Himmler's Favourite. The Combat History of III (Germanic) SS Panzerkorps: Volume 1: F

[book lover]

Was this book ever published???

[John P. Moore]

What a stupid title for a book! Who cares if something was a favorite of that idiot Himmler? I hope the publisher changes it to something less sensational.

[pasoleati]

If John Moore does not like the title, there's no obligation to buy it. Frankly the whining is getting tiresome.

[pasoleati]

As for "that idiot", I wouldn't be surprised, if Herr Himmler's IQ was higher than Moore's...

[John P. Moore]

The war criminal "Herr Himmler" was not a gentleman and is not worthy of anyone's respect. I doubt the honorable veterans of the III.SS-Panzer Korps would wish to be reminded of their link to Himmler. The publisher does an injustice to the veterans in what appears to be a sensationalist attempt to sell books.

[FrenchVolunteer]

Hi,

more on the book here :

https://www.booktopia.com.au/himmler...909982949.html

Himmler's Favourite
The Combat History of III Ss Panzerkorps, Volume 1: From Formation to Autumn 1944
By: LENNART WESTBERG

Available: 28th June 2019
ISBN: 9781909982949
Number Of Pages: 628

These two photographic volumes depict Himmler's favourite unit in the Waffen-SS: the III 'Germanic' SS Panzerkorps, for it fulfilled Himmler's long-time political plans of recruiting 'Germanic' volunteers for the creation of a greater Germanic Reich in the future. As such, it consisted in part of SS volunteers from western and northern European countries. Although largely forgotten today, this elite SS unit fought on a variety of battlefields ranging from Croatia and Ingermanland's snow-covered forests near Leningrad to the historic Estonian city of Narva, where it defended the Baltic countries of Estonia and Latvia against the Red Army in 1944-45. The remnants of the Panzerkorps ended up in both the hopeless defence of Pomerania and the final apocalypse at the battle for Brandenburg and Berlin in April-May 1945, when the Third Reich went down in a storm of fire and steel.
Volume 1 covers the period from the creation of the III SS Panzerkorps in the summer of 1943 until the German evacuation of Estonia in September 1944. The coverage includes the unit's involvement in anti-partisan operations in Croatia (September-December 1943), the fighting at Oranienbaum-Leningrad and the battle for Ingria (January-February 1944); the defence of the Narva bridgehead and the battles for Dorpat and the Blue Hills, finishing with the German evacuation of Estonia (February-September 1944). On the Eastern front, a motley mix of nationalities and individuals fought under the Swastika and subsequently it was volunteers from various countries who served in the III`Germanic' SS Panzerkorps, including Norwegians, Danes, Swedes, Swiss, Dutch, Flemings, Walloons, Estonians, Germans and ethnic Germans from Rumania. Even a handful of renegade British volunteers turned up in this unit during the final weeks of WWII. All of these SS soldiers had widely varying reasons for joining the Waffen-SS.
These volumes not only include well over 1,000 partly unpublished photographs of the III SS Panzerkorps during 1943-45, but also a large number of previously unpublished personal battle descriptions by surviving officers and soldiers of this corps from the authors' archives of personal correspondence. The photographs are also accompanied by interesting unit histories, biographies, commentaries on weapons and vehicles, as well as analyses of battlefield tactics. These volumes also destroy the myth that the Waffen-SS was purely a military phenomenon. The Waffen-SS was, and remained, in the world and in the long-term planning of Hitler, Himmler and the SS, primarily a political-ideological institution. The multinational Waffen-SS and its esprit de corps must be seen within the context of the European fascist movements of the time and of the polarization between fascism and communism during the years between the First and Second World War. This is especially true for the III`Germanic' SS Panzerkorps as a future cadre providing SS functionaries for the creation and maintenance of a greater Germanic Reich in the West and the colonization of Lebensraum in the East. SS propaganda deliberately associated the character of the III `Germanic' SS Panzerkorps with the medieval Teutonic Order in the East as an historic continuity. The dream of a Germanic empire and the Nazi war of extermination against Slavs and Jews were two sides of the same coin. Despite serious flaws during the hasty creation of the III`Germanic' SS Panzerkorps in 1943, this unit achieved a remarkably successful military performance against a numerically superior opponent, the Red Army. The corps inflicted severe losses on Soviet units during all engagements. However, the losses of the III SS Panzerkorps in manpower and equipment were also extremely high. The personal battle descriptions included in the volumes provide a most powerful witness to the `slaughterhouse' character of the Eastern Front in 1944-45."

