Book Review of
The Waffen-SS In Normandy 1944
Rare Photographs From Wartime Archives
Author: Ian Baxter
Pen & Sword Books Images of War Series
ISBN: 9781399091411
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2022
MSRP: $22.95
ISBN: 9781399091411
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2022
MSRP: $22.95
HISTORY:
In June 1944, Operation Overlord, the greatest ever amphibious invasion, initially overwhelmed German Normandy defences. To attempt to stabilize the situation, Hitler deployed his elite Waffen SS divisions to avert the crisis.
This Classic Images of War book describes how the formidable Leibstandarte, Das Reich, Hitlerjugend. Hohenstaufen and the Frundsberg SS divisions, with supporting Wehrmacht divisions fought fanatically despite facing overwhelming enemy airpower and determined well-led Allied armies. Mounting losses and supply and fuel problems culminated in the Falaise Pocket defeat, when twenty-five out of the thirty-eight German divisions were completely destroyed.
As a result, the remaining Waffen SS units had to be reluctantly withdrawn and transferred back to Holland and Belgium to recoup or be redeployed to the Eastern Front to attempt to stem the relentless Soviet advance.
With many rare and unpublished photographs with detailed captions, Waffen SS in Normandy is a graphic account of the Waffen SS operations in Normandy and their subsequent retreat through France.
THE BOOK:
Pen & Sword is based in the UK.
This book is soft-bound of 135 pages in 7” x 9 ½” page format. Four pages are blank.
The cove art has 5 black and white wartime photos on it.
The large photo at the top shows a Pz.Kpfw. IV Ausf. H that belongs to the 12th SS Panzer Division, of SS Panzer Regiment 12, on the move through a French town in June 1944.
The first one of the 4 photos across the bottom of the cover, on the left, shows knocked-out SS vehicles in a field.
The second photo, to the right, is of a Tiger tank.
The third photo, to the right, is of a Hitlerjugend infantryman with a MG 43 machine gun,
The fourth and last photo, on the right, shows a group of SS infantrymen in a woods.
The back cover shows 3 more small black and white war time photos.
The first one, on the left, shows a SS Flakman looking through a 10 x 80 Doppelfembehr double-telescope used in conjunction with the 8.8cm Flak gun to determine firing ranges.
The photo in the center is of a Pz.Kpfw. IV in Belgium in early 1944.
The photo on the right shows an SS infantryman armed with a MG43 machine gun.
The book begins with CONTENTS, ABOUT THE AUTHOR and an INTRODUCTION.
The book contains 153 black and white wartime photos.
They include photos of:
SS officers, Adolf Hitler, SS infantrymen, a Stug. III, Sd.Kpfw. IV Ausfs. G, H & J, a Stug. IV, a Panther Ausf. G & H, the beach at Normandy, a Sd.Kfz. 251, a SS staff car, a Volkswagen Kubelwagen, an SS 15cm gun with crew, a Type 166 Volkswagen Schwimmwagen, the destroyed French town of Oradour, a grassy field, a Pak gun crew, a Tiger 2, Allied POWs, a Nebelwerfer crew, a 8.8mm howitzer, a 8cm GM 34 mortar team, a Sd.Kfz. 251/8 half-track being used as an ambulance and a field of wrecked SS equipment.
There is black and white illustrations of 7 SS unit badges for:
1st Leibstandarte LAH
2ND SS Panzer Division Das Reich
9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen
10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg
12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend
17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Gotz von Berlichingen
1st SS Ranger Corps
The book ends with: Five pages of ORDER OF BATTLE and a page labeled NOTES, for you to scribble whatever on.
There is a post card inserted into the book to send to Pen & Sword to request more info about their books.
This book will be of 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 and all their titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
In June 1944, Operation Overlord, the greatest ever amphibious invasion, initially overwhelmed German Normandy defences. To attempt to stabilize the situation, Hitler deployed his elite Waffen SS divisions to avert the crisis.
This Classic Images of War book describes how the formidable Leibstandarte, Das Reich, Hitlerjugend. Hohenstaufen and the Frundsberg SS divisions, with supporting Wehrmacht divisions fought fanatically despite facing overwhelming enemy airpower and determined well-led Allied armies. Mounting losses and supply and fuel problems culminated in the Falaise Pocket defeat, when twenty-five out of the thirty-eight German divisions were completely destroyed.
As a result, the remaining Waffen SS units had to be reluctantly withdrawn and transferred back to Holland and Belgium to recoup or be redeployed to the Eastern Front to attempt to stem the relentless Soviet advance.
With many rare and unpublished photographs with detailed captions, Waffen SS in Normandy is a graphic account of the Waffen SS operations in Normandy and their subsequent retreat through France.
THE BOOK:
Pen & Sword is based in the UK.
This book is soft-bound of 135 pages in 7” x 9 ½” page format. Four pages are blank.
The cove art has 5 black and white wartime photos on it.
The large photo at the top shows a Pz.Kpfw. IV Ausf. H that belongs to the 12th SS Panzer Division, of SS Panzer Regiment 12, on the move through a French town in June 1944.
The first one of the 4 photos across the bottom of the cover, on the left, shows knocked-out SS vehicles in a field.
The second photo, to the right, is of a Tiger tank.
The third photo, to the right, is of a Hitlerjugend infantryman with a MG 43 machine gun,
The fourth and last photo, on the right, shows a group of SS infantrymen in a woods.
The back cover shows 3 more small black and white war time photos.
The first one, on the left, shows a SS Flakman looking through a 10 x 80 Doppelfembehr double-telescope used in conjunction with the 8.8cm Flak gun to determine firing ranges.
The photo in the center is of a Pz.Kpfw. IV in Belgium in early 1944.
The photo on the right shows an SS infantryman armed with a MG43 machine gun.
The book begins with CONTENTS, ABOUT THE AUTHOR and an INTRODUCTION.
The book contains 153 black and white wartime photos.
They include photos of:
SS officers, Adolf Hitler, SS infantrymen, a Stug. III, Sd.Kpfw. IV Ausfs. G, H & J, a Stug. IV, a Panther Ausf. G & H, the beach at Normandy, a Sd.Kfz. 251, a SS staff car, a Volkswagen Kubelwagen, an SS 15cm gun with crew, a Type 166 Volkswagen Schwimmwagen, the destroyed French town of Oradour, a grassy field, a Pak gun crew, a Tiger 2, Allied POWs, a Nebelwerfer crew, a 8.8mm howitzer, a 8cm GM 34 mortar team, a Sd.Kfz. 251/8 half-track being used as an ambulance and a field of wrecked SS equipment.
There is black and white illustrations of 7 SS unit badges for:
1st Leibstandarte LAH
2ND SS Panzer Division Das Reich
9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen
10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg
12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend
17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Gotz von Berlichingen
1st SS Ranger Corps
The book ends with: Five pages of ORDER OF BATTLE and a page labeled NOTES, for you to scribble whatever on.
There is a post card inserted into the book to send to Pen & Sword to request more info about their books.
This book will be of 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 and all their titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
Highly Recommended.