The Waffen SS In The West by Bob Carruthers, Wydawnictwa anglo i rosyjskojęzyczne
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//-->WORLD WAR II FROM PRIMARY SOURCESORIGINAL WARTIME PHOTOGRAPHICJOURNALA REPRINT OF THE 1941 GERMANPHOTOGRAPHIC JOURNAL WITH ENGLISHCAPTIONS AND ANNOTATIONS.ORIGINAL 1941 FOREWORD BY GUNTERD’ALQUEN© Coda Books LtdISBN: 978-1-906783-41-9Published by Coda Books Ltd,Unit 1, Cutlers Farm Business Centre, Edstone,Wootton Wawen, Henley in Arden,Warwickshire, B95 6DJwww.codabooks.co.ukINTRODUCTIONThe front cover of the original book as first published in 1941.This photographic journal was originally published in the spring of 1941. It wasedited by Hauptsturmführer Gunter d’Alquen, commander of the SS PropagandaKompanie and editor of the official SS paper, Das Schwarze Korps. D’Alquen alsoprovides the introductory foreword, which launched the exploits of the SS-VT in typicalbombastic style.Gunter d’Alquen was born on 24th October 1910 in Essen; he was the son of astaunchly Protestant businessman who also served as an army reserve officer. D’Alquenattended secondary school in Essen, his generation was the first to grow up under theinfluence of National Socialism. d’Alquen was a passionate supporter who fully embracedthe Nazi political philosophy, he enthusiastically contributed to the movement and joinedthe Hitler Youth. In 1925 he took up full membership of the NSDAP at the age of justseventeen, he also enrolled in the ranks of the SA and somehow found time to be active asa Party Youth Leader between 1927 and 1931.As a University student d’Alquen played an active part in the National SocialistGerman Students’ League, but he did not complete his university course and concentratedinstead on pursuing a journalistic career. On 10th April 1931 he joined the SS, rising to therank of SS Hauptsturmführer (Captain) in the relatively short qualifying period of justthree years service. In 1932 d’Alquen joined the staff of the Völkischer Beobachter as apolitical correspondent where he soon came to the attention of Heinrich Himmler. InMarch 1935, Himmler appointed d’Alquen as editor of the official SS paper, DasSchwarze Korps.D’Alquen soon became chief spokesman of the SS in the German press and under hiseditorship the paper fervently trumpeted the National Socialist agenda and relentlesslyattacked those who were perceived as enemies of the movement. Intellectuals, greedycapitalists, slackers and communists were all regular targets. The magazine was, of course,also notorious for it’s vicious and crude anti-semitism. As the war progressed d’Alquensaw it as his duty to project a positive slant at all times and Das Schwartze Korps regardeditself as a bastion of hope even in the years of defeat and disaster, constantly focussing itsattention on German victories at the front however slight these had become.In January of 1940 an SS-Kriegsberichter-Kompanie (Waffen-SS war reporterscompany) was established, and its züge (platoons) were attached to the four main Waffen-SS combat formations that fought in the Western Campaign of May and June, 1940. Theseplatoons remained with their respective divisions for the Balkans Campaign in the springof 1941.Gunter d’Alquen commanded the SS-Kriegsberichter unit throughout the war. By1940 he had attained the Allgemeine-SS rank of Standartenführer, but began his Waffen-SS command in 1940 as a Waffen-SS Hauptsturmführer der Reserve. During the course ofthe war, he rose through the ranks until he became a Waffen-SS Standartenführer derReserve and exercised the equivalent of regimental command.D’Alquen was responsible for a large back room staff, which processed the incomingmaterial, as well as the front line photographers, movie cameramen, writers, broadcasterand recorders, who served in the front lines. The Kreigsberichte in the field were assignedto the various platoons for variable periods of service. Where possible, non-Germansserved with their own national formations, but were sometimes detached to cover aparticular campaign and report specifically for their own domestic press.The SS Kriegsberichter Kompanie recorded the actions of the Waffen SS from 1940 onwards.D’Alquen himself was a distinguished SS war reporter and served in the front linesduring 1939 and 1940. In 1944 he was appointed by Himmler as head of the entireWehrmacht propaganda department. Among the books he published was an official historyof the SS, “Die SS. Geschichte, Aufgabe und Organisation der Schutzstaffeln derNSDAP” (1939). He also edited “Das ist der Sieg” (1940) and of course the volumeoriginally entitled “Waffen-SS im Westen” (1941), a reprinted version of which you nowhold in your hands.After the war d’Alquen found it difficult to leave his past behind. In July 1955 he wasfined DM 60,000 by a Berlin De-Nazification court and deprived of all civic rights for aperiod of three years and debarred from drawing an allowance or pension from public
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