This is the photographic history of the Waffen-SSS in combat on all fronts. The short six year history of the Waffen SS spanned triumph and disaster, and their story can be traced through these powerful images, which clearly document the reality of combat from 1940 to 1945. These rare images span the combat history of the Waffen-SS from the optimism of the opening phases of the war in the west through to the challengers of Barbarossa and the long and bloody retreat against a numerically far superior enemy in both the east and the west. The powerful photographic record is essential reading for anyone with an interest in in the course of the war from the German perspective and clearly demonstrated the scale of the task undertaken by the Waffen-SS on all fronts.