1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler

1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler

The Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH) was Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard. Initially the size of a regiment, the LSSAH eventually grew into an elite divisional-sized unit. The term Leibstandarte was derived partly from Leibgarde "Life Guard" – a somewhat archaic German expression for the personal bodyguard of a military leader - and Standarte: the Schutzstaffel (SS) or Sturmabteilung (SA) term for a regiment-sized unit.

The LSSAH independently participated in combat during the invasion of Poland, and was amalgamated into the Waffen-SS together with the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT) and the combat units of the SS-Totenkopfverbände (SS-TV) prior to Operation Barbarossa in 1941. By the end of World War II it had been increased in size from a regiment to a Panzer division. The Leibstandarte division's symbol was a skeleton key, in honour of its first commander, Josef "Sepp" Dietrich (Dietrich is German for skeleton key or lock pick), and it was retained and modified to later serve as the symbol for I SS Panzer Corps. The elite division, a component of the Waffen-SS, was found guilty of war crimes in the Nuremberg Trials. Members of the LSSAH participated in numerous atrocities. They murdered at least an estimated 5,000 prisoners of war in the period 1940–1945, mostly on the Eastern Front.

Read more about 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler:  Early History (1923–1933), Expansion, Invasion of Poland, Invasion of France, Brigade Status—Balkans, Operation Barbarossa, Kursk, Italy, Eastern Front, Western Front Normandy, Ardennes Offensive, Eastern Front 1945, Lineage of The Unit

Famous quotes containing the words adolf hitler, division, adolf and/or hitler:

    When an opponent declares, “I will not come over to your side,” I calmly say, “Your child belongs to us already.... What are you? You will pass on. Your descendants, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing else but this new community.”
    Adolf Hitler (1889–1945)

    Major [William] McKinley visited me. He is on a stumping tour.... I criticized the bloody-shirt course of the canvass. It seems to me to be bad “politics,” and of no use.... It is a stale issue. An increasing number of people are interested in good relations with the South.... Two ways are open to succeed in the South: 1. A division of the white voters. 2. Education of the ignorant. Bloody-shirt utterances prevent division.
    Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)

    If we had had the right technology back then, you would have seen Eva Braun on the Donahue show and Adolf Hitler on Meet the Press.
    Ted Turner (b. 1935)

    When Hitler attacked the Jews ... I was not a Jew, therefore, I was not concerned. And when Hitler attacked the Catholics, I was not a Catholic, and therefore, I was not concerned. And when Hitler attacked the unions and the industrialists, I was not a member of the unions and I was not concerned. Then, Hitler attacked me and the Protestant church—and there was nobody left to be concerned.
    Martin Niemller (1892–1984)