Book Description
In terms of sheer numbers of soldiers, armored vehicles, guns, and the scale of destruction and casualties, the Eastern Front was the most active and decisive theater of war during the 20th century. For four years, the armies and air forces of the world's two most powerful and brutal dictators savaged each other over terrain that stretched from the Arctic to the Middle East. The map of Europe was changed forever by the fighting on this front, and even today, the world reverberates with the echoes of that fighting, in places like Chechenya and the Balkans.
Despite the enormous importance of the fighting that occurred between Nazi Germany and her allies and the Soviet Empire, we are still uncovering vastly important and long concealed facts about the war. For almost 50 years, the world had to depend largely on captured German records for its understanding of the Eastern Front, since almost all information made available by the Soviets was propaganda or even disinformation. Over the last decade, following the fall of the Communism in Europe in general, and Russia in particular, long-sealed archives have begun to open, and the truth about the Soviet side of the war is finally being discovered.
In this concise, yet highly comprehensive, volume, readers can begin to gain access to the more accurate and complete information that is now becoming available. Through the diligence and expertise of a team of highly capable and experienced military researchers and historians, including David Glantz, the widely-acknowledged foremost Soviet military historian in America, new information has been synthesized with the best of long-available data. The result is Slaughterhouse, the single most comprehensive and up to date work of its kind.
Slaughterhouse includes the following features:
—Two chapters by famed Sovietologist David Glantz: "Chronology of the War on the Eastern Front" (with nine detailed maps) and "Forgotten Battles" of the Eastern Front.
—The German armed forces and their allies: Thumbnail histories of 487 army groups, armies, corps, and divisions that saw combat on the Eastern Front.
—The Soviet armed forces: Thumbnail histories of 881 directions, fronts, armies, corps, and divisions.
—Biographical sketches of 57 key Axis and Soviet wartime personalities.
—Highly-detailed organizational diagrams of 55 types of Axis and Red Army divisions that served on the Eastern Front.
—Comprehensive, meticulously researched performance data comparisons of hundreds of Axis and Red Army weapons, including small arms, mortars, artillery, tanks, assault guns, combat aircraft, and more.
520 pages, supported by 88 photos; 9 maps; notes; and extensive 16 page bibliography.
Customer Reviews:
Eastern front for dummies.......2006-05-07
Both of my grandparents fought in WWII on the soviet side, so I'm pretty comfortable with the subject. I've read alot of good stuff about Mr. David Glantz from american, german and russian sources(check out battlefield.ru, choose english language option at the top left, awesome site with lots of info on the subject as well as overview of Mr.Glantz books). In any case this effort by Mr.Glantz is not a book and this is surely can't be called an encyclopedia of Eastern front. This is nothing shourt but a Eastern front for dummies. From a man who knows so much on Eastern front and has access to so much information this book is a joke.
Excellent compact guide to Eastern Front.......2006-01-30
The brilliant work, Slaugterhouse, by David Glantz is a one of its kind to give the Russians their rightful due in the Second World War. As Mr. Glantz points out in the book, had it not been for the Eastern Front where the Russians took most of the thrust of the Wehrmacht, the war most likely taken a different course. This hand book is a useful guide to anyone wishing to understand this very most important theater. It took many nations to team together to defeat Germany, Italy and Japan. The Allied bombings in Western Europe, the sea battles in the pacific and in Asia, the North African Campaign, and the campaigns in Western Europe have been given total credit for the victory. Mr. Glantz corrects for this and shows how the Russians would have defeated the Germans on their own merit. The reader can find readily information of significant battles and commanders. It is a great guide to use while visiting the Museum of the Great Patriotic War in Moscow. When I was in Moscow the Russians were impressed with this handy book.
A "Must-Have" for the Eastern Front.......2005-11-11
Without echoing what others have written, this book is one that will appeal to both the neophytes and the veterans of researching the Eastern Front. It is useful on several levels, and contains a wealth of information that in some cases is newly available in the English language!
While there is a considerable amount of information in the book, it really is presented in such a logical fashion that it's quite simple to find what is needed. For example, unlike some presentations, the unit information sections are quite logically in numerical order by hierarchy, so everything is easy to locate.
Much of the information on the German forces is in point of fact available in other milieus, both on-line and printed. However, with this book you have not only a listing, but a synopsis of every German and German-Allied unit to fight on the Russian front, from Army Group down to division. For the German-Allied units, this is probably the first time the information on Rumanian, Italian, Hungarian and Finnish forces has ever been gathered together in one place.
The section on the Soviet will be very valuable to researchers and historians. Since the end of the war, very little factual information from the Soviet side has been available. Here in this volume, you will find information that has not been readily available previously. Admittedly, some of the information is limited, but that is due to original sources, not the authors of this book. It must be remembered that in the literal `meat-grinder' that was the Russian Front, many of these units didn't exist long enough to develop a pedigree. Record keeping wasn't always as efficient as historians would desire, either.
The unit organization section I believe was handled very well. Those who study the German military especially know how many incarnations there were of each major type of unit. In this volume, the basic types of divisions are displayed, with major differentiations noted as needed. A good example of this would be the diagram for the Waffen-SS Mountain Division. The basic provisions for this type of unit are shown, followed by notes for six different Waffen-SS Mountain Divisions, explaining how they differed from the norm.
In the weapons section, the publisher has presented important information comparing German and Russian weapons side by side. Disregarding factory specifications, the information here shows things like effective range, which is much more important to the soldier and the historian. By putting the information side by side, it is easy to compare capabilities of different weapons systems from the rifle all the way up to the heaviest artillery. For vehicles, the information provided is that which is pertinent to combat. Offensive capability and defensive survivability is presented.
If one were to read this book from cover to cover, one would not know all there is to know about the war in Russia. Like any encyclopedia, this book provides a considerable amount of information, without going into exquisite detail. It will provide an excellent starting point for any research, though. I would strongly recommend this book for anyone interested in learning more about combat on the Russian Front in World War II.
The Eastern Front in a nutshell.......2005-10-18
The Eastern Front is a huge subject which cannot be covered in any detail in one single book. Someone considering buying this work should understand what it is and what it isn't. This book is not for anyone looking for detailed accounts of individual battles and campaigns. Nor is it for anyone wanting detailed orders of battle or biographies of the main commanders involved on both sides and it's not for anyone wanting detailed information on the weapons and equipment used.
What it is, is a 'one stop shop' of useful summarised information for the whole campaign and it's participants. This book will be useful for those who wish to look up facts and figures on the war in the East but don't require in depth information or wish to part with what can be a considerable amount of money aquiring more detailed and specialised works.
The book is exactly what it says it is on the cover, a handbook of the Eastern Front.
Comprehensive reference.......2005-10-16
It was a great idea to publish a handbook of Eastern Front units, officers and actions in a single English-language volume. There is plenty of interest in military-historical circles in this subject, and an encyclopedia-style reference covering both sides of the conflict was long overdue.
Book Description
World War II spawned some of the most famous-and infamous-fighting organizations the world has ever known. None was more feared by its battlefield foes or more hated by political enemies of the National Socialist regime than the Waffen-SS. Six decades after the last Waffen-SS unit capitulated or was annihilated, the facts about many aspects of this organization are still shrouded in legend and half-truth. Loathed by many as a criminal organization, yet also respected for the esprit, resolve, and valor of its component units and individuals, the Waffen-SS was unarguably a highly-complex, multi-faceted phenomenon, unique among the military organizations of the world.
Marc Rikmenspoel has crafted the ultimate reference for those trying to understand the intensely controversial and complicated nature of the Waffen-SS. A comprehensive overview that will be useful to historians, buffs, wargamers, and re-enactors alike, no matter what your predisposition to the Waffen-SS, you will learn a great deal from this book. The book includes a concise history of every one of the major fighting formations of the Waffen-SS (those designated as "divisions").
