Uniforms of the SS: Sicherheitscdienst U. Sicherheitspolzel

This is the 5th volume in Andrew Mollo's proposed 8 volume set of the uniforms and regalia of the infamous organization which grew from a handful of bodyguards for Hitler to become a state-within-the-state. This book deals specifically with the organization and uniforms of the arm of the SS which encompassed the dreaded Gestaats Polizei, better known as the Gestapo. The book is illustrated with B&W period photographs, diagrams, and line illustrations of uniforms and rank badges. This is a disappointing format because it is hard to envisage certain details in color, particularly the shade of green ('gift grune') used in German Police uniforms and adopted by the SS for its security service. Andrew Mollo is a British military historian and television producer. He has produced a number of valuable reference works on military uniforms and goes into great detail here to show the development of the uniforms and organization of the Nazi bureau created by Reinhard Heidrich, onetime Nazi Governor of Czechoslovakia. Mollo refers to the complexities of researching an organization which was deliberately self-obfuscating. Still, the book could be better organized and illustrated.