Basic standard reading for 3rd SS, but out of date. Still had a good general basic history of the Division. For an 'elite' unit it certainly did a lot of scrounging in its early days.
Jonathan
Jonathan
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Regarding this comment:
"There are some relevant examples of Sydnor's shortcomings on this thread on the AHF forum. These examples raise doubt over Sydnor's understanding of the German language and his inability to distinguish between a platoon leader and Battalion/Abteilung commmander."
The fact that Syndor identified his sources so that corrections could be made is the point. That is exactly what scholars do. They document where they get their information so that others can go back and make another analysis and correct mistakes. This is sadly lacking in most books today. It doesn't matter if he got every rank correct because he did get the essentials of this division correct. (And he is obviously fluent in German). It was a great study of the division, its origins, Eiche's personal influence on the Division, and its role as a premier Division of the Waffen SS in the Third Reich. It also showed that the Totenkopf Division was linked to many of the personalities associated with Third Reich war crimes. It seems to me that this is what galls most of the critics of the book. Therefore they focus on misidentified ranks and other trivia. The comment before this one is right on. It is standard reading on the Totenkopf Division.Comment
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