this could have been presented better.

The author's painstaking research and attention to detail is obvious in the writing of this book. There were many facts that I only discovered after reading this!

Beginning with the original Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, Hitler's personal guard, the Waffen SS was to grow into a "small army" or six hundred thousand soldiers. Originally an Elite Unit of the 'cream' of the Aryan race, at the end of the war, anyone who could walk (Volksdeutche, Croatians and even Cossacks) and carry a gun was 'enlisted' into the Waffen SS.

Gilbert does his best to keep up with the changes to many of the brigades/legions into Divisions in name only, by 1944 only the first two Panzer Divisions were still up to the original fighting force. Those that did fight were famous for their tenacity and ability to stand up to superior forces. In 1945 Himmler was still creating new Divisions which in reality weren't larger than brigades without any heavy weapons.

Gilbert covers every unit from creation to destruction or surrender, he tells the truth of the fighting and those who did their job, those who committed war-crimes, those who just took the job for food (at the war's end). Easy to read and well worth your time.

This book gives a detailed history of the SS, the Waffen-SS, and their precursor, the SA in Hitler's Germany. The mostly German but also European place-names and names were very difficult to keep track of and eventually became confusing. Though there were some maps provided this is a story that sorely needed many mor maps to help the reader keep track of troop movements. While the information presented was thourough and incightful it did not make the book a page turner.

Free ARC from the mighty NETGALLEY to review

Loved the book, why? From the standpoint of the meticulous detail by the author or showing with the Waffen SS as well as modern organizations they don;t just 'spring-up' but rather percolate in various forms until the tie is right or in this case wrong. Enjoyed the details of their training and the campaigns they took part in.

I was provided an advance copy of Adrain Gilbert's "Waffen-SS" by the publisher, and I am pleased to report that the book is a valuable addition to the formidable body of work available on this branch of Hitler's notorious SS. For those of you not familiar with the subject, the Waffen-SS is the term generally used to identify elements of the
SS designated as armed combat units, as opposed to guard and police units largely centered on internal security and active measures against groups ideologically targeted by the Nazis. Books dealing with this subject almost invariably begin with a discussion of the organizational structure of the SS and then focus more tightly on this branch, and this one is no exception. The Waffen-SS was branded as a criminal organization by the Allies at the end of World War II, and this speaks to the fundamental challenge confronting any historian approaching this complex and often contradictory subject. Combat formations of the SS generally have the well earned reputation of being elite fighting formations, well trained and equipped lavishly with the finest weapons Germany could produce. While this generalization is largely sound, there are substantial variations on the theme depending on the changing fortunes of war, and too often this generalization is used to obfuscate the ruthlessness with which the SS served its political masters. This particular book really hits its stride in its discussion of the combat role of the Waffen-SS in the West and the role of the various ethnically diverse elements which contributed to its development. Indeed, some of the last units resisting the Russians in the ruins of Berlin were elements of foreign recruited SS formations. The author also examines the legacy of the Waffen-SS and its continued and often flawed prominence in historiography since the war. This volume is a useful primer for people new to the subject as well as those of us who have read more deeply in this area.

5 stars

This book shows the exhaustive amount of research and time that Mr. Gilbert put into creating this history. It traces in great detail the birth of the Waffen SS that became a force with which to be reckoned during the 1920's through the end of World War II in 1945. The scholarship put into this book is beyond reproach. In the book the reader becomes familiar with the dastardly and famous luminaries of the Nazi regime from Hitler and Himmler to many of the lesser known figures. It is easy-to-read and not overly technical. The use of language is very accessible to the lover of history, the serious scholar or just the everyday reader. I truly enjoyed this book and immediately went to Amazon to look for others of Mr. Gilbert's books.

I want to thank NetGalley and Hatchette Books/Da Capo Press for forwarding to me a copy of this instructive book for me to read,njoy and review.