One of the most conroversial issues surrounding WW2 is the nature of the SS and I want to get this out of the way first so we can focus on the book by James Lucas. I have seen people argue that the SS' role in the death camps was limited to a few radical, sick, fanatical (pick your adjective) and that the military arms of the SS were "merely" professional soldiers motivated by a devotion to country and Hitler. I have seen arguments that suggest that along with their jackboots, the SS were all issued horns, tails, and pitchforks. Other scholars argue that the nature of the war caused the abberant or deviant behaviour the SS units exhibited in combat and in dealing with occupied countries. My opinion of the SS falls somewhere between the poles listed here. To argue that the SS was just a more powerful set of military units in the German inventory is naive. The SS committed some of the war's worst atrocities and should be censured. The involvement of the SS in all aspects of German society and its slavish adherence to the skewed ideals of Hitler show a depth of activity that proves their complicity in the excesses of the Third Reich. To paint all of the SS with the same brush is a bit of bias that I am not willing to indulge in, however. The nature of the men in the SS was variable and changed over the war years.

Lucas' thesis for the book can be found in his epilogue (I added the emphasis in bold):

Shortly before he died in 1972, Paul Hausser, the SS-'V-T' Division's first commander, wrote the foreword to ... an illustrated history of the Waffen SS. In that foreward ... he stated that the role of the German Army during the Second World War was no longer "problematical", but went on to say that there were still differences of opinion concerning the part played by the Waffen SS in the Second World War.

Hausser was restating the thesis advanced in his book, Soldaten wie andere auch, which claimed that, "Never before in the history of warfare had the soldiers of any formation carved for themselves a reputation like that of the Waffen SS." He went on to cite the battles which the SS units had fought, out of which had grown a legendary reputation, acknowledged by both friends and foe "...positioned", as he claims, "between envious admiration and superstitious fear. There was agreement on this point, that a warrior spirit was to be found in the Waffen SS which was never equalled or ever surpassed by any other formation. The Waffen SS became the embodiment of military reliability [in defence] and joy of combat [in attack] ..."

This brief history of "Das Reich" Division, has I think, proved that in the case of 2nd SS Panzer Division Hausser"s claim was no exaggeration but rather a sober appraisal of the fighting ability of that formation and the men who were part of it.

Lucas focuses on the military life of the "Das Reich" division and wants to show that this was a force with no peer. He goes about this with a great deal of research and verve in the description of events. His focus is on the lives of the members of the division and he does not stint with the stories. I have reproduced several of them here so you can get a feel for his writing.

Walter Schminke's fascinating booklet, Errinerungen an meine Dienst-zeit in der Waffen SS (Memories of my time in the Waffen SS) recalls how he enlisted and describes the initial training he underwent: 'When the war with Russia broke out in 1941, I was one of those who rushed to join the Colours. It was really not that simple because I was in a 'reserved occupation working in a department designing secret equipment. In those days masses of men flocked to the recruiting offices, a situation which is unimaginable today. They volunteered, not because it was the "in" thing to do, but because of something else, the results of education, tradition, inherited feelings, etc. Totally unmodern today.

'I decided to volunteer for the SS, which was rather like reaching for the stars. I filled in the forms and returned a week later to join a crowd of men all about 1.76m tall and each of them classified as Al. Most had a military bearing and some were in the uniform of the Hitler Youth. Once again we were medically examined and I was afraid that a small scar on my forehead might disqualify me. Then came the racial inspection, where the skull was measured, the distance between the eyes checked, length and width of the nose, the shape and size of the ears, shoulder width and a great many other things measured. The NCO carrying out these tests looked at me for a long time, like a cattle dealer, before telling me that I was accepted . . . The inspecting officers looked pleased with their work. So few had passed. There had been a good weeding out - Himmler, the Reichsführer would be well pleased with them.

The section above is one of the few places where he dwells on the motivations of the men in the SS. Here we get the picture of young men volunteering for duty based on patriotic fervor. Another instance that discusses the changes in the SS came following the division's experiences on the Eastern Front.

