SS Leibstandarte, Ace of the Waffen SS, Werner Herman Gustav Pötschke

I was very impressed with this book, I was intrigued who Werner Potschke was as I had never heard of him. The book didn't focus on Werner so much but more the events round him. Nevertheless I was blown away by the research an how the author highlighted a lot of facts that have never been mentioned in other books, the non basis opinions I was very impressed with an the truthful comparisons, as he says history books are written by the Victor's if war!!

I would give this book two stars for the actual content concerning Potscheke. The actual information that the author has gathered is interesting. The editing is below par. The worst aspect of the book is Williams' outdated and mainstream PC views on the circumstances that led to Germany's defeat in WWI and even more egregious, his total disregard of research available in the last 15 to 25 years on the origins of WWII. He spends an inordinate amount of time parroting propaganda points about the cause of WWII being Hitler's insanity. For those who would like to get an up to date and balanced view of the causes of WII, I would recommend The Origins of the Second World War by A.J.P. Taylor. For a great, balanced book on Hitler, I would recommend Hitler: Beyond Evil and Tyranny by R.H.S. Stolfi. For a well-researched book on the Soviet plan to attack Germany and Europe see Stalin's War of Extermination by Dr. Joachim Hoffman.

For subject matter alone, I gave this book one star. Werner Poetschke is an important figure in the Waffen SS, and I was excited to see the title in print. Upon receiving the book and beginning to read it, I found glaring issues with proofing and prose. I searched the book for a hint that it had been translated into English from another language, hoping this was the cause for the horrible typographical errors and miscreated grammar. There is no evidence this was the case. So on face value, I found the book almost impossible to read. Long, run on sentences. Improper use of synonyms. Often, just the wrong word was used. The lack of a solid editor is quite evident, and greatly inhibits the reader from enjoying what was potentially an extremely interesting historical figure. And this is just structure. The author's attempt to psychoanalyze this figure and explain his military behavior was just as flawed as the structure itself. I found many of the author's premises to be either far fetched, or beyond even the realm of "popular" History. My purchase was driven by my knowledge of who the historical figure was. The book was a complete waste of my money and my time. A "zero star" rating would be fully appropriate.

This book isn't bad and I really liked the author's book Jochen Peiper: Justice Denied. The problem is that this book covers way too much ground the first book covered. In fact, many entire passages are cut and pasted from the other book. The information on Potschke is interesting but not enough to make up for the repetition of the first book.

Well written, detailed & an excellent and authentic history.

Exc. Read

great book

Balance needed here. I thought this a good thought provoking book. I have read others by this author and yes whilst I agree there are typo's and no its not Wuthering Heights, it is however still very readable. It is a difficult subject and he does go out of his way to justify statements, but isn't that what we want, justification? The author has attempted something no one else has been able to do yet and happily invites others to take up the cause here.I especially liked his smashing of Parker's (Fatal Crossroads) opinion that Werner was transferred because he was' too violent.' What utter nonsense that theory is! He was transferred to plug the gaps in the 1st SS made by the officers and NCO's there who were forced to move to the 12th SS. All in all I thought it a good read and I enjoyed following his units detailed movements across the theater's of war.

OK. I really don't know where to start reviewing this book (if it can be termed thus).Firstly I have very grave doubts as to whether the manuscript was ever proof read or edited at all. The spelling and grammar is intolerably poor throughout the entire 280 odd pages. The "author" even spells his own name wrong in the bibliography! Sentence structure often leaves a great deal to be desired, and names are often misspelled, sometimes on several different occasions.On to the text. Buying this book, given its title, you could well be forgiven for believing that this is a comprehensive biography of Werner Pöetschke (WP). That, it is definitely not.The text is at best a very broad, meandering tale of the actions WP and unit participated in. WP, the title character, is only mentioned insofar as he commanded "X" unit here, or "Y" unit there, and was very brave.As an amateur researcher and biographer myself, I find it incomprehensible that the author "Willimas" has made the cardinal error of neglecting to use the one source of information necessary/crucial to writing an SS biography; WP's SSO/personnel file. The amount of data actually on WP as a man/personality could easily be condensed into under two pages.The author then turns psycho-analyst, and drug rehabilitation worker, and goes on to write pages and pages speculating about WP's possible mental state, and his use of drugs (his opinion only, "reinforced" by pages of information pulled from various internet pages).Throughout the book, the author repeatedly makes mistakes, for example confusing awards "Tank Destruction Badge (for 25 engagements)".Regarding WP's involvement at Baugnez, the author rehashes information from Reynolds and Parker, and even has the effrontery to question some of Parker's conclusions; bold indeed given the lack of his own "research" (see below). For anyone who has read Parker and Reynolds' works on the subject, this "work" is amateur at best, and excruciatingly painful to read at worst.There are very few photos in the book, and all are very common, the likes of which pop up if you Google "Waffen-SS". There are no portraits of WP, in a book purportedly about the man. The author does not even include details of WP's award proposals (again, neglecting to obtain that font of information, the SS Personalakte)Essentially the book is the author's rambling opinion of what transpired, based on the research and works of other authors, with a liberal sprinkling of information from blogs and Tumblr.I've tried to think of something positive about the book, and the best I can come up with is the page that contains the words "The End". I'm only glad I bought it on kindle for a pittance, and not the physical copy for the frankly laughable price of £20.Sorry if this review sounds unduly harsh, but I have tried to be fair. The book is absolute garbage, and I pity Lulu for having to waste paper in printing and producing the wretched thing.

Although a very good read presenting all the facts logically, I do feel that the text needed to be proof read a few times to correct mistakes. There are a huge number of spelling and grammatical mistakes which I find quite annoying, especially as the story gets to a really interesting and captivating part....other than that.. excellent.I'm now reading his next boom which is about Peiper and the injustices at his subsequent trial. Already by chapter 2...the same recurring annoying little mistakes in spelling...Belson instead of Belsen...just little things...

This book is a very interesting read, if one can get beyond the appalling errors of grammar, spelling, word-choice and punctuation. I felt that most people who chose this book would already have been familiar with the basic history involved, and not have needed the endless repetition. The content itself is well-researched and gives a good insight into the attitudes and hardships of battle. If only a proof-reader/editor could have participated, this would have been an excellent book. I almost gave up halfway through, as it was such hard work ploughing through the errors and the history lessons, waiting for Potschke himself to feature to any great extent! However, the last part was fascinating and well worth the effort.

Having studied the Waffen SS in general, and the LSSAH in general, since my early 20's in the -80's, I have become particularly interested and fascinated in the leading personalities of this division. And the author's very compelling biography of Werner Pötschke is an important addition to this. I salute the author in his passionate, and well researched, efforts at presenting fair and very well argued points at the incredible accomplishments of these men and their divisions. Not just a very good and well flowing read, but an important historical document..

Ich empfehle dieses Buch für alle Historiken. Versand und Zustand waren schnell und perfekt. Interesante Informationen um diese Einheit. Toll!