Liebstandarte SS Adolf Hitler

Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. 

The 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (often abbreviated as LSSAH) began as Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard, responsible for guarding the Führer's person, offices, and residences. Initially the size of a regiment, the LSSAH eventually grew into a division-sized unit.

The LSSAH independently participated in combat during the invasion of Poland, and was amalgamated into the Waffen-SS together with the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT) and the combat units of the SS-Totenkopfverbände (SS-TV) prior to Operation Barbarossa in 1941. By the end of World War II it had been increased in size from a regiment to a Panzer division.

Members of the LSSAH perpetrated numerous atrocities and war crimes, including the Malmedy massacre. They killed at least an estimated 5,000 prisoners of war in the period 1940–1945, mostly on the Eastern Front.