Modelling a Waffen-SS Figure SS-Scharführer, 1st SS-Panzer-Division 'Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler', Normandy, 1944: In 1/35 scale

Contents

Introduction

SS-Scharführer, 1st SS-Panzer-Division ‘Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler’, Normandy, 1944

Kits and accessories available

Further reading and research

Introduction

Raised to serve as Hitler’s personal bodyguards, the Waffen-SS burgeoned from a small militia into a 38-division-strong elite combat unit by the end of World War II. Its men were handpicked according to the dictates of the Aryan ideal; they were imbued with strict discipline and strong political convictions to the Nazi cause. As such, its units were issued with special uniforms and equipped with the most sophisticated weaponry and equipment of the time. In battle, the Waffen-SS would spearhead some of the most pivotal campaigns and key combat operations, proving time after time their right to be called an elite unit, and gaining the respect of even their most hated enemies. Despite their symbiotic association with the Nazi quest for world domination and the acts of racial hatred and genocide that they participated in, to this very day soldiers of the Waffen-SS exert a fascination, particularly for military modellers, wargamers and reenactors.

An SS-Schütze from the 1st SS-Panzer-Division Liebstandarte Adolf Hitler in France 1940. (Stephen Andrew; from Osprey Publishing’s Men-at-Arms 401)

An SS-Sturmmann from 1942, carrying an MG34 machine gun, and wearing the reversible camouflage smock. (Stephen Andrew; from Osprey Publishing’s Men-at-Arms 401)

Apart from the evocative historical appeal of such a topic, many modellers are drawn to the aesthetic details of Waffen-SS uniforms. Its divisions pioneered the deployment of camouflage clothing