Why the Waffen-SS

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi CultIcon.

I understand your point.

By the way, it is j keenan you are addressing.

"J Keegan" is the late lamented, emminently respectable military historian from Sandhurst who wrote "The Face of Battle" etc,.

Thanks,

Sid.

[Christoph Awender]

A link was removed by me. NEVER post a link to such a site again!!

/Christoph

[Sid Guttridge]

In case of any circumstantial confusion, the deleted link, whatever it was, was not posted by me.

Sid.

[Oberleutnant von Bostell]

Hello everyone,
I am new to this forum and I am eager to give my opinion. This section spiked my interest.
It seems to me that the mystique surrounding the Waffen-SS is both justified and not justified. On one hand you have the concentration camps. Things like these will always ruin the Waffen-SS's image to all that are familiar with them and when one thinks of the SS one always has in his head that image. But on the other hand, the SS is one of the most unique army's in history. It was the first truly European army with volunteers from Belgium,(most notably Leon Degrelle),France, Spain, Norway, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Sweden, Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Croatia, Albania, and even from the Ukraine with units such as the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division (1st Galician)! In The winter Campaign of 1941 when the regular Wehrmacht troops where ready to retreat and the temperature was at -40 degrees below, Hitler sent in the SS and they held fast. I am of the opinion that if Hitler had not sent in the SS when he did, the Bolshevik troops would have been in Paris before Eisenhower. But then again the SS were an ideological organization as well as a greatly trained and combat ready one.
And that, as I see it, is why the Waffen-SS still holds such fascination for people. I remember when I was younger looking through the pages of a military magazine and gazing at a picture of Michael Wittmann, and marveling at his combat achievements. So maybe some people are more interested than others. Who knows. But the SS will always be remembered as a truly magnificent fighting force.

[Harro]

You haven't actually read this topic before you posted that mishmash of SS mythology and folklore, right?

[Ironmachine]

In The winter Campaign of 1941 when the regular Wehrmacht troops where ready to retreat and the temperature was at -40 degrees below, Hitler sent in the SS and they held fast.

There is so much wrong in your post that it is difficult to know if your are just joking or being serious. But just for the fun of it, which were the SS units that were sent to the Eastern Front in the winter of 1941-1942 and saved the German Army (and Paris ) from defeat?

[alycatz]

Waffen ss (german military) the most publicized army in the world. History channel 95% of the time shows german army of WWII.

They knew how to fight. Thier leadership skills were better than everyone elses. They were very modern for thier time compared to the french, english, American militaries.

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi Alycatz,

One has to contend with two lots of myths regarding the Waffen-SS - those created by the Nazi propaganda machine during the war and those perpetuated by publishers after a quick profit since the war.

Militarily the Waffen-SS was just a clone of the German Army. Its original military contribution was almost non-existent. It made no indispensible contribution to Hitler's conquests of 1939-42 and failed to hold off defeat over 1942-45. The only original thing of significance about the Waffen-SS was political, not military.

If you want to study an original and successful military institution, you should concentrate on the German Army. The massively disproportional emphasis given to the Waffen-SS by publishers is won at the expense of the reputation of the German Army and distorts the real historical record.

Cheers,

Sid.

[BillHermann]

Waffen ss (german military) the most publicized army in the world. History channel 95% of the time shows german army of WWII.

They knew how to fight. Thier leadership skills were better than everyone elses. They were very modern for thier time compared to the french, english, American militaries.

I would not suggest that an army that was relying on horses for the greater part of the war could be considered "very modern" or better than.

[alycatz]

Hello, bill the Op of this thread.

Rockets, fighting statics, blitzzreig , best designed helmets, best weaponary.

Yeah ill admitt german army had horses brought from the english, and many were horse drawn units, but we are talking about waffenn ss?

[alycatz]

Militarily the Waffen-SS was just a clone of the German Army. Its original military contribution was almost non-existent. It made no indispensible contribution to Hitler's conquests of 1939-42 and failed to hold off defeat over 1942-45. The only original thing of significance about the Waffen-SS was political, not military.

Hello sid,

1942 and 45 germany had two fronts going. She had US, Russia , England (commonwealth) to attend with. Of cause the odds were against her at this time. Took 6 years for 3/4 countries to take down one country .
It took germany to take one country in a few weeks or months.

[Harro]

Thier leadership skills were better than everyone elses.

Please post evidence from primary sources to support your assumption

They were very modern for thier time compared to the french, english, American militaries.

I suppose you can provide several examples of what made them "very modern" compared to the others, right? Examples of what we've all overlooked through all the previous posts in this topic.

[alycatz]

Hi harro,

Yes i can.

A professionsl guy that is interested in German WWII warfare said german leadship skills were much better than the allies. If you look back to WWII, you can see it. After WWII, germany helped taught America to train her soldiers. I also know US has adopted german WWII leadership technics. (I often preach what I have learnt from professional wwII guys)

Look at moddern day US military (troops and weapobary, rockets) germany had all that in WWII) over 65 years ago.

[Harro]

A professionsl guy that is interested in German WWII warfare said [...]

But seriously, you didn't bother to read any of the previous posts in this topic, right?

[Michael Kenny]

best designed helmets,

Yes the German helmet was an entirely new design..............

http://www.medievalcollectibles.com/p-1 ... allet.aspx