SS Terror in the East The Einsatzgruppen on Trail - Softcover

Carruthers, Bob

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1783462442 ISBN 13: 9781783462445

Publisher: Pen and Sword Military, 2014

Synopsis

The SS Einsatzgruppen were the most notorious of the Schutzstaffel (SS), the paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany. Under the leadership of the notorious Otto Ohlendorf they were responsible for the introduction of a regime of terror involving mass killings, primarily by shooting, in occupied territory of the Soviet Union during 1941 and 1942. Under the direction of Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler and the direct supervision of SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich the Einsatzgruppen played the leading role in the implementation of the Final Solution in territories conquered by Nazi Germany, but they were also responsible for combatting partisans and eliminating Soviet political commissars, mental patients and Gypsies throughout Eastern Europe.

Otto Ohlendorf and the other SS Einsatzgruppen leaders were eventually brought to justice and the 1947 Einstazgruppen trial at Nuremburg bears his name. The trial provided a wealth of primary source documents and testimony which proved the guilt of the perpetrators, but also provided a frightening insight into just how closely the SS sponsored Einsatzgruppen had co-operated with the Wehrmacht and local populations.

Emmy AwardTM winning Author and historian Bob Carruthers has revisited and edited the primary source material from the trial to provide a new and chilling insight into the work of the Einsatzgruppen which draws frightening conclusions and blows away the myths with regard to the presumed lack of involvement on the part of the Wehrmacht. Essential reading for anyone with an interest in the true nature of the war on the Russian Front from primary sources.

About this title

About the Author

Bob Carruthers is an Emmy Award winning author and historian, who has written extensively on the Great War. A graduate of Edinburgh University, Bob is the author of a number of military history titles including the Amazon best seller The Wehrmacht in Russia.

Review

The return of genocidal warfare to today’s terrorist battlefields makes it crucially important to re-learn the lessons of history’s darkest days. Gerry Van Tonder’s “Einsatzgruppen: Nazi Death Squads, 1939-1945” is a recommended place to start. [...] The book provides important details about the Einsatzgruppen’s leadership and organizational hierarchy, and translated memos specifying how the killings were to take place, and operational reports from the field about their missions’ accomplishments. Numerous photographs illustrate the text. A grim read, but a necessary one. (Joshua Sinai Washington Times)

About this edition

• Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1783462442
• ISBN 13: 9781783462445
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 912