Sections include:
-Formations
— Structure of Divisions
— Germans in the Waffen-SS
— Germanics in the Waffen-SS
— Non-Germans and Non-Germanics in the Waffen-SS
— Leading Personalities
— Weapons
— Misconceptions and Controversies
— Weapons Tables
Supported by 82 photos and extensive, 20-page annotated bibliography.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting and informative - but contains far less than the enthusiastic reviews suggest.......2006-11-24
Marc Rikmenspoel has done an admirable job collating a wealth of information about the Waffen-SS in this volume. Labelling this book an encyclopedia is a bit of a misnomer though as it is far from comprehensive. This book is divided into four major sections (eight chapters). In the first two chapters, MR describes the formations and the organization of the Waffen-SS from the highest levels (SS Panzer Armies) down to batallion sized units and smaller. A brief history of the each of the SS divisions is given along with the names of commanding officers. Virtually all of this information can easily be found elsewhere (like Wikipedia). This is certainly not the `home run' as another reviewer put it. The second section contains detailed descriptions of the diverse national members of the Waffen-SS. This section is divided into two chapters, Germanics and non-Germanics, and is the real meat of this book in my opinion. The Waffen-SS was truly a diverse army and took in men from a wide range of backgrounds and nationalities. The third section contains short biographical sketches of thirteen famous (or infamous, such as Oskar Dirlewanger) members/officers of the Waffen-SS. The final section contains a brief (15 page) discussion of the weapons of the Waffen-SS and a final chapter that is essentially an apologetic for Waffen-SS war crimes.
Overall, this work is more for popular consumption (or the type of thing that a cadet who is enamored with the image of the victories of the Waffen-SS may be interested in reading), and I suspect that any serious student of WWII will find this book to be little more than a light snack. Despite some of the claims of the other reviewers, this is certainly not a scholarly work, and it is not the kind of work that one will return to again and again for information. This is definitely not an encyclopedia, in spite of the title, there are way too many holes. There are several things that I really disliked about this book. There is no discussion about any of the actual battles, nor is there anything said about the relationship between the Waffen-SS and the higher levels of the SS and/or the political leadership of Germany. I found the final section about the apology for SS war crimes to be particularly egregious, especially for a book that claims to be an encyclopedia. In particular, I think the author does make some good points here, but completely avoids (throughout the entire text really) ALL the complex issues related to the SS's (not just the Waffen-SS) role in implementing Nazi racial policy. A BALANCED view would present both the admirable qualities of the soldiers of the Waffen-SS as well as their crimes. This work is certainly not balanced, and is a virtual hagiography of the exploits and men of the Waffen-SS. This last section makes it clear that MR is trying to ameliorate the image of the Waffen-SS while avoiding uncomfortable truths. There are many positives to this book though. It is well written with a deft prose that is direct and easy to read. As described above, MR does a fine job describing the diverse ethnic/national makeup of the Waffen-SS. There are two additional aspects about this book that make it worth a look. First, at less than 14 dollars (as of 24NOV06) this price is easy on the wallet. Second, the book contains an annotated bibiliography that points the interested reader to other references.
Bottom line - a light snack for a serious student, but may still be a worthwhile addition to your collection (particularly given the price).
Waffen-SS Encyclopedia.......2006-11-06
Not expect from this book an "encyclopedia", is more an "aproximation" to the Waffen-SS world. If you don't look for a detail information it may help you to know units, history, and the flow and ebbs of some personalities and units. A book for beguinners.
A solid resource.......2006-02-25
This book is excellent in breaking down the origin of the Waffen SS units and in providing information on important Waffen personnel. I especially liked how it avoided lumping all the units and all the individuals into a single group. It recognizes the differences between elite combat formations and thugs behind the lines who are commiting genocide. It also recognizes that individuals within a given unit differ in terms of fanaticism and indoctrination. It does not address general German (or European) antisemitism and its role, which is probably better tackled by holocaust books like the excellent Hitler's Willing Executioners. I would have preferred more battle history though. This book goes into extreme detail on the role of Germanics (non-Germans of German racial stock) in the SS, but there is relatively little detail on the key battles. All in all, I would say that this book and The Waffen SS at War are complementary. This book tells about the real people involved very well, but does a poor job with the battle history. Waffen SS at War tells the battle history but does a poor job making the people real, rather than simple demonic Nazi stereotypes.
An amazing reference for World War Two buffs!.......2005-11-11
Marc J. Rikmenspoel's book is one of the most detailed book's available on the Waffen-SS. It gives the background and summary of operations of all divisions, and has outstanding diagrams that outline the structure of early war motorized infantry divisions, panzer divisions, panzer-grenadier divisions, mountain divisions, cavalry divisions, and grenadier (infantry) divisions. It describes both the German and non-German troops of the Waffen-SS, which believe it or not included volunteers from Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Belorussia, Czechia, Estonia, France, Georgia, Hungary, India, Ireland (recruited from the IRA), Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, North Caucasus, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, and Ukraine!
This book has a great section on the famous figures of the Waffen-SS and how they influenced it throughout the war. It has a brief section on the Waffen-SS weapons (with helpful photos) that serves as a good introduction to the subject. And finally, perhaps the best part of the book is the "Myths about the Waffen-SS" at the end. This answers questions about common myths about the Waffen-SS, such as whether or not they really possessed superior weaponry to the army. Also, there's a very informative appendix which gives details on the weapons of the Waffen-SS, and the bibliography serves as a great starting point for looking for more information on the Waffen-SS. Perhaps the best thing about this book is that it's written in an easy-to-understand format, making it the perfect book for both experts and beginners. This book is highly recommended to all World War Two buffs.
Great Research Book........2005-06-16
Ok, this is the last review until I finish a few more books.....anyone got any titles, LOL
OK, I found this book really well done and to the point. I would say it is more along the research type of book, as it is NOT a memoir or not really a story.
The chapters cover everything I would want to know about the SS. SS units, weapons used, Bio's on major characters (brief but with good information, and a good read). How the SS DIV were broken down and of course where the Divisions fought, and how they ended the war. One of the chapters covers all the countries that supplied volunteers to the German elite units and has a break down of wounded/killed and what happened to the soldiers at wars end. This is a really good read in my mind.
Most of the photos have not been seen by me. I found myself going back to this book to re-read certain chapters to help explain other books. I know I will be using this book to compliment later books.
Highly recommended as a research book.
Book Description
The first book-length account of the initial phase of Operation NORDWIND, the last German offensive on the Western Front in World War II, Seven Days in January is also a personal memoir by a key participant. For perspective, the author includes a detailed, yet concise, summary of his division's operations during three years of combat against the Soviets on the Arctic Front near Murmansk, and its epic 1,000-mile fighting withdrawal across Finland and Norway after the Finns concluded a separate armistice with the USSR in 1944. With this as background, the author focuses on a day-by-day description and analysis of Operation NORDWIND, based on not only his personal experience in the campaign, but on extensive use of both German and American archival sources and dozens of interviews with the combatants of both sides. A gripping and detailed account of an important, yet until now obscure unit's participation in the last critical contest on the Western Front in WWII. Includes 36 highly-detailed maps, including eight textured 3-D maps derived from satellite imagery to facilitate the reader's fullest possible understanding of the terrain's effects on operations. 6" x 9" format; photos; index.
Customer Reviews:
Well Researched and Written History by Participant in Operation Nordwind.......2007-06-06
At the tender age of 22, the author was the senior staff officer and second in command of the 3d Battalion, SS-Mountain Infantry Regiment 12, 6th SS-Mountain Division NORD. This book is his story.
It begins with an amazing account of how he was captured hiding in a foxhole with two American soldiers that he declared were his prisoners of war. One of the soldiers in the foxhole had shot at the author, hitting him from about 30 meters away. The author instinctively charged right at the foxhole. The surprised soldier got off one more round before the author jumped in the foxhole, hit the soldier on the head with his fist, and declared him to be his prisoner as he unbuckled his pistol. He then discovered that there was yet another soldier in the foxhole who had slept through all this. The author declared him to be his prisoner too. The author was eventually captured when a GI sergeant became upset that one of the men would not leave the foxhole and grabbed the soldier's blanket, uncovering the author as well.
