The 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler started life as Hitler's personal bodyguard and would grow exponentially during the course of the Nazi regime to an absolute elite panzer division. Transferred from the Eastern Front, The 1st would engage in combat in Normandy in late June, 1944.

The aim of this series on the Waffen SS divisions in the Normandy Campaign is to detail the exact composition, strength and losses of all the SS Panzer units that saw combat in summer of 1944. The varying organisations of each of these large armoured units were immensely complex, with each division having a different structure to its sister units. Each book in the series will be crammed with hitherto unpublished information, with the minutely detailed tables offering a unique insight into late war SS Panzer Divisions. They will not only highlight the armor and weaponry, but also the extraordinarily large divisional ‘tail’, comprising numerous supply and maintenance sections, each essential in keeping the fighting elements functioning effectively.