Adolf Hitler reviewing the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler in December of 1935

I love that camp hand. “Heeey Hansi, loved your uniform at the ball last night”

I wonder how many of those guys were alive in 1946.

Invisible Mikey

Hard to say, but probably most of them. Since they were established and expanded as a personal bodyguard for Hitler, they weren’t used for heavy combat until the war was going very badly. Their main losses were during the Battle of the Bulge, but that was only about 5k out of a force of 50 thousand. Most of the time if they met superior forces, they surrendered. They didn’t go forth to defend Berlin once Hitler committed suicide, but instead tried to escape the city or surrendered to the Red army. Some of the officers were tried at Nuremburg for involvement in the Malmedy massacre. The division was implicated in many instances of war crime, usually executions of unarmed prisoners with no legal due process.

November 30, 2013 at 10:02 pm

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