SS - The Secret Archives, Western Front

The dreaded and powerful Nazi SS (or Schutzstaffel) began as the elite corps of bodyguards to Hitler, under the command of the infamous Heinrich Himmler. The SS soon expanded to include an intelligence arm and, from 1940 to 1945, an elite military corps, the Waffen-SS. This book is part of the two-volume The Secret Archives set that chronicles the exploits of the Waffen-SS, using information collected from old albums, as well as from newspaper and divisional archives. It includes a wealth of photographs, many of them previously unpublished, with extensive and informative captions.

The author's account gives a vivid picture of what life was like for Himmler's so-called storm troopers. Each of the two volumes stands alone as an account of the Waffen-SS's notorious activities, one title concentrating on the Eastern Front; the other on the Western Front. This volume, which focuses on the Western Front, reports on the Waffen-SS attacks into Holland and Belgium in 1940; the recruitment of Waffen-SS soldiers from Nazi-occupied countries; its actions at Normandy; its destruction of the British "Market Garden" operation outside Arnhem, Holland; and its actions against American forces at the Battle of the Bulge. Approximately 250 black-and-white photos plus appendices.