Leibstandarte. Hitler’s Elite Bodyguard

Initially Hitler's personal bodyguard-a 120-man SS guard that formed a cordon around him at the Nuremberg rallies, it became the Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler in 1933 under SS-Obengruppenführer Sepp Dietrich. It took a leading role in internal affairs but also took on a military role during the war, as a motorized regiment during the invasion in Poland, the Low Countries, and France; a brigade during the conquest of the Balkans; a motorized division during Operation "Barbarossa"; and an SS-Panzergrenadier Division during 1942. In 1943 it reformed in Italy becoming 1st SS-Panzerdivision Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, and fought in Italy and Russia before being transferred to Normandy. Destroyed in the Falaise Pocket, a further refit saw it in action again in the Ardennes, before moving to Hungary. What was left of the division finally surrendered to US forces at Linz.