WAFFEN-SS HANDBOOK 1933-1945.

UK,Qrto HB+dw/dj,illustrated,1st edn. FINE+/FINE. No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright,crisp, clean,glossy,contemporary monochrome+b/w montage'd photographic front panel of dw/dj with red,grey+white lettering,similar coloured letters to spine/backstrip,rear panel with contemporary b/w+ sepia montage'd photographs; with negligible shelf-wear,bumping,creasing to edges and corners - one tiny snick to rear,top corner tip - no other nicks,tears or splits present,and minimal bumping with reciprocal creasing to head of spine/backstrip and minimal creasing to front+rear top edges.Top+fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and sound - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corner tips,appears unread apart from my own collation.Publisher's bright,unblemished,sharp-cornered,original plain black cloth boards with bright, crisp,blocked gilt letters to spine/backstrip and pale b/w photographic illustrated endpapers.UK,Qrto HB +dw/dj,illustrated,1st edn,vii-viiipp+1-255pp [paginated] includes an introduction and acknowledgements,4 chapters,profuse contemporary b/w biographical+ portrait and other assorted photographs interspersed throughout the text and the book,appendices (I+II - Waffen-SS Ranks and Chronology),a glossary,a bibliography and an index; plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages and contents list/table.
Originating in Hilter's personal bodyguard,the Waffen-SS was expanded as a fourth branch of the German armed forces.Acquiring the soubriquet of Hitler's 'Asphalt Soldiers' the military wing of Himmler's "schutzstaffel" soon became respected by friend and foe alike as the tough elite of the German military. They fought on all the main battle fronts but most notably against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1945 and against the Western Allies in Normandy after the 'Overlord' landings of June 1944.By war's end the Waffen-SS boasted almost forty field divisions manned by nearly a million troops.
'Waffen-SS Handbook' is unique in providing a concise guide to every aspect of Waffen-SS organisation and activity in a single reference volume. Gordon Willianson,a renowned expert on the Third Reich at war,provides a general historical background and a chronology which outlines the major events in the history of the Waffen-SS from the founding of its forerunner,the SS-Verfugungstruppe,unil May 1945. Recruitment,training,organisational structure,the combat branches and support arms,foreign volunteers,uniforms and insignia,awards and decorations,weapons,vehicles,special equipment, combat tactics and principal personalities are all covered.
The handbook is illustrated with a selection of photographs,predominantly from private collections, many of which are previously unpublished.They range from studio posed shots to rare candid snaps,and from battlefield pictures to war correspondent action shots. Gordon Williamson is a renowned WW2 historian and enthusiast who has had more than twenty-five books published on aspects of Third Reich military history.He has travelled to Germany to interview numerous surviving former Waffen-SS soldiers and corresponded with many others,obtaining first-hand accounts of their wartime experiences.
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