Galicia Division: The Waffen-SS 14th grenadier Division 1943-1945 [Hardcover]

Michael O. Logusz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2000 | Series: Schiffer Military History

This new book is a historical account of the 14th Waffen-SS Galicia Division (also known as the 1st Ukrainian Division of the Ukrainian National Army). In 1943/1944 a determined group of young men and women in Galicia volunteered to serve in a combat division destined for eastern front combat. Their goal: to engage and destroy the Soviet hordes menacing their homeland and to counter Nazi Germany's subjugation of their country. Although initially Galicia's Volunteers would serve in a German sponsored military formation, in actuality the volunteers of the Galicia division wanted to engage all hostile ideologies-both from the east and west-in order to secure a free independent Ukraine. The division's history is presented along with a human aspect of what the soldiers endured during the brutal battles on the eastern front.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 592 pages
• Publisher: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.; First edition (January 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764300814
• ISBN-13: 978-0764300813
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #994,783 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Much Needed Point of View on a Touchy Subject!, January 3, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Galicia Division: The Waffen-SS 14th grenadier Division 1943-1945 (Hardcover)

The subject of the Galicia Division, and other divisions, which were organized by the Germans during WWII to fight the Russians and the Soviet Union, in Ukraine and other countries - Latvia, Lithuania or Croatia usually gets the International Communist and Jewish interpretaion and is always termed as Nazi collaboration. Seldom do we hear the point of view of those who were actually fighting in those divisions. So it is refreshing to hear Mr. Logusz tell us his story. Accusing those who had fought against the Soviet oppression of nazi collaboration has always been a favorite subject of the Soviets and virtually all of the Holocaust-crazed Jewish groups, with the unfortuate result that it has come to unfairly castigate Ukrainians, Latvians, Lithuanians or Croats as nothing less than nazis. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the International Communist movement, we are starting to hear the other side, and Mr. Logusz has done a great job in that respect. We realize that the main reason for the creation of such divisions was anti-Communism and not anti-semitism.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Welcome addition to the literature, January 5, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Galicia Division: The Waffen-SS 14th grenadier Division 1943-1945 (Hardcover)

Another unbiased account of the history of the Ukrainian Division Galica. Although not without some historical mistakes these are realtively minor ones (M Melnyk's book, To Battle, corrects many of them). Even so, a useful antidote to the anti-Ukrainian mudslinging of those who want to portray Ukrainians who fought for freedom as an anti-semitic rabble. Those familiar with today's Ukraine will know that monuments to the Division have been set up in western Ukraine, and that Jews are returning to Ukraine (even from Israel!), secure in their civil liberties and human rights, contrary to all the usual allegations otherwise. While many more Ukrainians fought (or had to) in the ranks of the Red Army than in the Division or in the national underground (one excludes the largely non Ukrainian Soviet partisan forces, who were largely ineffective, unsupported by the population and ignored since independence) the fact remains that the Division's members fought for Ukraine's independence, not against it, and are remembered and honoured for that. No allegations of war criminality on the part of the Division have ever been brought forward. Buy this book.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ukrainian SS unit, September 6, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Galicia Division: The Waffen-SS 14th grenadier Division 1943-1945 (Hardcover)

The 14th SS division was one of the many foreign units in the SS. It was composed of Ukrainian enlisted personel, with a mixture of Ukrainian and German NCO's and officers. The Ukrainians were largely torn between the Germans and the Soviets, neither of whom they really supported. The UPA is another Ukrainian organization, which fought against both the Germans and Soviets. The 14th division was created fairly late in the war, and had 3 notable battles: some initial anti-partisan work, the battle of Brody, and the end of the war in Austria. Read the book to see how the conflicting loyalties of these foreign troops ultimately played out.

The book is written from a Ukrainian point of view, and offers insights on many rarely studied issues. One is the territorial aspirations that Poland had on the Ukraine. Another is the relations between the Ukrainian clergy and the almost aetheistic SS. Training, equipment, and disciplinary issues are discussed.

Special bonus game: Find the picture whose caption lists the wrong weapon type.