Loyalty is My Honor: Waffen SS Soldiers Talking

As A son from a former radioman in a Panthertank from the 5th Wiking Panzerdivison Waffen-SS I was informed by my father about the discrepancies in the stories about WW2 and more specific about the Waffen SS. He served in Russia from 1941 until his surrender to the Americans in Austria and his biography that he left me tells the same story as all the other soldiers in this book. One of them, Jan Munk, beeing a friend of my father untill my father died in 2003.For me it was enlightning to read these stories and place them in the same context as the story of my father. I grew up, torn apart between the history lessons on school and the stories of my dad. Everything looked so black and white in the opinion of most people and if you look deeper you will see that the world is not black and white but mostly gray. Black and white are on the far ends of a large field of gray. More and more people discover the truth about the Waffen SS, for instance the website www.waffen-ss.nl where you can find facts and figures of this legendary army part and where I found the title of this book under the subject Bad Tölz.

Though somewhat choppy in places, this book provides an interesting glimpse into the very controversal Waffen-SS. Through the recollections of Waffen-SS vets, the author paints a broad, but somewhat shallow, of life in this organization. Further, and perhaps most interesting, is the inclusion of a section on the war crimes committed by some Waffen-SS groups. It's interesting to hear what the men who served in this organization think of such atrocities. Somewhat expensive, but an excellent and informative book.

Finally in this country, one can read an un-biased book which presents the reality of the Waffen SS without having to read the words "evil" and "infamous" in every other sentence. Myths and facts are distorted by clueless writers and historians of the winning side. Mixing the holocaust and the german soldiers in the front has been the greatest after war propaganda campaign. I recommend this book to anyone that wants to know how Waffen SS fought in the front, how they interacted with prisioners of war,how they felt about each other, ..etc. Want to live in absolute brainwashed ignorance? Keep watching the History channel and their biased WII programs...

Thank you Mr. Williamson for a book well written and documented. Anyone interested in the waffen SS has got to read this book. the accounts altough at times rather short give an insight never before available to the english speaking people. It shows that the german combatant was no different than all other combatants in World War II. People often think all Waffen SS soldiers were demons with two horns and a pointed tail...when the truth is they were just soldiers. Mr. Williamson's book goes a long way to show this. By letting the soldiers speak without interfering he gives us a very rare opportunity to show the world how we thought, why we fought and above all that we were not monsters. There's one point in your book on page 78 that I think needs to be cleared once and for all since it pops out in every book about the war in Europe. If we'd been fighting on just two fronts (meaning france and Russia of course)there's no way Germany could have been beaten. The thing is this; we had (at various stages throughout the war)the following: 54 divisions in France and the low countries, 13 divisions in Denmark, 12-14 divisions in Norway, 28 divisions in Finland, 54-59 divisions in eastern europe and the balkans, 44 divisions in Italy, 2 million men manning AA defenses in the reich, 500,000 fighting in the Atlantic and last but not least 180 or so divisions in Russia; and people have the nerve to tell me we were fighting on just two fronts?Mrs. Forest, Saunders and Van Pelt I need your e-mail so I can answer. Thank you

This book is one of the best books I have ever read on the Waffen-SS. The personal accounts give you a feel for what it was like to be a German soldier in WWII. It gives them a chance to express their experiences in their words and to tell their side of the story. It has that personal touch that so many historical books out there lack. I find the stories to be entertaining and provocative. Written in a chronological format with background information and personal photographs. If this is your area of interest then I would highly recommend you to read this book.