SS-Wiking: The History of the Fifth SS Division 1941-45

This the fourth in a series of books on the divisions of the Waffen-SS which explores the background to the unit's formation, the men it recruited, the key figures involved and its organisation. - Illustrated with rare photographs and with an authoritative text and detailed appendices, SS-Wiking is a definitive history of one of Germany's top fighting units of WWII. - This is an in-depth examination of one of the most notorious of the SS Divisions, the Wiking, which was largely recruited from foreign volunteers from German occupied countries. - Despite their non-Germanic background, the Norwegians, Dutch, Danes, Belgians, Finns and other nationalities, often motivated by an extreme anti-Communist zeal, fought hard on the Eastern Front for the Nazi cause and won considerable praise for their bravery. - It looks at the specialist training of the Waffen-SS and the uniforms and insignia that members of the Wiking division wore. - It also provides a full combat record of the unit describing their service on the Eastern Front, including the invasion of Russia, the capture of Rostov, the hard fought defensive battles of 1943, the breakout from the Cherkassy pocket and the defence of Warsaw, to the fruitless attempt to relieve Budapest and the unit's effective destruction by the war's end.