Martin WindrowThe Waffen-SS (Men at Arms Series, 34) (Men-at-Arms, 34)

Good book that gives you the basics and helps you understand about it. Great artwork.

The charm of the Osprey series of books lays in their comprehensive-if quite brief- treatment of their subjects. The downfall, if one can say that in fairness, lays in that the reader feels unsatisfied, interest peaked but not fulfilled. But The Waffen-SS remains a valuable quick reference to a big subject. Windrow neatly divided his slender volume into discrete parts. The first quarter of the book fills in the background and early history of the SS as an organization. It explains just how a separate army came into existence in Germany in the midst of a war to the knife when every resource was at a premium, especially Army troops. The SS formations could not draft Germans. That led the SS to odd expedients. The 3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf took inputs from concentration camp guards. The 4th SS Polizei Panzer Grenadier Division swept up policemen into its ranks. The SS formed units from volunteers combed from the captive nations of Europe. They took men from everywhere they could-but not from Germany itself. The main part of the book gives thumbnail histories of every SS Division ever granted that title. The divisions formed early or before the start of the war often had impressive careers. The last formed divisions often had nothing more than a sweeping of ill-formed stragglers, schools troops and sometimes drafts from the Navy or Air Force after those services had no more use for them. The general reader will find this the most informative and interesting part of the book. The last section examines in close detail the eight color plates included. Each plate has several depictions of soldiers from a particular local or era. The object is to pass information on the specifics of the uniforms of men from different units and periods. Modelers will relish this section as will collectors of WWII clothing artifacts. This volume maintains the high reputation of the Osprey brand. It seems that the SS created 38 named divisions during the war. Who knew?

Windrow's book is a highly accurate account of the Waffen SS in WWII. He covers uniforms, with color plates, as well as international members uniforms of these special troops. Windrow goes in to great detail with such items as shoulder tabs, unit markings and describes the SS's weapons. Most of the book is in black and white, but the research is flawless.This text is a good one for military buffs interested in the German military.

When the book finally arrived, I was very excited to finally read about the Waffen-SS (Since I have previously read and finished the Allgemeine-SS book.)It a simple book with stunning visuals discussing every combat, waffen ss division through out the second great war including the most reviled division of all, "Direlwanger brigade" Der SSOverall I enjoyed the book.

Good history on WW2 Germans , good place

great reference book for inspiration when painting miniatures

Book received not one shown older copy different cover

elderly but informative