The glory of the Leibstandarte SS Adolph Hitler was their ambition even if death was the price - and of the of the 30,000 SS soldiers who signed up with this elite force only thirty would survive the war. Some perished in the abortive push on Normandy directed by the Fuhrer. Others suffered gruesome deaths in the hands of the Russians. But wherever they went they left a trail of terror as they butchered their way across Europe. In a chilling day-by-day account of the final year of this crack squad, Charles Whiting chronicles their bloody demise which culminated in humiliation at the Battle of the Bulge. CHARLES WHITING, the author, is Britain's most prolific military writer with over 250 books to his credit. He saw active service in the Second World War, serving in an armoured reconnaissance regiment attached to both the US and British Armies. He is therefore able to write with the insight and authority of someone who, as a combat soldier, actually experienced the horrors of World War II.