Despite the flashy cover art, this is not a glorification of Jochen Peiper or Nazi Germany. It is a thoughtful, extremely well researched look into the mind of an SS man and his deeds. It is unbiased and fair. So what do I take away from the book?
Although the Malmedy atrocity is Peiper’s ultimate legacy, right or wrong, I am not really so disturbed by that aspect of his character, or even the incident itself, as horrific as it was. I have come to find, reading some excellent history on the fighting in Europe, that even the allies often shot prisoners, either attempting to surrender or immediately afterward, and of course on the Russian front and in the Pacific war against the Japanese, these practices were common on both sides. So does this make him uniquely evil? Not in my mind. He and his men were made scapegoats in this respect.
More disturbing is his attraction to National Socialism and the SS in particular. What drew him and so many others to that dark flame? As was pointed out in the book, the Waffen SS did not exist prior to 1940, so anyone that joined before then, joined the regular SS and because they wanted to, it was not easy to get in. As Himmler’s aide he would be well versed in what was going on in Germany and the conquered territories, particular Poland. His denials to the contrary notwithstanding. That he adhered to and seemed to sincerely believe in the culture of Nazi Germany and the SS is all the more shocking as both his brothers seemed to have suffered grievously unto death for that culture. The implication being that they were homosexual and/or mentally ill. What a trial it must have been for anyone in that era to live up to Nazi notions of “manhood”. Peiper did, and there is no indication in the book he ever spoke about his brothers later in life or expressed regret.
Heinrich Himmler, as he does in almost every Biography, comes off as a complete nut case, which indeed he must have been. It’s depressing reading. I have read so many books on Nazi Germany by now that I understand why Erik Larson author of “In the Garden of the Beasts” said in his afterword to that book that spending so much time researching Hitler’s rule, he did not realize “how much the darkness would infiltrate my own soul”
And finally, Peiper constantly laments later in life his countryman’s obsession with material things and the loss of idealism. That got me thinking too. It reminded me of Hitler’s aviatrix, Hanna Reitsch who famously said, “And what have we now in Germany? A land of bankers and car-makers. Even our great army has gone soft. I am not ashamed to say I believed in National Socialism. I still wear the Iron Cross with diamonds Hitler gave me. But today in all Germany you can't find a single person who voted Adolf Hitler into power... Many Germans feel guilty about the war. But they don't explain the real guilt we share – that we lost.”
I truly wonder what these people thought Germany would be had they won.
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Bias resulted in many questions, arisen from lack of overall research.
Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2015
Parker used his words deliberately to create an image that Peiper was a bad guy, Incompetent leader, and sucks all the way. Yet many of his narratives have flaw. In here I just named one , more on lavieillegarde - WordPress.com.. Read it and you can find how fabricated this author truly is.Danny S. Parker said Peiper took the blame for heavy loss of SS 1st panzer regiment in 5-10 December, 1943. –Hitler’s Warrior, p.104 However, when I checked the statistics of SS 1st panzer regiment, I found the “total loses” within 5-10 December are only approximately 10!The total loss were tolerated, even slight to the ferocious battle within the 5 days, and the combat strength of SS 1st panzer regiment had recovered to 80%, compared with the level of 12/5, within 10 days. Also, the percentage of total loss was slight implying Peiper’s attacks had succeeded, his troop thrown the Reds out of some places, gaining control of the battlefield, so they can take their time for recovering the damaged or immobile tanks from the field.Then, after I carried on some researches, and did found something useful…First of all, the Wehrmacht 1st Panzer Division was one of the most powerful division when Heeresgruppe Süd launched a series of counter-attacks toward Kiev in the winter between 1943 and 1944.After arrival in the front line, the 1st Panzer Regiment had seen action first time in 17. November with roughly 160 tanks, including roughly 90 Panthers belonged to Major Philipp’s I. /1st Pz. Rgt., as cited in Stoves, Die 1. Panzer-Division, page 430, 433 and 436.And the availability fluctuation of 1st Pz. Rgt. during December as follows:In 4. December, 1943, however, the 1st Pz. Rgt. held only 12 Panthers and 14 Panzer IV’s operational. –Die 1. Panzer-Division, page 444.In 17. December, 1943, I. / 1st Pz. Rgt. held 25 operational Panthers. –Die 1. Panzer-Division, page 463.In 20. December, the 1st Pz. Rgt. held 12 operational Panthers, while the other 35 were unserviceable; 22 operational Panzer IV’s, while the other 52 were undergoing repair. –Stephen Barratt, Zhitomir-Berdichev Volume 1, page 77.In 24. December, 1943, the I. / 1st Pz. Rgt. again held only 12 operational Panthers. –Die 1. Panzer-Division, page 476.According to the statistics, the I. / 1st Pz. Rgt. held roughly 90 Panthers, yet the operational figures revealed were 12, 25, 12, and 12. Those figures were astonishing! The ferocious battle that 1st Pz. Div. had engaged is beyond one’s imagination.Meanwhile, the availability fluctuation of I. / 1st SS-Pz. Rgt. during December- January as follows:4. Dec.: 28 operational, 52 under repair. 80 in total.9. Dec.: 6 operational, 70 under repair. 76 in total.19. Dec.: 12 operational, unknown figures under repair.20. Dec.: 6 operational, 64 under repair. 70 in total.21. Dec.: 4 operational, unknown figures under repair.23. Dec.: 7 operational, unknown figures under repair.28. Dec.: 13 operational, unknown figures under repair.29. Dec.: 8 operational, unknown figures under repair.1. Jan. 1944: 7 operational, unknown figures under repair.2. Jan.: 6 operational, unknown figures under repair.3. Jan.: 4 operational, unknown figures under repair.7. Jan.: 11 operational, unknown figures under repair.11. Jan.: 8 operational, unknown figures under repair.15. Jan.: 9 operational, unknown figures under repair.19-21. Jan.: 22 operational, 14 under repair. 36 in total.29. Jan.(Peiper left his Rgt.): 9 operational, unknown figures under repair.30. Jan.: 6 operational, unknown figures under repair.4. Feb.: 20 operational, unknown figures under repair.All figures are cited from Agte, Jochen Peiper; Stephen Barratt, Zhitomir-Berdichev Volume 1; and Lehmann, The Leibstandarte III. Due to the incomplete statistics, we can only infer that Peiper’s Panther Battalion and Major Philipp’s I. / 1st Pz. Rgt. had both suffered severe losses during that period of time, and it seems Peiper’s Btl. had suffered higher losses.However when we deal with the statistics more carefully…From 20. Dec. to 19. Jan., Peiper suffered total losses of 34 Panthers within 30 days, average 1.1 Panther completely lost per day. Major Philipp, however, had also lost roughly 43 Panthers within 33 days, from 17. Nov. to 20. Dec., average 1.3 Panther completely lost per day.Danny S. Parker inferred Peiper as a poor military leader from the statistics he’d cited, yet he might have miscounted Major Philipp, who had taken over the 1st Pz. Rgt., one of the most elite units in Wehrmacht, afterward and last until the end of the war.
Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2015
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david skripac
Excellent detail. Finally a book written with a balanced ...
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on October 14, 2015
