By the end of the Second World War the reputation of Hitler's Schutzstaffel (SS) had become so heavily sullied that the organization was branded criminal and banned in postwar Germany. Its authority in Nazi Germany had been enormous. Having been made responsible for Reich internal security, it implemented Nazi racial policy and managed the death camps. Most oddly, it produced a rival military organization to the German regular army -- fighting alongside it but never a part of the Waffen SS. SS-Totenkopf is a photographic account of that unit's birth and first month of active service. The Division, formed from concentration camp guards, fought alongside Rommel's 7th Panzer Division against the only British armored counterattack of the campaign. However, instances of atrocities committed by men of the Totenkopf began early and the machine-gunning of 97 prisoners of the Norfolk Regiment occurred. In this brief and violent history of the birth of an SS division the original captions and text that accompanied the photographs have been retained in order to capture the original flavor. The translated text appears interspaced with the author’s explanations. The SS War Correspondent photographers risked their lives to take some of these pictures so up-with-the-action they were and, with their "blood up," their comments are nationalistically passionate. Published at $24.95, our price only $17.95. 

SS-TOTENKOPF FRANCE 1940: Rare Photographs from Wartime Archives By Jack Holroyd. 128 Pages. 7x10 Paperback. Illustrated. Bibliography.