I had a more detailed check of the posts here, here are some common myths.
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I doubt that many of those 4,000 men were shot because they were Communist party members. Eastern Front was no quarter asked, no quarter given.
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I remember reading somewhere actually that the Dietrich myth was amde up by a former Austrian LAH veteran.
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Even on the Western Front, the Waffen-SS were hardly pure. Most of us will know of the execution of Canadian prisioners by the 12th SS Hitlerjugend, supposedly because British troops had beaten several HJ officers to death. Indeed, the fighting between the Canadians and HJ in Normandy was some of the most ruthless and bloody on the Western Front. I'm not sure that many prisoners were taken then.
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Please read more in depth. Check out "Grenadiers" and "The 12th SS". Despite killings of prisoners on several occasions, there wasn't ruthlessness too much. Waffen-SS medics treated wounded Canadians and Waffen-SS soldiers just the same. There was also a case where a captured Waffen-SS NCO was treated chivarously by the Canadians, then suggested they surrender when they were surrounded by Panzers, which happened. There is a common myth that Panzermeyer ordered war crimes. This is a myth, based on false evidence by Polish and Czech deseters from the 12th SS Panzer Division 'Hitlerjugend', and even Graf Galen, the famous priest from Munster who heroically opposed the Nazi euthanasia program, protested at Meyer's death sentance, which was commuted. Also not mentioning that many Canadian officers were friendly to Panzermeyer during his imprisonment...
The book title 'Hitler's praetorinas' also gives it away. Just yet another of the endless books full of myths about the 'elite hordes of SS Panzers' instead of serious ones.
K
K