The officers and men of the Leibstandarte and Hitlerjugend Divisions were indeed extraordinary men—considered heroes and revered by some, judged as criminals and reviled by others. Not all of them acted bravely—there are plenty of examples of terrified youngsters surrendering to Allied soldiers. But they can as a whole be equated to the men of Caesar's finest Legions and to Napoleon's Old Guard. They have also been compared to Ghengis Khan's scourging hordes and Attila's invading Huns! But whatever else they were, they were remarkable soldiers—the like of which we may never see again.
And now we must ask ourselves what made them as they were? And here we face a number of contradictions. That they were motivated by what turned out to be a thoroughly evil system did not prevent them from being fine leaders and soldiers, and the fact that they came almost entirely from Christian homes and schools did not prevent them from acting brutally and without mercy. But then they did not believe that war was a "game" to be played by "rules"; it was instead a contest which had to be won. The other contestants were seen as inferior and therefore it was unthinkable that the opposition could or should be allowed to win.
Despite flawed strategic direction from the Supreme Command (Hitler), which often placed the soldiers of the LAH and HJ in almost impossible situations, at the tactical level their officers usually managed to select the vital ground on which the soldiers had a reasonable chance of performing well. And despite the short and often inadequate training which many of the soldiers received before being committed to battle, their motivation, discipline, natural instincts as soldiers and intense loyalty to each other, enabled them to achieve remarkable results. The combined effect of skilled officers and senior NCOs and brave, dedicated soldiers made for an extremely formidable military machine. Wounds were to be borne with pride and never used as a reason to leave the field of battle; mercy was seen as a sign of weakness and was normally neither offered nor expected.
The willingness of the members of the Waffen-SS to go on fighting when it was clear that the war was lost can only be a source of wonder to today's generation. However, their experiences in the East undoubtedly added to their resolve to protect their homeland for as long as possible and at whatever cost.
The fact that these men were part of an elite organization which was stamped with their charismatic leader's own name was an important influence on their outlook. But attractive uniforms, fine weapons, abundant quantities of meaningful medals worn even in battle to single out the proven brave, a strong emphasis on comradeship—these were all factors which played a part in making these men unique. Perhaps, though, the most significant thing which singled out the men of these Divisions was their obvious pride in being soldiers. It is strange that in post-war years the former Allies have spent so much time criticizing each other's performances in WWII but admiring that of the enemy—particularly the Waffen-SS. At the end of the day it has to be said that the soldiers of the I SS Panzer Corps excelled in what is still, in some circles, called "The Art of War". —retired Major General Michael Reynolds
