Insignia of the Waffen SS (b/w photo)

Germany Insignia of the Waffen SS, the armed formation of the Schutzstaffel (SS), which included deployed military forces and the guard units of the concentration camps. The basis of the SS (later the SS dispositional troops) and the Totenkopf (Death's Head) associations was their political preparedness. After the Polish Campaign in 1939 the SS dispositional division and the SS Totenkopf division were created, this was the foundation for the expansion of the Waffen SS from 100,000 (1940) to more than 800,000 men (1944). The armed forces' competitive recruitment and the war situation led to an increased amount of ethnic Germans (around 300,000, in part conscripts) and foreign volunteers (at least 200,000) being accepted into the Waffen SS. Their active associations fought within the framework of the Army, but were also deployed in special criminal actions. There was personnel exchange between the concentration camp guards and the field units during the war.