The author then recounts in a very absorbing way his introduction to life as a German soldier where he became a member of the division of German mountain troops that eventually (in 1943, when Waffen-SS Divisions were officially numbered, based on seniority) became the sixth Waffen-SS division, the 6th SS-Mountain Division NORD. In so doing, he also provides a fascinating history of the training, experience, and development of this division, which, after an inauspicious beginning, obtained a well-deserved reputation for being a skilled and respected fighting force. This division spent almost the entire war fighting in the rugged, mountainous terrain of Finland with the Finns against the Soviets until the Finns and Soviets achieved an rapprochement, part of which included that the Finns capture, disarm, and turn over to the Soviets any German soldiers left in Finland after a 10-day allowance for their withdrawal. (The German wihdrawal was designated Operation BIRKE ("Birch").)
After the division's withdrawal from Finland, at the end of 1944, the Germans decided to utilize it (as well as other troops) in Operation NORDWIND ("Northwind"), an adjunct to Operation WACHT AM RHEIN ("Watch on the Rhein"), the offensive launched in Decermber 1944 through the Ardennes forest, better known in the West as the Battle of the Bulge.
The vast majority of the book describes in great detail, not only day by day, but hour by hour, the 7 days of fighting by the author's battalion and other elements of the 6th SS Division ("Combat Group Wingen") in January 1945 in and around the mountain town of Wingen-sur-Moder, in the Low Vosges in Northeastern France, primarily against forces of the U.S. 70th Infantry Division.
Drawing upon a wide array of sources from both sides of the battle, American and German, including numerous personal recollections by participants on both sides, the author not only describes what happened in an engaging writing style but objectively analyzes and criticizes the strategies and tactics of each side, giving credit where credit is due, during each stage of the fighting. The book is an invaluable addition to the history of this battle, mountain fighting, World War II, and warfare in general.
The entire book is enhanced by the use of about 3 dozen well-drawn and clearly stated maps of the fighting in Finland, the withdrawal, and Operation NORDWIND, including the daily battles around Winger-sur-Moden. There are no photos to speak of (the cover photo is not that of the author).
Excellent Account of Operation NORDWIND.......2007-04-22
The author was the adjutant of a German SS mountain infantry battalion that successfully infiltrated through the mountains and American lines before seizing its objective, a small village where most of these highly trained and well led soldiers were surrounded and killed in action while awaiting a relief force to link up with them that never came. The combat performance of this superb unit, and its strict adherence to the rules that govern modern warfare, so impressed their American opponents that both sides routinely met at annual reunions after the war. Parts of the book read like poetry, particularly the all too brief description of the German retreat across Finland and into Norway where the soldiers embarked on rusty transport ships that would transport these doomed soldiers to the shrinking perimeter of the Thousand Year Reich where they would be sacrificed on the fields of Mars during the last operational level German counteroffensive in the west.
Reads like an after action report.......2007-02-26
Yes, it is a great commentary on a unit as it progressed through WW2 and a particular action. However if you were looking for a more personal account of Wolf's experiences you will be disappointed. As my title states it reads like an after action report, NOT A NOVEL, not engrossing, just the facts, I found it pretty dry in fact. What is of great value is the dissection of the problems and how they contributed to the failure of the SS-Mountain to prevail against the US forces. "Those that don't read history are doomed to repeat it". If this is what you are looking for then you will not be disappointed. I give it five stars in that regard.
Credit where credit is due.......2006-03-04
It would take a German to give credit where credit is due.
Nordwind was a German offensive made at the same time as the more famous Ardennes offensive. It was of a slightly smaller scale, but no less fiercly fought and could potentially have had devastating consequences had it succeeeded.
Wolf Zoepf was a veteran from the war with Soviet Union north of the Arctic cirlce and gives a clear and concise description of the development of the Sixth Waffen SS Mountain Division, of its tactics and organisation, and of its heroic part in the failed Nordwind offensive.
The book not only describes in detail the course of the battle, but also - which is even more important - the strengths and weaknesses of the opposing military organisations.
It is not enough to say that the US army had superior manpower and superior firepower - history is full of examples where the inferior side carries the day, take for example the early German and Japanese victories in the second world war, or the Macedonian victories against the Persians.
The German strengths lay in superior tacical skill, initiative, off-road mobility, and tactical organisation (up to, say, regimental level). Usually, these factors would be enough to carry the day in any battle, but the US army had a superior organisation on the army level: not only did they have the manpower and the firepower, they could see to it that it got where it was needed! What played a role was also the superior US communications technology, and that they had one sole Commander who knew how to utilise his advantages and whose orders were obeyed. I get the impression that by this stage of the war the US army had developed a military organisation that was almost fool-proof; even mediocre army or divisional commanders could succeed by just following the rules. The German commander had to co-operate with other army commanders, including Himmler! and had cope with meddling superiors, including Hitler! He could not give orders to other units than the ones under his direct command, and then the communications were often so faulty that orders were not always received.
This book gives the reader so much more than just a first-hand account of the battle (which is interesting enough), and it is a valuable addition to any second world war or military history collection.
Let us not forget that the blood on the snow and the unmarked graves are no less real just becuase they are written on paper and happened over sixty years ago. This kind of madness continues, and shows no will to stop.
Great World War 2 History.......2005-09-29
This is a great history of the 6th SS-Mountain Division. I enjoyed the play by play of Operation NORDWIND and the research that was put in to getting the facts of the battle right. Read Black Edelweiss: A Memoir of Combat and Conscience by a Soldier of the Waffen-SS first to get a really good look at what is was like fighting in Finland and in Operation NORDWIND. They compliment themselves very well.
Book Description
The units of the Waffen-SS were some of the most successful and influental combat formations produced by any country in this century. Their abilities and accomplishments, in both defense and offense, remain legendary. Finally, the commanders of these elite units are examined here in detail. In this book, the first of a two volume set, forty-four biographies reveal the lives of the most senior Waffen-SS commanders. Details are provided for education, as well as pre-Third Reich era service in military and civil posts, and includes promotions, assignments and decorations. The 1933-1945 era, the most detailed, reveals all their commands and related data similar to their earlier service. Officially documented recollections of the combat actions that resulted in bestowal of their highest awards (Knight's Cross and German Cross in Gold) are finally discussed. Heavily documented, their individual stories continue until their eventual fates are revealed. Apart from the most famous leaders, such as Paul Hausser and Josef "Sepp" Dietrich, these volumes reveal and examine the many divisional commanders who have previously remained unknown except by the men they led. Included are the commanders who rose through the ranks after graduating from the SS officer school system. Along with numerous private archive sources in the U.S. and Europe, more than a dozen former divisional commanders contributed information or illustrations from their private collections. In additon to text data, this volume is profusely illustrated with more than 400 rare or previously unpublished photographs, and 35 documents. Order of battle charts with an explanation of symbols provided, detail the units themselves. With a foreward by Otto Kumm, the highly decorated last commander of the "Leibstandarte," this initial volume finally fills a significant knowledge void in recording the history of the Waffen-SS., over 400 b/w photographs, maps, documents, 8 1/2" x 11", glossary, appendices, index
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Reference.......1999-12-25
Waffen-SS Commanders is a two-part series on the major commanders of the Waffen-SS, perhaps the most controversial fighting formation in history. Yerger's sympathies with his subjects shows, but he is willing to distinguish between SS officers who conducted themselves in a professional manner and proved themselves in combat and the political favorites of Himmler who rose from the ranks of the German Polizei and whose units were particularly brutal in anti-partisan operations but were no match against professional soldiers. Examples of the former include Otto Baum, Heinz Harmel (whose treatment of prisoners and civilians at Arnhem earned praise from the Allies-General Harmel is still alive and at nearly 100 years of age still conducts his daily life in the same way as he did as a soldier), Paul Hausser and others. The lesser lights among the commanders of the Waffen SS include Friderich Jeckeln, Curt von Gottberg, and Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, who testified for the prosecution at Nuremberg out of survival and not remorse for any actions-his brutality during the 1944 Warsaw uprising and his granting of POW status to Polish insurgents to insure that he would not be branded a war criminal in the eventuality of a German defear are documented by Yerger. To his credit, von den Bach did not renege on his promise to the Poles, although had Germany somehow won the war or negotiated a separate peace with the West, the Poles probably would have suffered a different fate.
