The Waffen-SS (German for "Armed SS", literally "Weapon SS") was the combat arm of the Schutzstaffel ("Protective Squadron") or SS, an organ of the German Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to a force of over 39 divisions, which served alongside the regular army. It is not to be confused with units of the Allgemeine SS subordinate to the Wehrmacht. Waffen-SS was never formally part of the regular army. Although operational control of the Waffen-SS units on the front line was given to the Army's High Command, in all other respects they remained under the auspices of Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler's SS, and behind the lines these units were an instrument of political policy enforcement. It was Adolf Hitler's will that the Waffen-SS ne
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| - Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts
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| - The Waffen-SS (German for "Armed SS", literally "Weapon SS") was the combat arm of the Schutzstaffel ("Protective Squadron") or SS, an organ of the German Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to a force of over 39 divisions, which served alongside the regular army. It is not to be confused with units of the Allgemeine SS subordinate to the Wehrmacht. Waffen-SS was never formally part of the regular army. Although operational control of the Waffen-SS units on the front line was given to the Army's High Command, in all other respects they remained under the auspices of Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler's SS, and behind the lines these units were an instrument of political policy enforcement. It was Adolf Hitler's will that the Waffen-SS ne
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| - Recruitment poster for the Wallonien Brigade
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| - The Waffen-SS (German for "Armed SS", literally "Weapon SS") was the combat arm of the Schutzstaffel ("Protective Squadron") or SS, an organ of the German Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to a force of over 39 divisions, which served alongside the regular army. It is not to be confused with units of the Allgemeine SS subordinate to the Wehrmacht. Waffen-SS was never formally part of the regular army. Although operational control of the Waffen-SS units on the front line was given to the Army's High Command, in all other respects they remained under the auspices of Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler's SS, and behind the lines these units were an instrument of political policy enforcement. It was Adolf Hitler's will that the Waffen-SS never be integrated into the Army. In 1940, Hitler gave permission for the first non-German Waffen-SS formation and by the end of the war, twenty five of the thirty eight Waffen-SS divisions were formed from foreign volunteers or conscripts, or around 60% of Waffen-SS members were non-German. After the war, in the Nuremberg Trials, the Waffen-SS was condemned as a criminal organisation owing to its essential connection to the Party and its involvement in war crimes and the Holocaust, however Waffen-SS conscripts sworn in after 1943 were exempted from the judgement owing to their involuntary servitude.
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