The military career of Jochen Peiper, one of the most valiant and decorated officers of the Waffen SS, told through the main battles and campaigns, which involved the units under his command, especially the armored Kampfgruppen of the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, starting from the fighting on the front Kharkov, between February and March 1943, passing through the fighting for the salient of Kursk, the intervention in Italy, the new campaign on the Ukrainian front between autumn and winter of 1943-44, fighting on the front of Normandy, the counter-offensive in the Ardennes, until the last fighting on the Hungarian front and in Austria. The analysis of the various battles told through the testimonies of the direct protagonists, the war reports of the period, the original documents, without forgetting the involvement in some war crimes, all accompanied as always, by an exceptional iconographic apparatus, maps, documents and images, coming from the military archives all over the world and from the main private collections, to make the discussion of the topics even more compelling and realistic.

Early 1943 marked a turning point in the battle on the Eastern Front. After the devastating defeat at Stalingrad, the German army was no longer able to take the initiative and control the battle. In the following years, despite tactical victories, the German army would be gradually pushed back until Soviet units eventually reached Berlin and captured the Reichstag. In the meantime, both enemies had learned a great deal and new weapons were rapidly introduced onto the battlefield. On 8 May 1945, this bloody confrontation between the two giants ended in the unconditional surrender of Germany and a new geopolitical equilibrium was created. This titanic battle is illustrated with witness accounts from generals, soldiers and civilians. Attention is not only paid to the course of the battle, but also to the tactics and organizational dimensions of the armies involved, the challenges of the vastness of the country, the dilemmas for civilians caught between the fighting parties and the flight of millions of Germans to the West in an attempt to escape from the atrocities of the Soviet army. The book also considers the role of the Reichsbahn in the field of logistics, and the importance of the innovation and production capacity of both armies. In also pays attention to the origins of the Cold War that was to follow this confrontation and which would last until 1989.

The Waffen-SS were considered the elite of the German armed forces in the Second World War and were involved in almost continuous combat. From the sweeping tank battle of Kursk on the Russian front to the bitter fighting among the hedgerows of Normandy and the last great offensive in the Ardennes, forever immortalized in history as the Battle of the Bulge, these men and their tanks made history.

The author of Case White offers an extensive history of German and Soviet armored warfare toward the end of World War II. By 1943, after the catastrophic German defeat at Stalingrad, the Wehrmacht’s panzer armies gradually lost the initiative on the Eastern Front. The tide of the war had turned. Their combined arms technique, which had swept Soviet forces before it during 1941 and 1942, had lost its edge. Thereafter the war on the Eastern Front was dominated by tank-led offensives and, as Robert Forczyk shows, the Red Army’s mechanized forces gained the upper hand, delivering a sequence of powerful blows that shattered one German defensive line after another. His incisive study offers fresh insight into how the two most powerful mechanized armies of the Second World War developed their tank tactics and weaponry during this period of growing Soviet dominance. He uses German, Russian, and English sources to provide the first comprehensive overview and analysis of armored warfare from the German and Soviet perspectives. This major study of the greatest tank war in history is compelling reading.

SS Obersturmbannführer Jochen Peiper was one of Germany ‘s most colorful military leaders of World War II with an audacious reputation. The name Peiper will always be linked to the Malmédy Massacre, the death of Belgian civilians and more than seventy American soldiers, but there is still a myth around Peiper. Why was a twenty-nine year old Waffen-SS officer chosen to lead the German spearhead unit during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944? Peiper was a special leader within the one of the most elite Waffen-SS divisions, the Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler. Peiper was charismatic and extreme loyal to his unit. His men trusted him as a leader, even under the most extreme conditions. In Germany he was a well-known war hero. It was a logical decision that Peiper became the commander of the spearhead unit, but there were other factors leading to this decision: tactical considerations, a we-know-what-to-expect-principle, and Peiper was lucky that he was still alive and serving in the Waffen-SS.

Kampfgruppe Peiper formed the spearhead of the German drive on the Meuse during the Ardennes Offensive in December 1944 and fought one of the most famous actions of the Second World War. Its story is told, day-by-day, using contemporary accounts. A wealth of maps and contemporary and modern photographs allow the reader to follow the course of the action, and a full battlefield tour is provided.

Well over 2,000 total pages ... INTRODUCTION The Germans called it the “Operation Watch on the Rhine.” The French named it the “Battle of the Ardennes.” And the Western Allies termed it the “Ardennes Counteroffensive.” But because of the way the map of Western Europe looked at the height of the battle, it became known to history as the “Battle of the Bulge.” It was the winter of 1944–1945, months before the war in Europe would end. Despite the protestations of his generals, Adolf Hitler decided on one final attempt to turn World War II in favor of his German Third Reich. For this, he ordered resources diverted from other battle fronts—including his losing campaign against the Russians in the east. The Allies were caught of guard, as Hitler had hoped. Thousands of U.S. troops were surrounded at one point. In the end, the Allies committed enough troops that the tired, ill-equipped German army was overwhelmed. Indeed, the Battle of the Bulge was an important turning point in the war in the Allies’ favor, but it was not without its cost. The Battle of the Bulge is considered one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. CONTENTS 1. Introduction: The Battle of the Bulge Loomed Large 70 Winters Ago 2. BATTLE OF THE BULGE: THE ARDENNES CAMPAIGN - A Working Bibliography of MHI Sources 3. The U.S. Army in World War II: The European Theater of Operations The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge 4. U.S. Army in Action Bastogne - The First Eight Days 5. The Campaigns of World War II Ardennes-Alsace (75th Anniversary) 6. The Last Offensive 7. THE ROLE OF AIR POWER IN THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE 8. Missed Opportunity: Reducing the Bulge 9. THE FAILURE OF GERMAN LOGISTICS DURING THE ARDENNES OFFENSIVE OF 1944 10. BEGINNING OF THE END: THE LEADERSHIP OF SS OBERSTURMBANNFÜHRER JOCHEN PEIPER