* What it was like to fight Hitler's ideological troops in Normandy starting on D-Day, June 6, 1944 * Regarded as Nazi Germany's elite military force, the Waffen SS had a reputation for ferocity on the battlefield and mercilessness to prisoners * Assesses the combat performance of American, British, and Canadian units against the Waffen SS * Included are accounts of well-known SS soldiers like Michael Wittmann and formations such as the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler and 12th SS Panzer Division Hitler Youth John A. English served thirty-seven years in the Canadian Army and earned a Ph.D. in military history. He has taught at the U.S. Naval War College, among other schools. He is the author of Patton's Peers (978-0-8117-0501-1) and The Canadian Army and the Normandy Campaign (978-0-8117-3576-6). English lives in Kingston, Ontario.