183 - The Waffen-SS

The final battle for Berlin in 1945 was not just the end of the war in Europe, it was the violent collapse of Nazi Germany, and the moment the shape of post-war Europe was decided. As the Red Army advanced from the River Oder, they faced one last major obstacle in the Seelow Heig ...  Show more

In the final months of the Second World War, as the Third Reich collapsed in on itself, boys were sent to the front to hold back the Red Army. Among them was fourteen-year-old Willi Langbein. He had grown up under Nazism, saluting Hitler at school, joining the Jungvolk at ten, an ...  Show more

By mid-February 1945, the Wehrmacht had finally reached strategic bankruptcy. In January and February alone, it had lost 660,000 men. The Home Army lacked the weapons (including small arms) and ammunition to equip new divisions. In January, against a monthly demand for 1,500,000 ...  Show more

“Hitler had entered Röhm’s bedroom alone with a whip in his hand. Behind him had stood two detectives holding pistols, with the safety catch removed, at the ready…” The 30th of June 1934 saw a seismic moment unfold in the early years of the Third Reich. With the Führer and his pa ...  Show more

On September 1 1939 Nazi Germany invaded Poland followed two days later by France and the United Kingdom declaring war on Germany and beginning the Second World War. This was the opening act in what would be the most devastating clash in human history. By its end Europe and much ...  Show more

In the summer of 1944, a handpicked group of young GIs—including such future luminaries such as Bill Blass, Ellsworth Kelly, Arthur Singer, Victor Dowd, Art Kane, and Jack Masey—landed in France to conduct a secret mission. From Normandy to the Rhine, the 1,100 men of the 23rd He ...  Show more