As controversial a subject as the Waffen-SS was, not all of the commanders could be considered brutal criminals or incompetent as portrayed by revisionist history. To be sure, they served an ideology which was evil and most of the commanders were members of the NSDAP, but the majority of SS commanders were in fact professional soldiers equivalent to their army counterparts in the Wehrmacht. Most of these commanders did conduct themselves in a correct manner and fought with honor for their country, even if the regime they served had few redeeming qualities. It is a tribute to these commanders that the Waffen-SS still arouses much passion, even today, and most modern armies today use tactics and innovations which originated with the Waffen-SS over 50 years ago.
Excellent Study of SS Commanders.......1999-12-25
If you have Part 1 of Yerger's study, be sure to get this book. It follows up his previous book in the same fashion. Yerger obviously has great sympathy for his subjects, but is willing to criticize those Waffen SS commanders who in his view were less than professional soldiers, especially the Higher SS and Police leaders who were given commands because of their political loyalties rather than their skills in combat. This contrast is shown in the section on the Krueger brothers, the only two brothers to achieve general rank in the SS. Walter Krueger, who was renowned for his command of the Das Reich division is favorably mentioned, as befits his combat leadership and prowess in battle, while his brother Friederich-Wilhelm, who rose through the ranks of the Polizei, is described as "a career SS officer with an interest in power and was brutal in controlling his administration within the General Government (of German-occupied Poland)." Officers who conducted themselves as worthy soldiers in Volume 2 include Felix Steiner, Kurt "Panzer" Meyer, Sylvester Stadler who ordered an immediate inqiry into the events at Oradour, one of the war crimes which the SS was accused of-a controversial event even today. Stadler was temporary commander of Das Reich and ordered a court-martial of the officer accused of the massacre of civilians of that village) and many others. In Volume 1, commanders such as Paul Hausser, Otto Baum, Heinrich Harmel (whose professionalism and humane treatment of prisoners and civilians during the Battle of Arnhem was praised by the Allies) and Karl Kreutz, are praised for their military compentency and bravery in combat while commanders who never faced true combat formations, for example Friederich Jeckeln, Curt von Gottberg, Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski(who testified for the prosecution at Nuremberg not because of any remorse but instead out of self-preservation) are not looked upon with much sympathy.
Such criticism is refreshing, especially with regards to a subject as controversial as the Waffen SS. Certainly there were some SS commanders who were either overrated or extremely brutal, but the vast majority conducted themselves in as professional a manner as any commander on the winning side. That they served an ideology which was evil does not diminish their service to their country and Yerger depicts this in a non-judgmental way.
Excellent Study of SS Commanders.......1999-12-25
If you have Part 1 of Yerger's study, be sure to get this book. It follows up his previous book in the same fashion. Yerger obviously has great sympathy for his subjects, but is willing to criticize those Waffen SS commanders who in his view were less than professional soldiers, especially the Higher SS and Police leaders who were given commands because of their political loyalties rather than their skills in combat. This contrast is shown in the section on the Krueger brothers, the only two brothers to achieve general rank in the SS. Walter Krueger, who was renowned for his command of the Das Reich division is favorably mentioned, as befits his combat leadership and prowess in battle, while his brother Friederich-Wilhelm, who rose through the ranks of the Polizei, is described as "a career SS officer with an interest in power and was brutal in controlling his administration within the General Government (of German-occupied Poland)." Officers who conducted themselves as worthy soldiers in Volume 2 include Felix Steiner, Kurt "Panzer" Meyer, Sylvester Stadler who ordered an immediate inqiry into the events at Oradour, one of the war crimes which the SS was accused of-a controversial event even today. Stadler was temporary commander of Das Reich and ordered a court-martial of the officer accused of the massacre of civilians of that village) and many others. In Volume 1, commanders such as Paul Hausser, Otto Baum, Heinrich Harmel (whose professionalism and humane treatment of prisoners and civilians during the Battle of Arnhem was praised by the Allies) and Karl Kreutz, are praised for their military compentency and bravery in combat while commanders who never faced true combat formations, for example Friederich Jeckeln, Curt von Gottberg, Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski(who testified for the prosecution at Nuremberg not because of any remorse but instead out of self-preservation) are not looked upon with much sympathy.
Such criticism is refreshing, especially with regards to a subject as controversial as the Waffen SS. Certainly there were some SS commanders who were either overrated or extremely brutal, but the vast majority conducted themselves in as professional a manner as any commander on the winning side. That they served an ideology which was evil does not diminish their service to their country and Yerger depicts this in a non-judgmental way.
Pictorial biographies of Waffen SS commanders........1999-03-14
Like other works by Yerger, "Waffen SS Commanders" is primarily a picture history. It also has nice 2+ page biographies of the military careers of senior Waffen SS officers. There are occasional passing references to their lives after the war, but nothing beyond 1-liners. Some of the biographies are of well known figures such as Dietrich and Hausser whom you can read of elsewhere, but this is probably the only place you will find biographies of minor figures such as Jungkuntz and Hampel. This is the first volume of what is intended to become a 4-volume series, and alphabetically only goes up to Kreutz. Guess who wrote the preface to this book!
Book Description
Dutch SS accounts are very rare, particularly ones such as this, covering recruitment, training, and frontline service first with 5th SS Panzer Division 'Wiking', then later with SS Regiment Besslein. He not only informs and illustrates the general politics of the time, but also explains how Dutch views of the Third Reich changed so radically, discusses the founding of the Waffen-SS, the recruitment of Dutch volunteers into it and why so many non-German Europeans volunteered to fight and risk their lives for Germany. His discussion of the intensity of the SS's training is also noteworthy. Of course, the core of the book lies in Hendrik's recollections of his service on the Eastern Front between 1941 and 1945, initially with the 5th SS Panzer Division 'Wiking'. He offers the reader an impressive and fluid account, whether it be describing the midst of battle, surviving 50 degrees below zero, frosts and frozen ground, or traversing a quagmire of roads. Of particular historical interest are his later recollections of service during 1944-45 with SS Regiment Besslein on the Eastern Front, focusing on his participation in the epic defense of Breslau - this siege remains little-known in the West, and first-hand accounts such as Hendrik's are even scarcer, making this title a worthy addition to the literature on the Second World War. REVIEWS "...reveals a perspective on the battlefields of World War II that is not often encountered by an American readership. ...Is as compelling as it is informative. Exceptionally well written and impressively candid.....a welcome and recommended addition to the growing library of WWII military memoirs..."Midwest Book Review May 2007 James Cox
Customer Reviews:
An interesting perspective.......2007-07-04
Verton was a Dutch Waffen SS voluteer. His story is laced with many explanations and justifications for his decision to join the Waffen SS and later settle in post-war Germany; these do not detract too much from the story and perhaps help readers who are not famililar with the motivations of non-German Waffen SS voluteers. The retribution his family suffered due to his and his brother's service for Germany was a new insight for this reader. Overall, a good read and recommended for persons interested in first person stories of the Eastern Front.
Miraculous survival and literary snapshots of the times.......2007-05-13
What made this book stand out was the author's un-apologetic reasons for a Dutchman voluntarily serving in the German Military. Although he does not give due blame and responibility for the mass murders of the Nazi's (he does describe some of the atrocities of the Communists), the author does give a good and clear account of the fighting he was in and the defense of Breslau, Germany which was never taken in battle before the fall of Germany. This was an interesting account in particular as it is a fairly unheralded battle and the author was a witness. His defense of the SS and German military is valid for the reasons he accepted as an indoctrinated idealistic young man. -Just as the reasons for fighting for their cause were equally as valid for the typical US or Soviet soldier. Government leaders so typically manipulate the patriotic juices of their citizens in order to get them to support whatever war happens to be the current cause, whether it is fighting the "Red Menace", "Evil Nazi's", "Stopping Communism", "The Taliban". Wars are a profitable tool of the Controllers and every nation has lost too many fine sons for the temporary control of real estate in the name of their Cause.
