Public domain World War II pictures

A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces. This leads to a problematic legal situation for the Waffen-SS, as Germany already had a different military at the time.
Especially former Waffen-SS veterans argued that it...

A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces. This leads to a problematic legal situation for the Waffen-SS, as Germany already had a different military at the time.
Especially former Waffen-SS veterans argued that it should be considered a separate branch of the armed forces of Germany at the time - somewhat like the US-Marines towards the US-Army.
And this was very much lived reality. The Waffen-SS was treated like some kind of elite within the German armed forces of the time. There's only one problem.
SS didn't swear an oath of loyalty towards Germany, they swore it towards Hitler personally. This makes them more like his private army, and not Germany's. However, despite all this, they were still soldiers and can, by definition, not be classified mercenarys or thugs.
I believe the most appropriate definition would be ideological soldiers.

These are not soldiers. They are Nazi party thugs dressed like soldiers. Before the Jews were persecuted and the peoples of other nations subjugated, Hitler's road to power was paved with the dead bodies of Germans who dared to oppose him and these are ...

These are not soldiers. They are Nazi party thugs dressed like soldiers. Before the Jews were persecuted and the peoples of other nations subjugated, Hitler's road to power was paved with the dead bodies of Germans who dared to oppose him and these are the same thugs who were willing to do the killing for him. They deserve no admiration whatsoever.

In my humble opinion, U.S.M.C. rules.

Yes, Tinmann0715, I have great admiration for the German soldiers of WW2. They were the best of the best...I am proud to call them my brothers.

Luke, yes, this is Nuremberg.

Coming from someone who marches alot... I can only imagine that goose-stepping for any amount of time would be extremely tiresome!! It's impressive they could hold such a perfect formation for any time period...

Your heart swells with pride?

Is this Nuremberg?

Astonishing, marvellous! Makes your heart swell with pride...They say Mussolini was so impressed with the German goose-step he tried to get his men to do a version of it. I'm not sure it was as great though...

Awesome