Conventional wisdom suggests that the Allies and the Soviets were the only side in the Second World War to support resistance movements. This book shows that Hitler had his own version of the SOE and the OSS, and that the Nazis too encouraged underground resistance against their enemies, especially as Europe was liberated in 1944-5.

Conventional wisdom suggests that the Allies and the Soviets were the only side in the Second World War to support resistance movements in occupied countries. However, based on recently-released archival sources, The SS Hunter Battalions shows that Hitler had his own version of the SOE and the OSS, and that the Nazis too encouraged underground resistance against their enemies, especially as Europe was liberated in 1944-45. The Nazis tried to exploit the misguided activism of ex-collaborators, ethnic nationalists and rabid anti-communists, but their efforts were clumsy and they were hamstrung by the sordid reputation that they had gained as wartime occupiers. In addition, the German commandos and spy-masters in charge of the project hindered their own efforts through infighting, ill-discipline and a misconceived appreciation of their ability to motivate violent dissent. Nonetheless, the Germans supported as many as 700,000 anti-Soviet partisans during the last year of the war, and even in liberated France and Italy they bolstered small anti-Allied cells and bands. As Perry Biddiscombe demonstrates, such efforts were not mere transitory occurrences, but touched upon the origin of die Cold War and the roots of postwar 'Euro-fascism'.

Conventional wisdom suggests that the Allies and the Soviets were the only side in the Second World War to support resistance movements. This book shows that Hitler had his own version of the SOE and the OSS, and that the Nazis too encouraged underground resistance against their enemies, especially as Europe was liberated in 1944-5.

The Dirlewanger Brigade was an anti-partisan unit of the Nazi army, reporting directly to Heinrich Himmler. The first members of the brigade were mostly poachers who were released from prisons and concentration camps and who were believed to have the skills necessary for hunting down and capturing partisan fighters in their camps in the forests of the Eastern Front. Their numbers were soon increased by others who were eager for a way out of imprisonment—including men who had been convicted of burglary, assault, murder, and rape. Under the leadership of Oskar Dirlewanger, a convicted rapist and alcoholic, they could do as they pleased: there were no repercussions for even their worst behavior. This was the group used for its special “talents” to help put down the Jewish uprising of the Warsaw Ghetto, killing an estimated 35,000 men, women, and children in a single day. Even by Nazi standards, the brigade was considered unduly violent and an investigation of its activities was opened. The Nazi hierarchy was eager to distance itself from the behavior of the brigade and eventually exiled many of the members to Belarus. Based on the archives from Germany, Poland, and Russia, The SS Dirlewanger Brigade offers an unprecedented look at one of the darkest chapters of World War II.

Drawing on a superb collection of rare and unpublished photographs the 6th SS Mountain Division Nord 1941 - 1945 is the 6th book in the Waffen-SS Images of War Series compiled by Ian Baxter. The book tells the story of the 6th SS Mountain Division Nord, which was formed in February 1941 as SS Kampfgruppe Nord (SS Battle Group North). The Division was the only Waffen-SS unit to fight in the Arctic Circle when it was stationed in Finland and northern Russia between June and November 1941. It fought in Karelia until the Moscow Armistice in September 1944, at which point it left Finland. It suffered heavy losses in the Operation Nordwind in January 1945 and in early April 1945, the division was destroyed by the US forces near Budingen, Germany.

The German Army’s Strafbattalions were infantry units made up largely of convicts, felons, malingerers, thugs and the criminally insanePreviously unpublished story of the unitsThe accounts of the most famous Strafbattalion units in combatA story of little-known Nazi units: Hitler’s ‘Dirty Dozens’ When war broke out in 1939, Hitler created Strafbattalion (Penal Battalion) units to deal with incarcerated members of the Wehrmacht as well as ‘subversives’. His order stated that any first-time convicted soldier could return to his unit after he had served a portion of his sentence in ‘…a special probation corps before the enemy’. Beginning in April 1941, convicted soldiers, even those sentenced to death, who had shown exceptional bravery or meritorious service could rejoin their original units; however, those in probation units were expected to undertake dangerous operations at the front. Refusal entailed enforcement of the original sentence. The soldiers who ‘won back an honourable place in the national community’ had done everything that was asked of them from suicidal advance teams, shock troops, and laying mines under fire. By 1945, over 50,000 Wehrmacht troops had served in punishment regiments. Strafbatallion: Hitler’s Penal Battalions examines the penal units, their combat history and order of battle.