The climax of the battle came on 17 February, when the Russians made fresh penetrations of the divisional front and were held only with the employment of the soldiers of the Train. Stavka regrouped its tiring forces and the pause in the fighting also gave "Das Reich" the opportunity to concentrate its units which had been separated in the fighting. Obersturmbannführer Kumm marched the remnant of his regiment to divisional headquarters and went in to make his report. Model, commander of Ninth Army, was in the headquarters hut and told Kumm that he was bringing forward replacements so as to bring the regiment up to strength. He asked, "What is your regimental strength at this moment?" Kumm pointed to the window and replied, "General, my entire regiment is paraded utside." Model looked through the window. There in the snow stood thirty-five men. They were the remnant of a regiment which had gone into battle more than two thousand strong. It may well have been the memory of that sight which encouraged Model to criticize Hitler to his face. When, in 1943, the Führer asked where was the spirit of the soldier of 1941, Model retorted bitterly that the men of 1941 were dead and buried in Russia.

In February of 1942, the Division received 3,000 replacements for the combat units. These events indicate to me that the nature of the SS changes over the war years. From the initial enthusiastic and patriotic rush, the SS had loosened the requirements and allowed "lesser specimens" to join up.

Veterans throughout the world share a lot of the same experiences in the military.l Those in the SS were no exception, s we see below:

When I joined my unit there was a series of quick selections; the result of being ordered to move to the right or to the left. I was one of the final "left" group and found out that I was now one of the mortar platoon. Then we were allocated to our rooms and shown how to fill matresses with straw, how we were to wash our feet, in which trouser pocket we were to carry our handkerchief and how to make up our beds. Days passed and then we were issued with uniforms. We were then instructed in marching, running, lying down, saluting, standing up, how to keep a straight face, how to keep your trap shut, how to shout loudly and a number of other useful things. Then we received our rifles, equipment and service dress. The black parade uniforms were kept in a cupboard and were not to be issued until we had won the war.

'The daily round started with reveille at 06.00 hours, wash, shave (even with our bum fluff), dress, drink coffee, make up the beds, clean the room, collect the heavy weapons. Then we paraded, listened to a few words from the company commander and marched off to the tram stop. Because of the weight of our heavy weapons we actually travelled by tram to the training ground. There we spent the whole morning in field training; setting up the mortar, breaking down the mortar, changing position, setting up the mortar, etc., etc. Sometimes we spent the time digging in, flinging practice hand-grenades, camouflage and gas training before returning by tram to the barracks. Wash, finger-nail inspection and off to lunch. The meals were excellent, filling and well cooked. Then other types of training; musketry, marching, saluting drill, etc. At 17.00 hours back to our rooms to clean weapons, polish equipment, carry out darning, etc., and then a cold evening meal. At 19.00 hours orders for the next day were issued followed by instruction in the lecture hall on ballistics, the different ranks, weapons, history and political matters. Some lectures, especially those by the Spiess on architecture, art and the history of Prague (where we were stationed) were very educational. Then at 22.00 hours lights out and the pleasure of lying on our straw sacks, listening to Lala Andersen singing "Lill Marlene" and to the murmuring conversation of our mates. It was a very nice feeling.'

One of the things that set the SS apart, however, was the level of training they endured.

Karl Pichler recalled one training ground known to all recruits of the pre-war "N" Battalion as 'Paradise':

One of our platoon officers loved that piece of ground so we were often "in Paradise". One autumn day we marched out through a steady drizzle of rain to "Paradise". We arrived just as the farmer had finished spreading the area with manure. There was a terrible stink of cows and pigs in the air. The prayer, "Lord let this cup pass from me", was not granted and on our officer's lips was a satisfied smile as he explained the tactical situation. He waved his hand across the dung-covered "Paradise" and pointed to a small wood. There, he explained, were the enemy trenches and went on to say that it was our task to carry out an attack and to drive him from those positions.

'The machine-guns opened up and we fired our blanks at the imaginary enemy. Then we had to rush forward and fling ourselves flat. Some recruits tried to find a nice place on which to lie down. This caused our officer to order a new movement. "The enemy barrage is too heavy. As we cannot pass through it we will roll over and over on the ground in order to reach a new assault position. Follow me," and he flung himself on to that dung covered field and rolled over and over. With rifles pressed between our knees and tight to our chests we, too, rolled over and over, cursing and swearing.