A welcome and recommended addition .......2007-05-08
"In The Fire Of The Eastern Front: The Experiences Of A Dutch Waffen-SS Volunteer On The Easter Front 1941-45" is the personal memoir of Hendrick C. Verton and reveals a perspective on the battlefields of World War II that is not often encountered by an American readership. Verton includes his recruitment, training, and frontline service experiences as he saw service with the 5th SS Panzer Division 'Wiking" and then later with the SS Regiment Besslein. Verton touches upon the general politics of the day and explains how Dutch views of the Third Reich changed radically over the years of the war. Verton also covers that founding of the Waffen-SS, the recruiting of Dutch volunteers like himself, and why many non-German European volunteered to fight and imperil their lives for Germany and Adolph Hitler. Verton's stories of fighting in pitch battles, surviving 50 degree blow zero weather, transporting men and equipment over terrain that would range from quagmires to frozen ground is as compelling as it is informative. Exceptionally well written and impressively candid, "In The Fire Of The Eastern Front" is a welcome and recommended addition to the growing library of World War II military memoirs and autobiographies.
Excellent coverage of Siege of Breslau 1945.......2007-03-05
This is a very interesting book. The author manages to cover a lot of interesting ground, which is not usually written about in other German World War II memoirs. In particular, his perspective as a Dutch volunteer is written about at length. The prewar conditions in the Netherlands that the author views as responsible for the early years of World War II seeing so many of his fellow countrymen volunteer for service at the front with the Germans are explained in detail (even if one may not always agree with his political opinions).
Likewise, the way the early volunteers joined the SS, their induction and training is also explained at some length.
If you are looking for combat experiences, then the fact that the author served in the East in Silesia during 1945 easily justify buying this book. His account of service in a Kampfgruppe in besieged Breslau with SS Regiment Besslein is very good indeed. There is plenty of detail, particularly as these events are little known in the English-speaking world, and even less written about.
This title is well worth buying because of the different perspective it offers, and particularly for its excellent coverage of some aspects of the final months of the war on the Eastern Front which receive very little coverage elsewhere.
not for the casually interested.......2007-03-02
In a nutshell: In the Fire of the Eastern Front left me with mixed feelings. On the one hand as the publisher's blurb suggests WWII memoirs of Dutch Waffen-SS volunteers are very rare and this makes this book interesting and worth having in it's own right. On the other hand for me it did not deliver on all points. Foremost is the fact that from a purely military-history point of view the descriptions of the frontline experiences are a lot less detailed than one could hope for. For instance there is little specific technical information relating to (the use of) small-arms in combat nor much about tactics, little unit or order of battle information and the author surprisingly rarely mentions specific comrades or unit commanders. The time the author Hendrik Verton spent in the ranks of the Wiking division (in fact with a detached sub- or ad hoc unit of said division) was limited to the winter of 1941-1942 and spring of '42 on the central part of the front. Verton then fell ill with typhoid fever and was transported back to Germany. The period from the summer of 1942 to the summer of 1944 is covered in only a few pages; after recuperating from his illness the author took part in a couple of training courses. The action only picks up again in the second half of 1944 when Verton is posted to a Kampfgruppe in East Prussia and afterwards to SS (fortress) regiment Besslein in Silesia (an area of Eastern Germany which is now part of Poland). Unclear remains why Verton never returned to the Wiking division. The Silesian and Breslau siege part of the book I found to be the most interesting. Breslau held out till after the fall of Berlin and it is an epic episode in the closing stages of the Russo-German war which is not well known outside of Germany. Verton's experiences during the siege are well worth the read. The fairly extensive post-war part of the book is fairly interesting but one could secretly wish more of these pages had been spent on his actual front-line experiences.
Completely superfluous however to all but the complete WWII novice are the many pages relating the general course of the war. Who for example wants to read some digression about the Battle of Britain in an Eastern Front memoir? Having read about two dozen German veteran memoirs it still amazes me why some editors do not make their authors stick to what they personally experienced, with say only the broadest outlines of the bigger picture of the front where the author served to put things in perspective.
Unsurprising but perhaps for some after a while annoying are the many `apologist' statements in the book. They do not detract from the substance of this memoir and of course the author is free to expound his views on whether WWII was really such a clear-cut showdown between pure good and pure evil. Interesting in this light is the recent book on WWII in Europe by Norman Davies. However Verton is not an historian and while he repeatedly accuses Western opinion of being unfairly biased towards Germany in general and to the Waffen-SS in particular the author then resorts to his own bias and paints a very one-sided picture of stalwart volunteer idealists bravely fighting Communism and saving Western civilization. No shades of gray here. However precisely because of the fact Verton is not a historian it is interesting to see how so long after the war a person can still be so adamant and unwavering about his views and convictions.
The translation from the original German could have benefited from better proof reading. Some sentences seem a bit quirky. A couple of times an obviously Dutch word or name should have been translated into Dutch instead of being left in German. Also a Dutch newspaper is called National Socialist instead of Socialist (or Social Democrat), an embarrassing mistake. Sometimes abbreviations are not explained, footnotes and an index are sadly missing and some quotes are not attributed. The bibliography is almost exclusively German.
So there you have it, a mixed bag. If you are not familiar with WWII nor with eastern front memoirs from the German point of view do not buy this book, you will be disappointed. A far better start would be Blood Red Snow for instance by Koschorrek. If you are more familiar with the Eastern front and or are interested in the Waffen-SS volunteers then this book should be in your collection, despite its faults. Before you order it though you might first want to have a look see at Twilight of the Gods by Hillblad and Wallin.
Book Description
By 2012 total college enrollment is projected to exceed 15.8 million, and a new generation of students and their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors will be in the forefront of this enrollment boom. Now is the time for student affairs practitioners to consider new learning and service strategies, rethink student development theories, and modify educational environments. This volume provides a foundation for understanding the incoming generation of students and to offer suggestions on how to educate and serve them more effectively.
This best selling issue is the 106th volume of the Jossey-Bass higher education report New Directions for Student Services.
Book Description
Hard cover, small format (6" x 9"), 400 pages, more than 100 photos, including 50+ previously unpublished photos taken by a member of SS-Panzerjger-Abteilung 54 of the 4. SS-Panzergrenadier-Brigade "Nederland" and score of maps.
This book is typical Tieke: terse, to-the point, factual and exciting reading! It presents all of the original material from Tragödie um die Treue as well as selected excerpts from Korps Steiner and original material added just for the English edition. It concentrates on the fighting in the Baltic but covers the fighting all the way until the end of the war including an extensive section on the final fighting in Berlin.
This book represents the only thorough account in English of some of the formations in the corps: e.g., the 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division "Nordland" and the aforementioned 4. SS-Panzergrenadier-Brigade "Nederland".
Customer Reviews:
Cliff in the red titelwave.......2007-10-10
I found this book, a superbly written account of the germanic ss panzer korps. For people interrested in the european volunteers serving in the waffen ss, than this book must belong in your library. however, I found it something of a hard read, becaause it's very detailed, so you constantly need to fight your way through a lot of unit designations!
For me however, this book is another major piece of a puzzle concerning the european volunteers of the waffen ss serving in the soviet union! This book will folow the trail of the 11th ss Nordland, and the 24th ss Nederland! Not much is really written about these divisions, so if you are interested than this book is a must have! I must add from a purely militairy point of vieuw, i was facinated by the 3ss panzer korps militairy accomplishments!!!!!!!!!!!1 the immense personal bravery and courage, and their willingness to sacrifice for what they believed in! especialy the korps defence of Narva, while being grossly outnumbered by the red army, the korps fought with determination and dealt out death and destruction out of proportion to their numbers!!!!!!!!!!! and continuesly managed to withdraw in good order! the book also contains story's of personal tragedy's, and the truest sense of kameradeships! once you start reading you will not want to put it down! excellent work Tieke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monotonous and Odd.......2007-09-01
I grabbed this book a year ago expecting the best, however i was in for a rude awakening. The book is monotonous and its structure is terrible, it fails to appeal to the reader or communicate to the reader in anyway and besides that it gives a stereotypical description of the Red Army as a faceless horde.It also tends to endorse the SS and its actions calling it Europes first Army of defense against the Reds before NATO, another inadequate book on the East. True the book can be descriptive and informative but its largely biased and unnapealling. Awaste of time and Money!
