Das Reich: Waffen-SS Armoured Elite

Spearhead #9

by Brian L. Davies

Raised in Holland in 1939, Das Reich became on of the deadliest of Hitler's tank divisions, fighting with distinction in many of the war's major battles. After taking part in the Blitzkrieg in the West, Das Reich moved east and took part in operations in the Balkans and Operation 'Barbarossa'. Hitler's invasion of Russia. It stayed on the eastern front until October 1943, taking part in some of the biggest tank battles in history, such as those at Kharkov and Kursk. In Normandy, Das Reich's mixture of veterans and recruits was all but destroyed by the time the Falaise gap was closed. It would spend the last days of the war refitting and then fighting in Hungary and Austria, where it surrendered to American forces. Mike Sharpe has written and contributed to many aviation and military titles, while Brian Davis is a uniform and insignia specialist who has written extensively on the subject.

96 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2003

About the author

Brian Davies, Professor of History, received a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from The University of Chicago. Dr. Davies specializes in Russian History. He has additional research interests in early modern European, Ottoman, and Central Asian history and is especially interested in the comparative study of state building in the early modern era, subaltern social history, and the development of the capitalist world-system.

He has published three monographs: State Power and Community in Early Modern Russia (London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2004); Warfare, State and Society on the Black Sea Steppe, 1500-1700 (Routledge, 2007); Empire and Military Revolution in Eastern Europe (Continuum, 2011) -- and an edited volume, Warfare in Eastern Europe, 1500-1800 (Brill, 2011), and contributed two chapters to The Cambridge History of Russia. Volume One: From Early Rus' to 1689 (Cambridge University Press, 2006). He is at work on another book.

Dr. Davies has developed several graduate level courses addressing transnational issues, among them HIS 5013: Readings in Modern European History; HIS 5063: Readings in Early Modern European History; HIS 6483 Topics in Comparative History: Empire; and HIS 6813/ 6903 Proseminar/Seminar Sequence: The Making of the Modern Capitalist World-System. Davies is also available for Independent Study on topics in the political and social history of Russia and Eastern Europe, early modern Western Europe, Dar al-Islam, Central Asia, military history, and comparative studies.