'We returned to barracks stinking from the filth which encrusted our uniforms. But our officer marched at our head as proud as a Spaniard, as if we had just won a battle. Before he dismissed us he spoke a few words. "Lads, think of this. If we were under fire you would not have time to find a nice place to fling yourself down. You would hit the deck quickly, irrespective of whether it was a field of flowers or a pile of shit." He was right, of course.'

The strenuous training in the open air sharpened already large, youthful appetites and there is no armed force in the world in which rations are not a subject for discussion or complaint. In the summer of 1938, Himmler, the Reichsführer SS, carried out a tour of inspection of V-T units and his visit to 'N' Battalion was recalled by Hans Riedl: 'As usual the unit officers were issued the same meal as the men. Before we were marched to the dining-hall our hands and finger-nails were given a more thorough going over than usual. Then we marched off, singing, to the dining-hall. When we were all assembled the Reichsführer, his aides and our own unit officers entered. Himmler stopped at a number of tables, putting a question here and a question there. At our table he asked Perzel of No. 3 Company, if it were usual to be given three dumplings with the meal. Quick as a flash Perzel replied, "No, Reichsführer. Only because you have come." Th re was dead silence among the embarrassed officers accompanying the Reichsführer, but Himmler had already moved away to the next table. Karl Wolff of the same battalion recalled that meal of roast pork, sauerkraut and dumplings, but for a different reason. "We young recruits all had healthy appetites. Paul Hahn of No. 2 Company was celebrated for his capacity. When the meal was ended and the officers had left - they did not seem to have very healthy appetites - there were several terrines of food left on their table. Our Paul, lightning fast, had been waiting for just such an opportunity and pretty soon two terrines full of dumplings were on our table. Paul broke the battalion record by eating twelve of them."

Lucas attributes the focus on training to the efforts of one man:

At this point and before the other V-T formations are described, it is appropriate to mention Felix Steiner and his influence upon the training of the units under his command. It was as commander of 4th battalion of "Deutschland" Regiment in Ellwangen that Steiner was able to develop his theories on the employment of infantry on the battlefield. The success which his battle drills achieved, at first on peace-time manoeuvres and then under active service conditions, ensured that they were taken up enthusiastically by the whole SS organization and there is no doubt that these drills played an important part in producing the spirit of moral superiority which enabled the Germanic divisions of the SS to achieve their spectacular victories. Steiner broke completely with the standard methods of training and devoted his considerable energy and powerful personality to instructing and educating his men along lines which he himself had formulated. In place of barracks square drill which produced a soldier only able to operate as part of a military formation, Steiner aimed to train an individual who combined the fieldcraft of a skilled hunter and the fitness of a trained athlete. Steiner intended that this new-model soldier should be able to operate in any type of terrain or climate. Further, his warrior would be so physically fit that even at the end of a long and strenuous march his reserves of energy would be sufficient for him to carry out an attack upon the enemy's positions. Steiner believed that through a combination of warrior skills battlefield losses could be kept to a minimum, accepting wholeheartedly the concept that sweat in training saves blood in battle.

But it was not enough to bring the individual up to a high physical standard. He must also be competent to meet the psychological pressures of command and Steiner insisted that all his men, irrespective of rank, were to be trained to take over the duties of their immediate superior so that if he were killed a given task could be brought to a successful conclusion. Developing from the individual to the unit, Steiner considered that the conventional military organization was not flexible enough to use his highly trained men to their best advantage. He replaced traditional and rigid military groups with small assault detachments which, when grouped, created a powerful fighting formation similar to the German storm battalions of the Great War.

An example of the physical fitness of Steiner"s battalion can be gauged by the fact that in 1937, at the conclusion of a long-distance marching competition, the 450-man strong group of 4th Battalion, not only covered the 25 kilometres at an average speed of 7 kilometres per hour carrying full pack and equipment, but they completed the course marching past the saluting base at the exhausting goose step. Steiner's interest was not limited to physical fitness but extended to matters of equipment. The most important of the developments he fostered, and one whose influence can be seen today in every major army of the world, was the issue of camouflage-pattern clothing.

