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The unit's title of "Adolf Hitler" was in honour of the importance of the unit in the political hierarchy of the Third Reich. Their original formation as the Stabswache and then the Stoßtrupp Adolf Hitler was intended to be a loyal and separate unit from the SA, and they were issued with unique uniforms and insignia, including the first use of the Totenkopf ('Death's Head') on uniform caps.
The unit took part in the Beer Hall Putsch, Hitler's first and failed attempt to take power. After his release from prison in 1924, another new unit was formed that would be free from the control of the SA (the previous Stabswache hadn't been). Soon after it was renamed the Schutzstaffel, which loosely translates to 'protection force'. And so the SS was born.
From this point onwards there were now two completey separate paramilitary organisations within the NSDAP; the SA and the SS. By 1933 the SS had grown in size to 50,000 members, and from this an elite collection of men was hand-picked to act as a personal bodyguard to Hitler. It would be renamed three times before it was to become known as the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler. It was first known as the SS-Stabswache Berlin, before being redesignated as the SS-Sonderkommando Berlin. Two more units were formed (SS-Sonderkommando Zossen and SS-Sonderkommando Jüterbog) which acted as training and police units for the SS. These were absorbed into the main unit later in 1933 and it was all again renamed to the Adolf Hitler-Standart. During the rallies in honour of the 10th anniversary of the Putsch on November 8/ 9th, 1933, the unit took part and was renamed finally to the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler.
The friction between the SA, the SS and the German army came to a head in 1934, and the SA was completely usurped as a force during the Night of the Long Knives, when several key members were executed, including its leader Ernst RöhmErnst Rohm (or Roehm ( November 28, 1887 — July 1, 1934) was a German military officer, decorated in World War I. At the end of the war, he founded the " Freikorps", a militia in Munich. In 1920, he became a Nazi-party member and the Freikorps became Hitl. Around 177 people were executed, and the Leibstandarte played a key role, always following orders from Hitler without question. With the SA removed, the SS became the sole political protector of the Nazi party in GermanyThe Federal Republic of Germany ( German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland is one of the world's leading industrialized countries, located in the middle of the European Union. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark and the Baltic Sea, to the east.
The Leibstandarte saw action right throughout the war, more often than not finding itself in the most important sectors. Not only were they part of the occupation of the RhinelandThe Rhineland Rheinland in German) is the general name for the land on both sides of the river Rhine in the west of Germany. A geographical term originally, it has also acquired some political and cultural connotations, becoming a political entity as the of AustriaAustria is a landlocked country in Central Europe, a federation of nine states. Austria is bordered by Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the and CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia ( Czech: Ceskoslovensko Slovak: Cesko-Slovensko before 1990 Ceskoslovensko ) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1992 (except for the World War II period). On January 1, 1993, it peacefully split into the Czech Repu, they also saw action in almost every major operation the WehrmachtThe Wehrmacht (literally defence force or means/power of resistance was the name of the armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It replaced the old Reichswehr and was succeded by the former West German Bundeswehr, and the East German Nationale Vol launched. Like the other elite SS units (most notably the 2nd SS Das Reich and later, the 12th SS Hitler Jugend) Hitler took great interest in the placement of these units on the battlefield and their roles in the war on a strategic scale. They were used as 'fire squads', and often tipped the scale of battle in Germany's favour. A key example is the Battle of KurskThe Battle of Kursk was a significant battle on the Eastern Front of World War II. It remains the largest armored engagement of all time, and included the most costly single day of aerial warfare in history. Though the Germans planned and initiated an off, when the Leibstandarte, having made the most impressive gains of all the German units involved, and on the point of a breakthrough of the RussianThe term Russian can refer to: The Russian language Someone from Russia or with a Russian ethnic identity, see Russians Something of or pertaining to Russia. defences, was then withdrawn by Hitler to be sent to occupy Italy. In his view, he needed not only military units, but units that were tied ideologically to fascism. The SS weren't just fighting units, they embodied the spirit of Nazism, and for this reason Hitler had nothing but the highest expectation of them and often demanded more of them than was humanly possible.
Despite fighting loyally for six years, and often achieving the impossible, Hitler eventually turned on the Leibstandarte. After withdrawing from the failed Operation Frühlingserwachen, Hitler demanded the unit return their sacred Adolf Hitler cuffbands. Sepp Dietrich was so disgusted by this command that it was apparently not passed down to the men, although some rumours abound that the cuffbands were returned to Hitler in a chamber pot.
A full list of major operations that the Leibstandarte participated in: