Hitler’s Elite Leibstandarte SS 1933–45 James Lucas Matthew Cooper 1975 WWII

Hitler’s Elite: Leibstandarte SS 1933–45 By James Lucas & Matthew Cooper Pan/Ballantine, 1975 — Book Club Edition. Hardcover with dust jacket.

A detailed and well-illustrated history of the Leibstandarte SS “Adolf Hitler,” the elite Waffen-SS unit that began as Hitler’s personal bodyguard and grew into a formidable armoured division. The authors trace the unit’s political background, recruitment, training, organisation, uniforms, and equipment, as well as its combat record in Poland, France, the Balkans, the Soviet Union, and the defence of “Fortress Europe.”

Contents include:

• Political origins and early years

• Recruitment, training, and organisation

• Blitzkrieg campaigns and Operation Barbarossa

• The unit’s role in the defence of Europe

• Profiles of key personalities

• Appendices on Waffen-SS ranks and insignia

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