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Well, it is well known amongst serious scholars that foreign volunteers in the Waffen-SS were promised in the propaganda a kind of Federal Europe, when infact Himmler and other high-ranking NS officials only planned a German Europe, which will speak German and will be ruled out from the East to the West by Germans only.
This is why Franz Riedweg, the head of the Germanische Leitstelle banged his fist on the table at the end of 1943, and was then sent to the III. germanisches SS Panzerkorps in early 1944.
After the "departure" of Riedweg, the Germanische Leitstelle was then taken over in full by the SS-Hauptamt of Berger for the recruitment of foreign volunteers, which only promise was to... die for the Reich.
Like we say, promises engage only those who listen...

To say that the 3rd (Germanic) Armoured Corps was the favorite of Himmler is at best pretentious, and at worse false.
Himmler will always prefer German SS members over foreign ones...

See You

Vince

[pasoleati]

The war criminal "Herr Himmler" was not a gentleman and is not worthy of anyone's respect. I doubt the honorable veterans of the III.SS-Panzer Korps would wish to be reminded of their link to Himmler. The publisher does an injustice to the veterans in what appears to be a sensationalist attempt to sell books.

Intellectual capabilities have nothing to do with "gentlemanship" or whether or not one is a war criminal. E.g. Reinhard Heydrich's IQ was probably higher than that of any POTUS of the last 100 years (of whom at least 4 committed clear war crimes) .

[Michael Miller]

Hi, John!

You write: "I doubt the honorable veterans of the III.SS-Panzer Korps would wish to be reminded of their link to Himmler."

The link was there nonetheless. The notion of divorcing the Waffen-SS from the man who held supreme command over it is ridiculous. "Would[n't] wish to be reminded"?! I'm no fan of the title myself, but giving that as a rationale for changing it is laughably absurd.

You already gave your opinion of this title years ago. It was duly noted then, it's duly noted now.

As for this: "The war criminal 'Herr Himmler' was not a gentleman and is not worthy of anyone's respect". Nowhere in this thread is anyone indicating that Himmler was a gentleman, nor calling for anyone to respect him, nor does the title of the book in question express any respect for the man.

It's nice when you share your considerable archival holdings with the research community, but you tend to lose people with your insults and cantankerous "Get off my lawn"-style ranting.

Unrelated, but can you share with us if you plan to release a book in the near future?

Regards,
~ Mike

[BrianK]

Intellectual capabilities have nothing to do with "gentlemanship" or whether or not one is a war criminal. E.g. Reinhard Heydrich's IQ was probably higher than that of any POTUS of the last 100 years (of whom at least 4 committed clear war crimes) .

His IQ was so high that he drove though a dangerous area in an open car and was killed.

[johann mor]

Looks like an interesting book, when is it being released?

Jon

[Michael Miller]

BrianK~

Being careless is not necessarily a sign of intellectual deficiency. It certainly was not in the case of Heydrich, who could not have built so complex and effective a security and intelligence apparatus as the RSHA if he'd had a low IQ.

~ Mike

[pasoleati]

Indeed. It isn't uncommon that people with high IQ have unbelievable deficiencies as well. E.g. A person with a doctorate in chemistry may be unaware of how to change spark plugs of a car.

[BrianK]

Social Darwinism of the Nazis came back to bite them - Karma is a bitch. At least Speer was smart enough to make up enough lies about his war crimes to avoid the hangman.

[pasoleati]

It might be worth remembering that a certain W. C. admitted that had he been on the losing side, it would have been him to be hung. Generals like Montgomery and Matthew Ridgway opposed IMT like kangaroo trials.

[Mil-Archive]

It might be worth remembering that a certain W. C. admitted that had he been on the losing side, it would have been him to be hung. Generals like Montgomery and Matthew Ridgway opposed IMT like kangaroo trials.

Not wanting to take the thread even further off the reservation but that reminds me of well known Robert McNamara quote about Curtis Le May from 'The Fog of War'

LeMay said, "If we'd lost the war, we'd all have been prosecuted as war criminals." And I think he's right. He, and I'd say I, were behaving as war criminals. LeMay recognized that what he was doing would be thought immoral if his side had lost. But what makes it immoral if you lose and not immoral if you win?

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Fog_of_War