In Nazi Germany the SS was an instrument of terror and repression, whose function was to ensure the leadership and permanence of Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist Party. From the SS sprang a paramilitary force - a superbly trained machine in the face of war. This powerful spearhead was known as the Waffen-SS. Its crack formations rolled back the Allied armies in Poland, Russia and France. By the end of the War it numbered over half a million men under arms - recruited from many different nationalities. A hand-picked eite of magnificent fighting men whose courage was outstanding? Certainly. A force of cruel fanatics capable of hideous atrocities against all accepted rules of warfare? That too. This detailed history looks closely at both faces of the SS formations, and gives a vivid picture of the diabolical architects of the world's most terrible private army - Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler.