Soldiers of the “Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler” Regiment, resting in a ditch alongside a road on the way to Pabianice, Poland. September 1939. (colorized)
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Very nice job! I must ask, how do you colorise these pictures?
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Note the armband that each soldier is wearing on their left sleeve. This was a special unit marking worn by Leibstandarte in recognition of their original role as Hitler’s bodyguard.
In 1945, the unit “disgraced” itself in Hitler’s eyes fighting against impossible odds against the Soviets and were ordered to remove all their armbands. Rumor has it that one was sent back with the arm still attached.
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Why does it look different in the picture? Censorship?
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Honestly, not sure. The original black and white photo has them looking a similar light colour too.
Also, at the risk of sounding like a military history geek pedant (as if!), Leibstandarte was a regiment at this time, not a division. They were attached to 17 Infantry division. The performance of the Waffen SS at this time was actually fairly poor. This was blamed on them not being able to train as part of a combined arms division and lead to the first 4 Waffen SS divisions, Leibstandarte, Das Reich, Totenkopf and Polizei being increased in strength to full divisions by the time of the invasion of France.
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Thanks for the correction, @adamsnook . May I change the title now? Also, I’m fine with military history geeks. 
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