Book Review of
Images of War
SS Foreign Divisions & Volunteers
Of Lithuania, Latvia & Estonia 1941-1945
Author: Ian Baxter
Pen & Sword Books
ISBN: 9781399012983
By Ray Mehlberger
MSRP: $22.95
Copyright: 2021
ISBN: 9781399012983
By Ray Mehlberger
MSRP: $22.95
Copyright: 2021
THE BOOK:
Drawing on a superb collection of rare and unpublished photographs, SS Foreign Divisions & Volunteers of Lithuania, Latvia & Estonia 1941-1945, describes how the occupying Nazis recruited Lithuanian, Latvian & Estonian conscripts into the Waffen SS.
Unlike her Latvian neighbor, Lithuania had no plans to provide Germany with a National Legion. Although volunteers came forward, the majority did not. This was not the case for Latvia and Estonia, which undertook huge recruitment programs and thousands of men were drafted into their own foreign legion of Waffen SS Grenadier Divisions.
After intensive training, these divisions saw action on the Eastern Front, around Leningrad, in the Ukraine, before vicious defensive operations as the Red Army smashed its way through the Baltic States in 1944. Even in the last dying weeks of the war, what was left of the Baltic soldiers of the 15th, 19th and 20th Waffen SS Divisions, continued to fight alongside their Wehrmacht and Waffen SS counterparts until they were either destroyed or surrendered.
The story of these divisions is graphically told with detailed captions and text, together with many contemporary images in the Images of War style.
Pen & Sword Books is based in the UK.
This book is of soft-cover of 128 pages in 7 ½” x 9 ¾” page format.
The cover art shows 5 black and white wartime photos.
The largest photo, at the top, shows 2 Latvian SS soldiers manning a German MG34 machine gun.
This is over 4 smaller black and white wartime photos, reading left to right, of:
A Pak 38 anti-tank gun crew.
A Latvian SS Untersturmfuhrer wearing a skin coat over his tunic and an ushanka fur cap. He has a pair of binoculars strung around his neck and a Mauser 98K carbine on his back.
Newly created soldiers of the 15th Waffen Grenadier Division during a parade in 1943. They were a Latvian division.
A column of Estonian grenadiers belonging to the 20th SS Waffen Grenadiers Division hitching rides aboard vehicles.
The back cover shows 3 more small black and white wartime photos (reading left to right) of:
Members of the newly created Waffen SS Latvian Legion seen marching next to the Dome Cathedral in the capital city of Riga on Latvian Independence Day in 1943.
Latvian troops getting accustomed to the antiquated Pak 35/36 anti-tank gun, which by 1943 was often relegated to training soldiers.
Two soldiers standing next to a train opening food packages.
There are 151 black and white wartime photos in the book, including repeats of the ones that are cover arts. There are no color photos.
There are illustrations of 2 recruitment posters.
Many photos of soldiers and officers, weapons, vehicles, tanks 3 black and white illustrations of badge insignias for the 15th waffen Grenadier Div. of the SS 1st Latvian, the 19th and the 20th.
A listing of the names of the Sixteenth Army Group North units in June 1944 and the Eighteenth Army Group.
The formation of Army Detachment “Narva”.
Also 9 blank pages to use for NOTES.
This book will be of great interest to modelers and Military historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample.
Casemate is the North American distributor of Pen & Sword books. All Pen & Sword titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
Drawing on a superb collection of rare and unpublished photographs, SS Foreign Divisions & Volunteers of Lithuania, Latvia & Estonia 1941-1945, describes how the occupying Nazis recruited Lithuanian, Latvian & Estonian conscripts into the Waffen SS.
Unlike her Latvian neighbor, Lithuania had no plans to provide Germany with a National Legion. Although volunteers came forward, the majority did not. This was not the case for Latvia and Estonia, which undertook huge recruitment programs and thousands of men were drafted into their own foreign legion of Waffen SS Grenadier Divisions.
After intensive training, these divisions saw action on the Eastern Front, around Leningrad, in the Ukraine, before vicious defensive operations as the Red Army smashed its way through the Baltic States in 1944. Even in the last dying weeks of the war, what was left of the Baltic soldiers of the 15th, 19th and 20th Waffen SS Divisions, continued to fight alongside their Wehrmacht and Waffen SS counterparts until they were either destroyed or surrendered.
The story of these divisions is graphically told with detailed captions and text, together with many contemporary images in the Images of War style.
Pen & Sword Books is based in the UK.
This book is of soft-cover of 128 pages in 7 ½” x 9 ¾” page format.
The cover art shows 5 black and white wartime photos.
The largest photo, at the top, shows 2 Latvian SS soldiers manning a German MG34 machine gun.
This is over 4 smaller black and white wartime photos, reading left to right, of:
A Pak 38 anti-tank gun crew.
A Latvian SS Untersturmfuhrer wearing a skin coat over his tunic and an ushanka fur cap. He has a pair of binoculars strung around his neck and a Mauser 98K carbine on his back.
Newly created soldiers of the 15th Waffen Grenadier Division during a parade in 1943. They were a Latvian division.
A column of Estonian grenadiers belonging to the 20th SS Waffen Grenadiers Division hitching rides aboard vehicles.
The back cover shows 3 more small black and white wartime photos (reading left to right) of:
Members of the newly created Waffen SS Latvian Legion seen marching next to the Dome Cathedral in the capital city of Riga on Latvian Independence Day in 1943.
Latvian troops getting accustomed to the antiquated Pak 35/36 anti-tank gun, which by 1943 was often relegated to training soldiers.
Two soldiers standing next to a train opening food packages.
There are 151 black and white wartime photos in the book, including repeats of the ones that are cover arts. There are no color photos.
There are illustrations of 2 recruitment posters.
Many photos of soldiers and officers, weapons, vehicles, tanks 3 black and white illustrations of badge insignias for the 15th waffen Grenadier Div. of the SS 1st Latvian, the 19th and the 20th.
A listing of the names of the Sixteenth Army Group North units in June 1944 and the Eighteenth Army Group.
The formation of Army Detachment “Narva”.
Also 9 blank pages to use for NOTES.
This book will be of great interest to modelers and Military historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample.
Casemate is the North American distributor of Pen & Sword books. All Pen & Sword titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
Highly recommended.