Waffen-SS Military Actions in Poland

Massimiliano Afiero has had a long interest in military history and served as Editor-in-Chief of the quarterly magazine, Axis Forces. He’s written a detailed and well-illustrated account of SS units in Poland in September 1939, which was originally published in Italian, and is now available in this English edition.

The Waffen SS eventually grew to 38 divisions and 900,000 troops. In the Polish campaign the SS were assigned to regular German army units. According to Afiero, SS troops showed “fanatical courage” despite “poor quality army rejects” and second-rate weaponry (p. 122), and suffered losses heavier than those of regular army units, which Alfiero blames on “clumsy leader-ship.” (p. 122). The regular army high command criticized the role of the SS, but the Polish campaign transformed the SS into “real fighting units.” (p. 10).

Alfiero’s study has numerous illustrations of SS soldiers and equipment, and biographies of several SS officers and commanders, like Hubert Meyer (p. 49), and Hans-Friedmann Götze (p. 29). There are no photographs or biographies of the Polish troops or Polish commanders who fought against the German invasion. This represents a one-sided view of the SS troops in Poland.

Although Afiero mentions that SS troops in Poland participated in “Jewish actions” and killings of Polish civilians, he fails to detail them since his emphasis is on the military prowess of the SS. I find this lack of balance, somewhat disconcerting. Since the author is interested in showing the military. importance of the SS, this is not surprising.

Afiero’s work is organized by SS military campaigns and formations. So there are chapters with titles such as “The Danzig Question” and “Fall Weiß,” while other chapters focus on particular units, such as ”the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler in Action” and “Panzer Division Kempf in Action.”

Alfiero provides a glossary of German military terms and several maps to show the direction of the SS units. The many illustrations of SS personnel and equipment is outstanding. This book is ideal for any military historian or historian of World War II. A social historian of World War II would be disappointed since the emphasis is on military movements and SS victories over the Poles.

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Our Reviewer: Harvey Strum is a professor of history and political science at Russell Sage College and a former Sherman David Spector Faculty Fellow in Humanities. He previously reviewed Contested Commemoration: The 1876 Centennial, Independence Day, and the Reconstruction-era South, Fugitives: A History of Nazi Mercenaries during the Cold War, From the Battlefield to the Big Screen, Spain, the Second World War, and the Holocaust, and Gotham at War.

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Note: The Waffen-SS in Poland is also available in e-editions.

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