An excellent history of the III SS-Panzer Korps.......2006-09-17
This book was an interesting read about the III SS-Panzer-Korps (Germanisches).
The book is rather terse and rather detailed which might bore those the like light reading about personal experiences. This book is for the die-hard historical types.
The book covers the formation of the III (which was made up of Norwegians, Swedes and Dutch who were recruited to fight the Bolsheviks) it actions till the end of the war.
Chapters: Formation, Transfer to Croatia, The 18th Armee, The Storm Breaks Loose, Withdraw of the III, Fighting in Estonia, Between HungerBurg and Narwa, The Soviet Landing Operation at Merkula, The Southern Front of Narwa, The Narwa Bridgehead, The evacuation of Narwa, The Tannenberg Position, Fire Brigade in the Northern Sector, Withdrawal from Estonia, 'The Baldone, Doblen and Autz Areas of Operation', Preekulan - Skuodas, Sea transport to Pomerania, The III in Pomerania, The Altdamm Bridgehead, Reorganization West of the Oder, Operation Berlin, The Storm Breaks, The Battle for Berlin, The Russian Assault on the Center of Berlin, The Final Phase of the Battle for Berlin, Breakout or Captivity, The Remnants of the 9. Armee Break out of the Halbe Pocket, The end of Heergruppe Weichsel in Norther Germany.
The are also Appendices that offer more detail to formations, info on the Finnish Volunteers, assorted recommendations for medals, and an explanation about punishment.
There are many maps and photos some of which are said to have never been published.
Overall this book was a fun read and is guided in principle about detailing what happened. There is next to nothing about politics or judgment. The closest thing to it is at the end of the book where Tieke mentions the Soviet records showing that Stalin had planned to invade Germany and possibly the Rest of the Europe. Tieke asked an interesting question if Germany had saved Europe from the Soviets with Barbarossa.
Again this is a must have book for the serious scholar of the Eastern Front.
Excellent History of the III SS Panzer Korps.......2005-02-08
Like most of Wilhelm Tieke's books, excellently written blending tremendous historic details along with many engrossing personal accounts. Of the 60 JJ Fedorowicz titles that are in my collection, this book is my favorite. Recommended without hesitation for anyone interested in the Waffen SS or War on the Eastern Front. Also note, this book was selected as one the Top Ten Military Books for the year 2001 as determined from the Stone&Stone.com Military Book Survey.
Triump of the Will!.......2004-09-24
This book recounts in full details the idealism and ultimate sacrifice of the Germans, ethnic Germans and European volunteers in the Korps which fought to stem the Red Bolshevic hordes from the cradle of civilization.
Customer Reviews:
Rudolph Hoess (Auschwitz Kommandant) and the Clarification of Some Holocaust Misconceptions.......2007-05-31
I give this book five stars because of its historical value. This work not only gives insight into the mind of the leader of perhaps the greatest death factory ever built, but also allows a clearing-up of some errors that have accreted in the decades since that horrible time.
Hoess rejected God and the Church (p. 52-53, 57, 59, 72, 192), having rebelled against his father's wish that he become a priest. Like Himmler, he became an Artaman (pp. 202-203; a communal movement resembling the 1960's US communes, albeit Teutonic-centered) before switching to Nazism for his substitute religion.
Hoess wrote: "Until the beginning of 1942 the main body of prisoners was Polish." (p. 128). Many Poles were murdered secretly (the cause of death listed as natural), "...because of political and security reasons..." (p. 224).
During the Auschwitz Carmelite convent controversy, attempts were made to belittle the victimhood of Auschwitz Poles through the premise that they, unlike most Jews, were not generally killed upon arrival at Auschwitz. Hoess, in contrast, rejected any such dichotomy (if anything, praising the slow-death genocidal methods--as perfected by the Communists): "The Gestapo delivered the prisoners to the camps to be exterminated. It made no difference to them whether it happened by firing squad, gas, or by the horrible conditions in the camps. It was part of their plan not to improve conditions in the camps...Thus, the concentration camps were changed deliberately, and sometimes unintentionally, into large-scale extermination centers. The Kommandants received extensive composite reports from the Gestapo about the Soviet concentration camps. Escaped prisoners had made reports about the conditions and organization of these camps down to the smallest detail. They emphasized that by using forced labor methods the Soviets were annihilating entire nationalities." (pp. 168-169).
Holocaust-uniqueness advocates sometimes claim that the genocide of the Polish intelligentsia, unlike that of Jews, served a rational purpose--the elimination of resistance. Actually, the latter was, at most, a hoped-for byproduct of this nation-destroying act: "I want to add this, that the general opinion at SS headquarters was that the total annihilation of the Polish intelligentsia would also destroy the resistance movement. [SS Major] Thomsen was an ardent defender of this theory." (p. 322).
Initial plans to kill all Jews gave way to the sparing of some of them for forced labor (p. 34).
Hoess discussed the Jewish Sonderkommando in considerable detail. Those Jews temporarily got to save their lives by dutifully assisting in the deception, gassing, despoiling, and cremation of their fellow Jews. He also observed Jew-against-Jew behavior by some Jews who had no hope of postponing their own deaths. As they entered the gas chambers, they told Germans the addresses of fugitive Jews back home. Hoess commented: "I cannot explain what motivated them to reveal this information. Was it personal revenge, or were they jealous because they did not want the others to live on?" (p. 160).
In common with many Germans, Hoess attempts to rationalize his exterminatory conduct by equating it with the Allied bombings of German women and children. He estimates German civilian casualties in the several millions (p. 171), which is at least a 20-fold exaggeration.
As for lebensraum, Hoess belatedly concluded that Germany could have achieved it peacefully (p. 182).
Hoess suggested that crude propaganda such as Der Sturmer had hindered the development of scientific anti-Semitism (p. 140). He also came to believe that the extermination of Jews only brought hatred against Germany and increased Jewish power by discrediting anti-Semitism (p. 183).
This volume isn't limited to Hoess' memoirs. The entire Wannsee Protocol is printed in translation. It is obvious that the choice of Poland as the site of the German death camps was based solely on practical considerations (minimalized transportation) and had nothing to do with real or stereotyped Polish attitudes towards Jews: "State Secretary Dr. Buehler declared that the government of Occupied Poland would welcome it if the final solution to this question would be started in Occupied Poland. His reason: transport plays no important role here and the deployment of workers during the operation would not cause any problems." (p. 380).
A very good tranlation.......2007-01-06
My opinion is based on the comparison with the orginal publication in German, which I purchased in 1960 to provide essential information for the subsequent psychiatric evaluations of several thousand Holocaust survivors.
Rudolf Hoess' Mistress Interviewed.......2006-10-15
After Dachau was liberated, Army intelligence interviewed a woman at the camp who claimed to have been Rudolf Hoess' mistress while at Auschwitz. What details they could check were confirmed, and her interview became part of a Seventh Army report issued a few weeks later, a report that has been republished as Dachau Liberated: The Official Report (ISBN: 1587420031). For those who want to understand the infamous Hoess, that interview of "E.H." provides a much-needed check on his obviously self-serving autobiography. Here's a short passage from her interview:
"According to my recollection, on December 16, 1942, about 11 p.m. I was already asleep, suddenly the C.O. appeared before me. I hadn't heard the opening of my cell and was such frightened. It was dark in the cell. I believed at first it was an SS man or a prisoner and said, "What is this tomfoolery, I forbid you." Then I heard "Pst," and a pocket lamp was lighted and lit the face of the C.O. I broke out "Herr Kommandant."
Hoess didn't mention this clandestine affair in his autobiography, but details she gave fit with his account and with conditions at Auschwitz.
