Customer Reviews

Valhalla's Warriors: A History of the Waffen-SS on the Eastern Front 1941-1945

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was very disappointed with this book given the previous positive reviews. I found the book subjective and appeared to be largely based on secondary sources which have been selectively used to try and support the author's core argument which at times, I found tenuous. The Waffen SS is a very complex area of research which I believe requires far more use of primary source material and a balanced assessment of the facts. Furthermore, I believe that you cannot view the Waffen SS in isolation and one needs to broaden the area of investigation and examine the other branches of the German armed forces (and allies especially on the Eastern Front) in order to place the debate into proper context. This book I'm afraid, fails in all these areas.

Valhalla's Warriors: A brief overview of the SS from its foundation till fall. Asks the Question; (From what I remember) "were the SS as a whole evil or just misunderstood"? To anyone who's reads many books about the SS, Waffen SS, or whatever part of the Organisation; the conclusion was a god awful nightmare. Yes; many SS battled beyond comparison to their counterparts and for that their early victories and later defences where done with skill, bravery, and tactics far exceeding their enemies! However, it was all for a lost cause because what they represented ie the future they wanted; was a truly evil!
A lot of text is wasted weighing up the different points of view: a waste of text space in my opinion.
Looking for gripping first person accounts? Your find more online, or try the BBC's Auschwitz.
Looking for detailed Battle Campaign History of the Waffen SS? Search the Stackpole Military History books.
Looking for info/accounts about the role of the SS, Waffen SS, Werhmacht, etc in the extermination process in the East? Try Ordinary Men, or Masters of Death.
Anyhow this book is only a brief overview of the SS, and not a special interest book, for those looking for unique accounts, sources, etc.
As for those who are interesting in such things you would find more then what you need online.
This is a short book; written as if it were A thesis.

This book is the vision of Waffen-SS by PhD T. Goldsworthy. The author used many sources and research books and made good references. But this book contains a lot of mistakes. At first, some of references in this book are mistakenly, e.g. on the pages 36-37 author quoted words of ss-hstuf M. Klein and made references to G. Williamson's book "Loyalty is my Honor". But, in the book of Williamson these words are said by other member of Waffen-SS, not Klein. Also, the author did not critically analyze many sources though some of them are very dubious (e.g. - Sol Littman's book). He described war atrocities of LSSAH in Taganrog 1941 (p.77), but did not mention that C. Messenger in his biography of Sepp Dietrich (this book is in the list of the Literature Goldsworthy's book) argued this case as fake.
Next example - the author wrote 14th SS Galichina Division fought in Yugoslavia with partisans and made references to G. Lepre's book. But, when we open Lepre's book on the mentioned page (p.222), we do not see any mention of Galichina division, only SS Handshar division.
All these mistakes give this book small worth even for beginners.

Within history there are basically primary and secondary sources. This book is based around a majority of secondary sources with little new information to offer. Having said that, I must emphasis that in today's world new original primary research is a great thing to find and read through but I believe that so much has been written about the Waffen SS, and the Eastern Front in general, that it is time to take a step back and take some of that secondary research to see where it takes us. New research is always nice but gaining a new understanding and comprehension by analyzing and comparing/contrasting existing accounts is also something that needs to be done from time to time. This is what I believe the author did here and I commend him for a job well done. I can easily admit to have read quite a few books from the bibliography but there were still many books I had never heard of or wasn't familiar with and just for that this book was worth getting.

The author is quite fair to the Waffen SS; he presents both extremes to the reader and chooses to walk in the middle showing that those who believe the Waffen SS to be a criminal organization are not basing it on fiction but rather on fact. The book is short, a little over 200 pages, goes over the history of the SS, the composition of the SS, and the ideology behind it before diving into the activities of a variety of SS formations on the Eastern Front. While not all SS soldiers were ideologues hunting Jews and Commissars enough of the SS officer corps was, which in turn influenced a large number of those under them. These men were not the `fourth' part of the Armed Forces but more so the political tool with which Hitler and Himmler could unleash their genocidal plans with throughout the Eastern Front.

A plethora of divisions are gone over as well as the atrocities and criminal actions they were involved in throughout the Second World War, mainly on the Eastern Front. Personally, I had always heard that the "Wiking" SS division had 'clean hands' when it came to atrocities, apparently that's not true and I have this book to thank for gaining that knowledge. A worthwhile investment of your time and money, definitely recommended. Lastly, the reason for the 4 stars instead of 5 is because the bibliography is fully English, would have been nice to go into some of the new literature out there in German that deals with the crimes of the Waffen SS.

If you have an interest in the Waffen-SS or the Eastern Front, than this book is for you. This book is a confronting examination of the Waffen-SS on the Eastern Front. By looking at combat operations, anti-partisan and einsatzgruppen operations the author shows the true nature of the Waffen-SS battle formations. He also shows the undeniable links of the Waffen-SS to the concentration camp system. Focusing on the Eastern Front this book is an excellent reference about the Waffen-SS and is well researched.
The author draws numerous interviews and first hand accounts from Waffen-SS veterans, as well as trial transcripts to build a picture of the crimes that the Waffen-SS committed.

The book is the counter measure to the hundreds of other books on the Waffen-SS that choose to deliberately ignore the true facts behind the Waffen-SS. If you read this book you will never think of the Waffen-SS the same again.

Don't be fooled by the one star rating that some have given this book. This book is just unpleasant to those who chose to think of the Waffen-SS as just innocent young men defending their homeland. This book shows, by providing irrefutable proof, that the Waffen-SS was deeply involved in the largest genocide seen in recent times.

Goldsworthy has created a disturbing but necessary account of the Waffen SS and its involvement in genocide and war crimes throughout the Eastern front. What sets this book apart from others in the genre is the thoroughness of the research and the ability to write clearly and cogently despite the PhD origins of the book.The ease with which professional soldiers slip into acts of extreme cruelty is disturbing and raises questions about the nature of evil and how quickly such acts are rationalized by stereotyping victims. Anyone who believes that evil acts are the product of disturbed individuals rather than the culture created by political or ideological doctrines will have to think again after reading Goldsworthy's book. A superb addition to the literature on the Waffen SS and to the reasons why genocide and mass murder continues to exist throughout the world long after the Waffen SS has gone.

What this work provides is a succinct yet accessible analysis of the concept of evil. The author shows that it is not just dispositional but also situational, and he substantiates what kinds of human atrocities could be labelled as 'evil' with specific cases. This is a great scholarly book about the Waffen-SS but of more importance is that it has relevance for evaluating our current social values and how to appraise the examples of war crimes and genocide that continue. By giving this depth of analysis, Goldsworthy provides a window into a future in which such atrocities might be prevented.

Reading the reviews of this book provides as much insight as reading the book itself. The book suffers from the basic dilemma facing the reader of popular histories of the Russian Front: the vast bulk of the literature is written from the German, and frequently the Nazi, point of view, and glosses over the fact that the Waffen SS, like much of the Wehrmacht, was a murderous criminal organization. The rest of the genre is largely coming from ex-Red Army people and, though often truthful and objective, is so badly writtten and/or translated as to be virtually unreadable. You can judge by the reviews and their reception that Eastern Front readers are inured to and looking for the German whitewash: anything else tends to be "not helpful".

This book is objective: it doesn't demonize every hapless Landser, but nor does it paint SS murderers as noble knights resisting unto death the onslaught of the "red hordes": a phrase in common parlance for which Goebbels rarely gets credit these days.