This Division was initially formed in 1933 as Adolf Hitler’s personal bodyguard, responsible for guarding the Furrier’s person, offices and residences. Before the outbreak of the Second World War it had become part of the Wafer-SS and participated in the invasion of Poland, going on to see service in France, Yugoslavia, Greece and the Soviet Union. On 26 May 1940, elements of the division’s 2nd Battalion, took part in the murder of 80 British and French POWs in what has become known as the Wormhout massacre in France. On 18 august 1941, during the occupation of the Soviet Union, other elements of the battalion were responsible for the murder of 4,000 Soviet POWs.
Although there were men who served with the 1st SS Panzer Division who were brave and heroic individuals, there were many more who were simply cold blooded killers. By the end of the war different elements of the division had taken part in other atrocities at Zloczew in Poland, Lake Maggiore, Italy. Malmedy in Belgium, Wereth in Belgium as well as a number of atrocities in the Soviet Union. They also played their part in the Holocaust, collaborating with the Einsatzgruppen death squads, in the mass shootings of Jews.
This is a hard hitting book which is not for the faint hearted as it lays bare the true horror of the part played by the division in the Second World War. It is a history that does not reflect well on the men who served in it, because of the shame they brought down on their nation.
To be published in 2026