The Hitler Youth 1933-45 (Warrior) [Paperback]

Alan Dearn (Author), Elizabeth Sharp (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Warrior | Publication Date: March 28, 2006

The Hitler Youth was not in itself a military formation, but a movement that sought to inculcate Nazi ideology upon German youth. Nevertheless, paramilitary training formed an important part of this education, especially given the Nazi veneration of the soldier as the epitome of Germanic manhood; and even some members of the Bund Deutscher Mädel, the Hitler Youth organization for girls, became combatants in the final stages of World War II (1939-1945). This book explores how the preliminary training that German youth underwent in the Hitler Youth prepared them for service in the armed forces, and how Hitler Youth members became directly involved in military service under the pressure of total war.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...does a fine job in all aspects, the art is well done, the detail is fantastic, and the information, regarding a subject that could be seen as so tought as to be difficult, fairly done." -Alex Ness, popthought.com


"...an informative study of the youth arm of the Nazi part." -Military Trader

"The Hitler Youth was not the same as other youth movements during the same period. No other youth movement at that time pushed their wards into front line combat... Dearn's use of photographs in the book is very well done...provides the reader a good introduction to the Hitler Youth and a firm base to support more in-depth study if desired." -Sergeant Gary I H Kett CD MA, Canadian Army Journal (Summer 2006)

From the Publisher

Insights into the real lives of history's fighting men, packed with full colour illustrations, highly detailed cutaways, exploded artwork of weaponry and armour, and action-packed battle scenes.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing (March 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 184176874X
• ISBN-13: 978-1841768748
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 0.2 x 9.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,253,356 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent work within Osprey's limitations, December 7, 2006

By 

Stephen Coleman "School of Humanities and Soc... (Australian Defence Force Academy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Hitler Youth 1933-45 (Warrior) (Paperback)

I have to strenuously disagree with Chris Crawford's review. Crawford seems to believe that this book purports to be THE reference work on the Hitler Youth movement, something which it was clearly never intended to be. As the publisher's website informs us "Osprey's Warrior series is an ideal reference resource for re-enactors, military history enthusiasts, model makers and wargamers." Many books in the Warrior series, including this one, are worthwhile for academic historians, but that is not the readership at which they are aimed.

Crawford criticises the book for its lack of exhaustive academic quality referencing, a criticism which simply fails to appreciate that the book is aimed at a popular, rather than an academic, audience; extensive referencing would actually turn away most of the potential market for a book of this type. It is also quite inappropriate to criticise the author, Alan Dearn, for the referencing since the publisher, not the author, has determined the referencing style for the series. Granted there are a couple of minor factual mistakes, but I have yet to find a book aimed at the "military enthusiast" market that does not contain similar errors. Let's face it, Crawford's own review manages to misspell the name of the author of this book.

For Crawford to compare a book such as this to something like Littlejohn's 377 page tome is to do disservice to both books; Dearn's work is not a comprehensive history of the Hitler Youth, but it does not claim to be. I think it fulfils its purpose admirably.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fan-bloody-tastic, June 18, 2006

By 

Tara Fontain "Tazz" (Aberystwyth, Wales) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hitler Youth 1933-45 (Warrior) (Paperback)

booo...chris crawford, i thought that this book was highly informative and entertaining (the pictures are great!). Although there are minor discrepancies in the description of the Hitler youths uniforms, in the grand scheme of things this is unimportant because it was not in any way the point of the book. I'm sure with hindsight Dearn is hitting himself for not checking his source, but we're all human. I am myself a history student and i am currently researching for my PhD, i thought this book was GREAT, hooray for Alan Dearn.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars agreed..., June 16, 2006

By 

Ziggy Montana (Krakow, Poland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hitler Youth 1933-45 (Warrior) (Paperback)

I'll have to agree with Tara here. I am personally fascinated by this particular period in history, and have studied it extensively. While, ideally, this is best read within the vast array of literature which exists on the topic (Littlejohn's is particularly excellent), I found this to be a highly worthwhile study into the sociological apsects of the Hitler Youth. Pedantic nuances aside, I would recommend this book to any person with a similar interest in such features of Hitler's Germany.