IT WAS NOT HOESS' FAULT.......2005-05-02
There is another autobiography of Hoess titled "Commandant of Auschwitz: The Autobiography of Rudolf Hoess". I would be interested in reading that account but am curious how that could differ from "Death Dealer". Given the circumstances the man at the end of his life did not have a whole lot of time to write different autobiographies. My guess is the two books are essentially the same.
As for Death Dealer itself it is not often one reads an account of the concentration camps from the "other side". I had read other summaries that portrayed Hoess as a mid-level cold-hearted bureaucrat whose account of his SS career was pretty much emotionless and he treated his activities in the same manner an accountant or a department store manager or a mechanic or (pick a career) would describe their career. I thought before reading the book that whatever one may say about him he would at least not grovel for forgiveness and would defiantly flip his middle finger at the world before climbing the steps of the gallows. After all, when he wrote his memoirs in 1946 and 1947, there was little suspense over what his fate would be. So sugar coating his past was not going to change his future.
Although there may have been some shred of decency in the man one could not escape the feeling that he recognized himself as a war criminal only because his captors called him a war criminal. In other words his "mea culpa" would probably not score high on the sincerity scale. The victorious Allies were the new authorities over his life and if they considered him guilty and a war criminal then he was guilty and a war criminal. Whether he personally thought so or not was not relevant. And that was pretty much how he conducted his life. Whoever his authority was pretty much controlled his life. He was the commandant of the most notorious of all Nazi death camps because his superiors made him the commandant. He killed because he was told to kill -- just as he was to die because he was told he had to die.
He admitted the horrible conditions of Auschwitz -- and other camps. It was not Hoess' fault. His superiors -- starting with Hitler and Himmler -- put impossible demands on him and did not provide adequate resources. The conditions were horrible and only got worse as the war progressed due to the lack of resources due to the stranglehold the Allies put on Germany. It was not Hoess' fault. The inadequate resources included inadequate officers, staff, and guards who committed many atrocities for which he had little or no control. It was not Hoess' fault. The inadequate resources included inadequate building material, latrines, barrack space, food, water, sanitation system, and medical supplies. It was not Hoess' fault. The concentration camp administration reflected the ideals of Thomas Eicke, the founder of the concentration camp system. It was not Hoess' fault.
Although the man blamed others for the nightmarish hell of Auschwitz and other concentration camps he accepted responsibility because it was engrained into him that the commandant is responsible for all activities within the concentration camp.
This may be as close as one may come to reading an account of the "other side". Although one's opinion of the Holocaust may not be altered by Rudolf Hoess he does share insight that one normally does not see about this dark chapter of the history of humanity. Most people know what it is like to be over tasked and under resourced. But most people do not know what it is like to be over tasked and under resourced in his particular career field.
The Final Solution: An Inside View.......2005-04-21
On April 16, 1947, Rudolph Hoess, the infamous Kommandant of Auschwitz was hanged in his former concentration camp for, "crimes against the Polish people." While awaiting trial, Hoess, who knew he would pay for his crimes with his life, sought to renew the spiritual connection he had eschewed as a youth. Accordingly, he recounted his time in the SS for his captors. His story is also that of the darkest side of the Third Reich.
The book begins with a discussion of the, "final solution," of the Jewish Question. He tells how he was ordered to establish a camp at Auschwitz for the purpose of eliminating, "enemies of the state." Details of camp construction and experiments to find the appropriate gas he describes without emotion. Yet he relates questions asked by young SS soldiers and inmates as to how small children could be an "enemy." His "party line" response fooled some, but never himself.
Hoess also describes the victims he tried to destroy. Jews had "strong family ties;" gypsies were, "childlike;" the Jehovah's Witnesses were worthy of emulation. The SS was challenged to have the same devotion to the Fuhrer as they had to Jehovah. In chapter 22 he describes the gassing process as only he could do. His primary concern was to dispatch his victims quickly and efficiently without displaying emotion that would affect young guards. Here, he admits, he hid behind an iron mask. Particularly interesting is the story of a young, extremely attractive, Jewish girl who fought back even as she was undressing for the gas chamber. Resistance was rare but in this case, effective, very effective!
The book describes his early life and the events that caused him and many others to blindly follow the SS motto: "Fuhrer, you order. We obey!" Hoess gives a detailed description of the hierarchy of the SS. Men, who had been portrayed as super-human, are shown to have been far short of that ideal. Alcoholism and suicide rates were high; competence was low! Still, operations continued despite all difficulties because, "Orders were orders!"
Death Dealer is a first person account of the operations of the most infamous death camp in history. After sending an estimated 2.5 million people to their deaths, the Kommandant, ended his life by doing one decent thing: he left his memoirs so no one could deny this ever happened. For that, the world owes Rudoph Hoess, the Kommandant of Auschwitz, a debt of gratitude.
Book Description
In 1945, a mysterious Nazi secret weapons project code-named The Bell left its underground bunker in lower Silesia, with its project documentation, and the 4-star SS general Hans Kammler. Taken aboard a massive six engine Junkers 390 ultra-long range aircraft, The Bell, Kammler, and all project records disappeared completely, along with the gigantic Junkers 390 carrying them. It has been speculated that it flew to Argentina. As a prelude to this disappearing act, the SS murdered most of the scientists and technicians involved with the project, a secret weapon that, according to one German Nobel prize-winning physicist, was given a classification of decisive for the war -- the highest security classification. Offered here is a range of exotic technologies the Nazis researched, and challenges to the conventional views of the end of World War Two, the Roswell incident, and the beginning of MAJIC-12, the government's alleged secret team of UFO investigators.
Customer Reviews:
The Nazis are still here??!!.......2007-09-02
It starts with a rambling history of the Nazi experiments with levitation, atomic power, and zero point energy. I say rambling, because in contrast to the book that got me started on this subject was "The Hunt for Zero Point" by Nick Cook, which is a very grounded (no pun intended) and less fringy take on the subject. Very well written, too.
Now, back to the book by Farrell:
Okay, the Nazi scientists emigrated to the US to work on our space program. Okay, I buy that. He goes into a lot of speculation about stealth technology (again, see Cooks book for a better take) and the physics of levitation generated by Mercury spinning really really fast, which was mentioned in some ancient Sanskrit text... THEN, Farrell drops some hokey documents on our lap and says that the Nazis helped orchestrate the JFK assassination and, by the way, we may already have a base on the Moon and Mars.
Huh? You have to read it to follow the chain of information. It IS compelling, but it just makes the author sound like a maniac, who, in his acknowledgements, thanks his parents for letting him set up camp in their basement to write this book. Obviously a book meant for the subculture of people who are convinced the Chupacabra is the pet dog of the Grey aliens, and he got lost on his way to Bigfoot's house.
Yeah. He also acknowledges David Hatcher Childress, who... well, just do a search for the books he is attached to to see where HE is coming from. Fringe-o-philes...
Interesting pile of ideas in here to fuel some comic book writer somewhere. If taken for what it is, it reads like a weird espionage alternate history sci-fi. For that point along, I give it three stars.
good book.......2007-08-23
If you are interested in weird ideas about world war II, this book is definitely worth the read.
Very little in this book seems to be supported by hard evidence, and yet the information is useful.
This book is NOT just a list of usupported claims like many books about the weird side of the Nazis are.
Full course dinner plus dessert.......2007-07-13
This book is one big meal of a read. I read it a few years back and it remains one of my favorite in the field of alternative technologies and history. Not only is it well written (I enjoy Farrell's writing...see Giza Deathstar series) but it keeps the mind buzzing. If you have a feeling there is more to history than what you got in high school this is a great place to start an investigation. I would feel confident in offering an expanded review once I reread the title to refresh my memory so for now, trust me, this is a great book. Not for summer reading unless this is what you usually read. Not for the light hearted.
Amazing Connections.......2007-02-26
Where the author of this book has had to take some venturous assumptions on, he uses a lot of very well documented 'finds' to substantiate them - amazing finds that will astound those unfamiliar with how far really the Reich was able to go before the war's end in 1945.
The logical conclusions Joseph Farrell comes to, and the amazing substantiated technology that a secret few in the brotherhood were privy to gives you a wide open door for any UFO researcher, armchair or otherwise to be better equiped in debunking possible alien myths, and/or truths we are living in these very days.
