Waffen-SS

The Waffen-SS was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in the German Reich, acting as the main armed wing of the Schutzstaffel. It began with a small guard unit known as the Saal-Schutz ("Hall Security") made up of NSDAP volunteers to provide security for party meetings in Munich. In 1925, Heinrich Himmler joined the unit, which had by then been reformed and given its final name.

History
The origins of the Waffen-SS can be traced back to the selection of a group of 120 SS men on 17 March 1933 by Sepp Dietrich to form the Sonderkommando Berlin. By November 1933 the formation had 800 men, and at a commemorative ceremony in Munich for the tenth anniversary of the failed Munich Putsch the regiment swore allegiance to Adolf Hitler. The oaths pledged were "Pledging loyalty to him alone" and "Obedience unto death". By 1935, the organization grew to over 800,000 soldiers, acting as Adolf Hitler's personal armed forces and the final frontier. The unit's brutality quickly made them the enemy of the Wehrmacht, who despised them.

In 1936, the Waffen-SS took charge over the entire Schutzstaffel, under the accordance of Adolf Hitler, and personally led the battle against the rebel Wehrmacht armies during the German Civil War. Despite putting up a fanatical resistance, the once-mighty Waffen-SS was reduced to holdouts across all of Germany, still putting up a fight against the victorious Wehrmacht. By 1940, virtually all known SS holdouts were wiped out, Himmler's fate remains unknown, leaving the last members being those who infiltrated high position in the Empire.