The 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler or SS Division Leibstandarte, abbreviated as LSSAH, began as Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard unit, responsible for guarding the Führer's person, offices, and residences. Initially the size of a regiment, the LSSAH eventually grew into an elite division-sized unit during World War II.
December 1935 parade for Adolf Hitler at the LSSAH Barracks in Berlin-Lichterfelde. Sepp Dietrich is on the far right.
The Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler barracks in Berlin, 1938
Heinrich Himmler inspecting a Sturmgeschütz III, Metz, September 1940
Sd.Kfz. 231 armored cars of the LSSAH advance into the Balkans near Sofia, Bulgaria, with Vitosha Mountain in the background.
SS-Verfügungstruppe
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SS-Verfügungstruppe was formed in 1934 as combat troops for the Nazi Party (NSDAP). On 17 August 1938 Adolf Hitler decreed that the SS-VT was neither a part of the Ordnungspolizei nor the Wehrmacht, but military-trained men at the disposal of the Führer. In time of war, the SS-VT were to be placed at the disposal of the army.
Motorcycle unit of the 3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf in the Soviet Union, 1941