Das Reich III: 1941-1943

Das Reich (Volume III), 1941-1943: The History of the 2. SS-Panzer-Division "Das Reich" by Knight's Cross recipient Otto Weidinger. Hard cover, small format (6"x9"), 496 pages with 85 photos and 19 maps. This is the third volume of the five-volume series of one of the most famous Waffen-SS divisions of World War II. This volume traces the path of the division from the late summer of 1942 until the beginning of 1943 and its evolution from a motorized rifle division to a SS-Panzergrenadier-Division. Follow the division through the initial stages of the campaign in Russia: Withdrawal from the Jelnja salient to the gates of Moscow to the brutal winter battles of the winter of 1941/1942. Continue on through its withdrawal from the front and its refitting in Germany and France, only to take part in the coup de main mounted against the attempted scuttling of the French fleet at Toulon. Finally, witness the division be rushed to the Eastern Front as part of the newly formed SS-Panzer-Korps, where it would participate in the epic fighting for Kharkov and the initial evacuation of the city. Making use of numerous primary sources — to include the war diaries of higher headquarters, the division itself and its organic subordinate formations and units — this is a first-class divisional history. In addition to a number of period sources, the book makes use of an abundance of first-hand accounts that make this unit history come alive. The reader is treated to a practically day-by-day account of this elite formation and is assisted in his efforts through many maps.