What did the waffen ss do?

[Dave--]

This is my first post on this sight so anything you can point out will help.

Now the subject.
I have read accounts of all the branches of the german army carying out acts of murderd and what not on local populations and rounding up jewish persons, but were the waffen ss prime suspects of many crimes done?
im going to start reading up more on them becasue they are one of the orginizations i know little about.

[plant-pilot]

Although associated with some attrocities, on the whole the Waffen SS were an elite fighting force. For the most part they were brave and skilled soldiers who were supplied with the best weapons and equipment. If there was a tough job to do, they would be there using not only their great skill and leadership, but also their reputation to temper the moral of their enemy to their favour.

[Gage]

Not sure if this applies to the Waffen SS but the SS on the Eastern Front would fight to the bitter end as they knew that the Russians would give them no quarter if they surrendered.

[Owen]

A good starting point is here.
http://www.feldgrau.com/ss.html

To this day the actions of the Waffen-SS and its former members are vilified for ultimately being a part of the larger structure of the political Allgemeine-SS, regardless of the fact that the Waffen-SS was a front line combat organization

.

They weren't "Angels" but have been tarred with the same brush as some other nasty SS units who were a bunch of murdering b******s.

PS WELCOME TO THE FORUM DAVE.

[plant-pilot]

Originally Posted by Gage

Not sure if this applies to the Waffen SS but the SS on the Eastern Front would fight to the bitter end as they knew that the Russians would give them no quarter if they surrendered.

I think that was the view of most of the men on the Ostfront. Surrender was often the very last option.

[Gage]

Sorry, bad manners. Welcome Dave and hello.
Yes I should say you're right there, PP.

[plant-pilot]

Ooops, you are so right Gage, what was I thinking. Welcome to the forum Dave, hope you enjoy your stay and find what you are looking for.

[MalcolmII]

See http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/massacres.html
Aye
MalcolmII

[Kiwiwriter]

Hi, Dave, welcome to the boards, and do tell us about yourself.

While the Waffen SS's divisions amassed an impressive battle record on all the fronts they served on, they also perpetrated a number of atrocities, including the destruction of Oradour-sur-Glane, massacring Canadian, British, and American POWs, and massacres of Yugoslavian and Russian civilians.

Kenneth Macksey wrote a good book on them for the Ballantine series.

[plant-pilot]

Originally Posted by Kiwiwriter

Hi, Dave, welcome to the boards, and do tell us about yourself.

While the Waffen SS's divisions amassed an impressive battle record on all the fronts they served on, they also perpetrated a number of atrocities, including the destruction of Oradour-sur-Glane, massacring Canadian, British, and American POWs, and massacres of Yugoslavian and Russian civilians.

Kenneth Macksey wrote a good book on them for the Ballantine series.

I agree on the main point there, but would like to point out that attrocities were not limited to the Waffen SS and facing an SS unit didn't mean that your chances of survival were any less if you were captured. You may however not successfully get to the captured stage, or that is what they probably would have liked you to believe.