"A veritable tour de force of Eastern Front armored combat replete with slashing counterattacks, defending to the last man, and overcoming odds." —Mark J. Reardon, author of Victory at MortainOn Christmas Eve 1944, the men of the IV. SS-Panzerkorps and its two divisions—the 3rd SS Panzer Division "Totenkopf" and the 5th SS Panzer Division "Wiking"—were eagerly anticipating what the holiday would bring, including presents from home and perhaps sharing a bott...

"Doug Nash addresses a crucial period of December 1944... This latest of his works, which all stand on their own merits, is the best read to date." — Marine Corps Gazette One of the most notorious yet least understood body of troops that fought for the Third Reich during World War II was the infamous Sondereinheit Dirlewanger, or the "Dirlewanger Special Unit." Formed initially as a company-sized formation in June 1940 from convicted poachers, it served under the command of SS-Obersturmfüh...

An "excellent and thought provoking" chronicle of the IV. SS-Panzerkorps in Hungary and Austria in the last months of World War II, with maps ( Globe at War).In the closing months of World War II, with Budapest's fall on February 12, 1945 and the breakout attempt by the IX SS-Gebirgskorps having failed, the only thing the IV. SS-Panzerkorps could do was fall back to a more defensible line and fortify the key city of Stuhlweissenburg. Exhausted after three r...

"For both students of the German Army in World War II as well as those interested in the late 1944 campaign, this is a must-read" ( The NYMAS Review).As the Allies were approaching the German frontier at the beginning of September 1944, the German Armed Forces attempted to regain the strategic initiative. While the "wonder weapons," such as the V-1 flying bomb, the V-2 missile, and the Messerschmitt Me-262 jet fighter, are widely recognized as being the mo...

The first volume of the tactical and operational history of World War II Germany's fourth SS-Panzerkorps division and its leader.During World War II, the armed or Waffen-SS branch of the Third Reich's dreaded security service expanded from two divisions in 1940 to 38 divisions by the end of the war, eventually growing to a force of over 900,000 men until Germany's defeat in May, 1945.The histories of the first three SS corps are well known—the actions of I,...

South of the Norman city of Caen, Verrières Ridge was seen a key stepping-stone for the British Second Army if it was to break out of the Normandy bridgehead in late July 1944. Imposing in height and containing perfect terrain for armored operations, the Germans viewed it as the lynchpin to their defenses south of the city of Caen and east of the Orne river.Following the failure of British Operation Goodwood on 18–20 July and the containment of the Canadian Operation Atlantic, furt...

One of the most notorious yet least understood body of troops that fought for the Third Reich during World War II was the infamous Sondereinheit Dirlewanger, or the "Dirlewanger Special Unit." Formed initially as a company-sized formation in June 1940 from convicted poachers, it served under the command of SS-Obersturmführer Oskar Dirlewanger, one of the most infamous criminals in military history. After assisting in putting down the Warsaw Uprising during 1944, by November of that year it...

The histories of the first three SS corps are well known—the actions of I, II, and III (Germanic) SS-Panzerkorps and their subordinate divisions, including the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Das Reich, Hitlerjugend, Hohenstaufen, Frundsberg, and Nordland divisions, have been thoroughly documented and publicized.Overlooked in this pantheon is another SS corps that never fought in the west or in Berlin but one that participated in many of the key battles fought on the Eastern Front d...

This is the concluding volume of the history of the IV SS-Panzerkorps, a relatively unknown organization that was born in battle during the last year of the war and fought exclusively on the Eastern Front. After their successful defense of Warsaw and the Vistula Front during the fall of 1944, the corps and its two famous Waffen-SS divisions, the Totenkopf and Wiking, as well as several divisions of the German Army, were sent south to reverse the military situation on the Hungarian Front. F...

"A very good read . . . and a reminder that the Romans were hardly the only imperialist warmongers of the ancient world." — StrategyPageCarthage was the western Mediterranean's first superpower, long before Rome, and her military history was powerful, eventful, and checkered even before her "Punic Wars" against Rome. Although characterized in the surviving sources and modern studies as a predominantly mercantile state, Carthage fought many wars, both aggre...

A personal history of a Nazi battalion's experiences on the Eastern and Western fronts of WWII, told through the vivid accounts of the soldiers themselves.This is the little-known story of Heavy Panzer (Tiger) Battalion 507. Helmut Schneider, himself a veteran of the battalion, sought out as many survivors of the unit as possible and gather their reminiscences. The resulting account is a treasure trove of first-hand material, including personal memories, diaries, le...

A biography of the ruthless Waffen-SS commander focusing on his point of view while fighting for Nazi Germany during World War II."A bad reputation has its commitments." So wrote home Jochen Peiper from the fighting front in the East in 1943, characterizing his battle-hardened command during the World War II. Peiper's War is a new serious work of military history by the renowned author Danny S. Parker which presents a unique view off the Second World War as...