Be spellbound, entertained and gripped by this amazing book. Where it has a ton on what was going on 'back then'(and therefore fills in a lot of blanks our history books left us), you will find it relates to everything going on today, right now, right before your very eyes!
Joseph Farrell shares his expertise in the science world giving the reader a huge leg up on how these events relate to modern science/phenomena; the findings in this work clearly interleaves well with other researchers who have written about the 'spiritual side' of our political world and their unique attachments to the 'other side'.
An excellent read and I heartily recommend it - some of it is 'open minded', and after you see what he is writing about, you can understand how it all fits! The rest is pure 'connect the fact-dots!' and you definately get the same picture...
Revelations of a global conspiracy - truth or untruth?.......2007-01-09
Joseph P. Farrell's The SS Brotherhood of the Bell continues the author's work - brought out in the so-called Giza trilogy and the "Reich of the Black Sun" - advocating that the general public has been deceived by its leaders for the better part of the 20th Century, and that the deception has been exacerbated in the new century. Mr. Farrell's contention is that there is an alternative doctrine of physics that - if studied and understood by experts and laymen - provides a general set of explanations for a variety of "mysteries" in our world such as UFOs. At the risk of grossly mis-stating the author's explanation, it seems to me that this "ether physics" is based broadly on the notion that our very environment is alive with energy rather than objects within the environment being the source of energy. The most notable result of this theory is that an object would be able to move through the environment by creating shifts in the ether. Call it whatever you wish, but this caused me to simplify the theory down to magnetic power...
Central to his premise is also the need to accept that - if ether physics are valid - then there has been a systematic and prolonged effort by those in power to hide this information from us. And, further accepting the credo that "knowledge is power" as the justification for such actions, one is directed by the author towards the conclusion that a worldwide entity larger than any single government is manipulating our lives.
Farrell contends that while ether physics is not a new theory. In fact, in his earlier books on the pyramids at Giza being sources of ether-physics-related power, this science is virtually antediluvian. It was, however, Nazi Germany and its links to the occult that caused resurgence in experimentation into ether physics in terms of its military potential. While discussing various technologies - as he did in his earlier book Reich of the Black Sun - the center-piece of this book is an alleged experiment that is more-or-less eponymous with the title of this book.
The bare details are this: the Germans were experimenting with high speed magnetic rotation of various elements. The results of these experiments are mysterious, deadly and, in some cases, contradictory, depending upon references. Core to this part of the story is published material from a Polish research named Igor Witkowski. He claims to have accessed documents that were held in the former German Democratic Republic but are now being accessed with the collapse of Communism. It is Witkowski's work - also cited heavily in Nick Cook's The Hunt for Zero Point - that is the basis for the bell-related information in Farrell's book.
All concerned conclude their stories with the scientific equipment and records being taken by SS Obergruppenfuehrer Hans Kammler, a real person who had virtual total control of the German secret programs in the 1944/1945 timeframe. But, with Witkowski and Cook are somewhat vague about what happened with the end of World War two, Farrell is adamant in his belief that Kammler and other former regime members were able to cut deals with all the allied powers and, in doing so, were able to establish themselves as an extra-national entity that operates to this day. This entity has been able to maintain itself by nefarious actions that, Farrell implies, may have included the assassination of John F. Kennedy!
As part of this startling allegation, Farrell continues on to presents his view that the entity that is controlling and manipulating the post-modern world is dominated by a "next-generation" Nazis who have taken over the older more established behind the scenes New World order groups such as the Illuminati, the Council and Foreign Relations and Skull and Bones. Thus, the author states that Bush, pere and fils, along with John Kerry are either willing accomplices or subjugated dupes.
What is true and what is not true in this book is a matter of personal choice. While one can say, "You cannot make this stuff up!" it is also clear that one could. In light of this, The SS Brotherhood of the Bell falls into the same literary/historical niche as such events as The Philadelphia Experiment and Roswell, where it is certain something happened but the details and the actual accuracy of those details is extremely unclear.
As I implied, it is up to each and every reader of this book to make his/her rational decision about whether or not to believe all or some of what is contained in this book.
Book Description
Hard cover, large format (9" x 12"), 327 pages, 27 pages of color maps and 20 plus black and white maps (most full page), 120+ photos. This is the one-volume text history of the division that was written by Karl Ullrich, a Knight's Cross recipient and commander in the division. The text is about 50% standard unit history and 50% first-person accounts. Although there are several English-language accounts of this SS division (many of dubious quality), this is the first one available that was written from the perspective of the division itself. The book covers the formation of the division in 1939 and its subsequent operations during the Second World War. With the exception of the French Campaign in 1940, the division fought entirely on the Eastern Front and earned a reputation as one of the most capable divisions of the entire Eastern Army, especially in defense.
Customer Reviews:
A Good History of one of Germany's Elite Formations in WWII.......2007-03-27
This book is the English translation of "Wie ein Fels im Meer" by Karl Ullrich and this version is published by JJ Fedorowicz. As a side note to the curious, the original "Wie ein Fels im Meer" came in two volumes, a photo book with German/English text (which I own also) and the divisional history in German text only. "Like a Cliff in the Ocean" is the English translation of the divisional history. As with all JJ Fedorowicz books, the book is physically of very high quality and is well translated.
The book is a detailed but overall general history of the division from its inception in 1939 until its demise in 1945, and the book's strength is that it was written by a man who was there. The author was part of 3. SS Panzer Division "Totenkopf" from the beginning and commanded a combat engineer company and later the combat egineer battalion. He later became commander of 5. SS Panzer Division "Wiking", earning the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves.
Also contained in the text are many personal accounts by various soldiers; and these definately give a better feeling of what an average soldier in the division experienced. The 127 photos are all very clear and well reproduced. Included throughout are 23 nice b&w maps detailing the where the division fought and an appendix of 27 very detailed colored military maps. Interspersed are numerous photos and the traslations of documents pertaining to the division; ranging from corps orders to commanding generals praise, like von Manstein, for the division's combat record. The appendices have some nice tidbits of info too: Knight's Cross and other medal recipients, divisional organizational tables, command/staff positions, etc.
As the two other reviewers have mentioned, the author does not go into the wider context of the division and its role in the Waffen-SS and National Socialist Germany. Other authors have done this if you're looking for that. As said, this book is a factual divisional history. If you are looking for more personal accounts of the "Totenkopf" division I recommend "Soldaten, Kampfer, Kameraden" by Vopersal, however it is in German.
Overall I recommend this book for those interested in the "Totenkopf" division in particular and those with a general interest in the Waffen-SS as well.
Disjointed collection of documents and PK photographs.......2006-11-01
Considering the author was an officer and probably one of the better soldiers in the SSTK division this book is a huge disapointment. Ullrich's book consists of nothing more than a collection of maps, documents, and Propaganda Kompanie photographs that do little to explain history of probably one of the most remarkable and controversial divisions of the Waffen-SS. Karl Ullrich was with the division during its most critical engagements but provides the reader with no useful information or insite into the fighting qualities, organization or personalities of the 3 SS Panzer Division.
I would recommend this book if you are only interested in pictures of SS men and SS equipment. As a historical document it leaves much to be desired.
Highly-recommended reference for military professionals and historians..........2005-10-01
A significant primary source for students of maneuver warfare. The subject division experiences a steep learning curve from 1939 to 1943. During the last two years of the war it survives under strategic doctrines misaligned with its hard-won maneuver skills. The author's insights are not to be found in any other work on the subject. The book includes many diary entries, dispatches, newpaper clippings, and photographs in parallel with the official history. Across the later chapters, the interested reader will discover one of the best montages of the Russian soldier during WWII; in this regard, the work is particularly commendable for its independence from the contemporary political biases. Interested readers should familiarize themselves with the role of the Waffen-SS and its struggle for a worthy reputation alongside the regular army before tackling this piece; a 'cold' reading from the present would be confusing. For context, v.Manstein's "Lost Victories" [English] (Presidio, 1982) is probably best.
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