And again:

One of the disadvantages of an elite unit is that demands to carry out ceremonial duties interfere with the purely military training and this led to the V-T detachments being mocked as "Asphalt soldiers". Despite the demands which ceremonial duties made upon the SS formations, Steiner was able to train his regiment to such a pitch that a demonstration of their battle techniques during the 1938 spring manoeuvres, caused a sensation. The assault detachment carried out the task of demonstrating the closing stages of an attack upon a fortified position by capturing the enemy trenches using the tactics of fire and movement which Steiner had developed.

The same combat skills were demonstrated to Hitler during May 1939. The Führer, informed of the new battle drills, wished to see for himself how effective these were when infantry and field artillery collaborated in their use. The task of Steiner"s "Deutschland" Regiment was to open an attack after limited reconnaissance, overrun the enemy outpost line and drive its defenders back to the main line trenches. Artillery supporting the attack would then open fire upon the field defences and under the barrage the storm troops were to break through strong barbed wire barricades using "Bangalore torpedoes" and go on to capture the enemy"s positions.

For this demonstration "Deutschland" had two of its battalions up and a third in reserve. Hitler arrived and spent some twenty minutes looking over the battlefield. He then asked with some asperity when the demonstration would begin, only to be told that it had been under way for some twenty minutes. The Führer then noticed individual soldiers, who were visible for only a matter of seconds, moving swiftly across the ground towards the objective. The artillery and machine-guns opened fire but Hitler refused to take cover despite artillery shells falling upon the trenches only 300 metres distant from the observers and watched the assault unfold from a position in front of a blockhouse. As the barrage crashed down, light machine-gun fire kept the enemy defenders inactive while a special storm troops detachment blew breaches in the barbed wire entanglements with explosive charges. Through these gaps the assault infantry charged to take out the trench system and destroy the enemy with hand-grenades, machine-pistols and flame-throwers.

Battle descriptions are written in a similar vein:

One particularly bloody battle was for "Jackboot Wood", which the Russians had chosen as a concentration area for their assault forces. Georg Schwinke, whose first impressions of life in the Waffen SS were described earlier, recalled the action in the wood during which he was wounded. This was an attack mounted on 23 March, by the motor-cycle detachment of "Deutschland" Regiment whose own advance collided with a Russian attack which in Schwinke"s words, " ... coloured brown what had been until then white, snow-covered ground. The whole terrain was brown with the overcoats of the advancing Russian soldiers. This mass of men rolled towards us, terrifying because they came forward silently and without their usual shouting ... We lay between smouldering piles of rubble and our officer gave orders that we were to hold our fire until the enemy was within 20 metres. We did and when we finally opened up the Russians fell in rows, piling up into a great heap of dead. Most of that first wave had come forward without weapons - cannon fodder - to use up our ammunition. The second wave was like the first except that a few more of them had rifles. We shot them all down. Then came the third, fourth and fifth waves. By now we were nearly out of ammunition and our wireless operator sent out calls for infantry reinforcements, for artillery support, for panzers or for Stukas. Nothing came. Then we were involved in hand-to-hand fighting and we were just about able to hold them. Finally, the Russians sent in tanks and like primeval beasts they came lumbering towards us....

Not all of the soldier's life was blood, carnage, and horror. One story in a lighter vein is provided here out of many Lucas addresses :

One last anecdote from the fighting on the Western Front is that of Hermann Busch of No. 15 Company of "Deutschland" Regiment. He was one of a team chosen to test the British Boys anti-tank rifle, numbers of which had been captured during the fighting in the Nieppe forest. "An armoured plate was set up but the first shot did not hit the target.... " [instead, the round had veered because the British had subtly bent the barrels of the AT rifles and the Germans killed a horse that was standing in a nearby field... not realising initally that when it slumped to the ground it was not sleeping!]

 Lucasdoes an excellent job in detailing what life was like in the SS. Either hislogic falls down near the end, or the SS contained a number of Prima Donnas as he goes into detail at the"mistreatment" of German soldiers by American soldiers. Why, they had the audacity to steal their medals, their hats, and other equipment and personal items. The descriptions from the SS veterans make such minor infractions sound like heinous crimes but are *never* placed into perspective next to the crimes of the SS.

This is a great book for someone who wants to know what life is like in an elite unit. Dogma, comaraderie, shared experiences all contributed to the fighting prowess of the SS, but at the same time did nothing to soften the hard edges brought on by Nazi philosophies. The book is worth reading both as a source book for WW2 and for Weird War 2.