This is a brutal story – but, from the safety of fifty years distance in time – it is an extremely compelling one. It is also an enduring lesson that a military unit, formed under an evil ideology, led by a social outcast and composed of vicious criminals, will sink to its lowest common denominator – hate. The Dirlewanger Battalion, also known as “Sonderkommando (special commando) Dirlewanger” was perhaps the least understood, but at the same time the most notorious German SS anti-partisan unit in World War II. German propaganda correspondents and wartime photographers did not follow them in action. And for good reason. Wherever the Dirlewanger unit – named for and led by Oskar Dirlewanger – operated, corruption and rape formed an every-day part of life and indiscriminate slaughter, beatings and looting were rife. Formed as a battalion of convicted poachers in 1940, the unit operated in Poland until 1942, guarding Jews in forced labor camps and making life miserable for Poles in Lublin and Cracow. From there Dirlewanger spent two years combating partisans in central Russia, giving no quarter and expecting none in return, during vicious fighting against an elusive foe in the midst of inhospitable swamps and dismal forests. In 1944 Dirlewanger savaged Warsaw during the Polish Uprising, before moving to Slovakia to crush another rebellion there. The end of the war saw the unit, which was now a division in size, fighting for its life south of Berlin against the Soviet Army. Medieval in their outlook on war and certainly not indicative of many German military formations, this unit none-the-less remains a reflection of a segment of mankind gone mad in the inferno of World War II on the eastern front. Size: 6" x 9" over 50 b/w photographs, maps, fully annotated

The Cruel Hunters: SS-Sonderkommando Dirlewanger Hitler's Most Notorious Anti-Partisan Unit (Schiffer Military History)

History

MacLean, French L.

Europe

Schiffer Military History

nside these pages you will meet over 960 infamous men the officers of Nazi Germany's Totenkopf (Death's Head). You will encounter the 256 SS officers who worked at Dachau the SS concentration camp that doubled as a training school for death. You will

The Camp Men: The SS Officers Who Ran the Nazi Concentration Camp System (Schiffer Military History)

Biographies & Memoirs

Leaders & Notable People

In World War I German and British bombers sometimes faced a few dozen light machine-guns defending the target. In World War II Luftwaffe Stuka dive-bombers braved the combined fire of over 1,000 anti-aircraft guns to sink several capital ships at Kronstadt in the Gulf of Finland. In World War I hundreds of thousands of German troops fought months to gain ground measured in yards. During World War II, eighty-five FallschirmjÄger captured one of the world's strongest fortifications at Fort Eben Emael, Belgium - manned by 1,200 defenders - in only eighteen hours in May 1940.As a result of these and many other deeds of valor, some 1,785 Luftwaffe officers and enlisted men won the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross - World War II Germany's highest decoration for bravery. This is their story through the eyes of the commanders of 113 of these men, as recorded in their official efficiency reports contained here.Volume 1 contains detailed biographies and official efficiency and promotion reports for fifty-three Knight's Cross winners, as well as biographies for sixty-seven rating commanders.

Luftwaffe Efficiency and Promotion Reports for the Knight's Cross Winners: Volume I

In World War I German and British bombers sometimes faced a few dozen light machine-guns defending the target. In World War II Luftwaffe Stuka dive-bombers braved the combined fire of over 1,000 anti-aircraft guns to sink several capital ships at Kronstadt in the Gulf of Finland. In World War I hundreds of thousands of German troops fought months to gain ground measured in yards. During World War II, eighty-five FallschirmjÄger captured one of the world's strongest fortifications at Fort Eben Emael, Belgium - manned by 1,200 defenders - in only eighteen hours in May 1940.As a result of these and many other deeds of valor, some 1,785 Luftwaffe officers and enlisted men won the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross - World War II Germany's highest decoration for bravery. This is their story through the eyes of the commanders of 113 of these men, as recorded in their official efficiency reports contained here.Volume 2 contains detailed biographies and official efficiency and promotion reports for sixty Knight's Cross winners, as well as biographies for seventy-nine rating commanders.

Luftwaffe Efficiency and Promotion Reports for the Knight's Cross Winners, Volume 2

Inside this book - the first of its kind devoted solely to Nazi Germany - are quotations from 289 men and five women in the Third Reich. Also included are the "last words" for sixty-nine individuals facing execution for war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as those falling in combat. Behind their backs, many Nazis referred to their comrades by nicknames or epithets; these also are included here. All 294 men and woman quoted in the work are described in concise biographies. With all quotations documented and footnoted, and many put into historical context, this is an easy to use valuable resource for all students of World War II history, writers and researchers of military, political and Holocaust subjects, and all those interested in the most significant epoch of the 20th century.

2000 Quotes from Hitler's 1000-Year Reich: "... thank god that sow's gone to the butcher ..."

With dozens of historical documents and over 400 photographs, the author not only presents a comprehensive history of U-boat crews and the undersea war, but also shows how those with an interest in the U-boat war can find U-boat-related artifacts and how they can trace many to specific boats - and then research what those boats and crews accomplished.

Donitz's Crews: Germany's U-Boat Sailors in World War II

Military

Stalingrad: The Death of the German Sixth Army on the Volga, 1942-1943, is the first published work to detail the situation of every German corps and division for every day of the six-month Stalingrad campaign. Derived from the Sixth Army daily operation reports and the German Army High Command (OKH) situation maps (Lage Ost), this two-volume set presents the situation on the flanks of the army, as well as the combat in the city itself, a level of detail never before attempted.

Stalingrad: The Death of the German Sixth Army on the Volga, 1942-1943

Schiffer Military

Kursk is often labelled the Greatest Tank Battle in History. The Wehrmacht fielded a total of just 120 Tiger tanks during the engagement, including 35 from the 2nd SS Panzer Corps. This corps comprised the three most controversial divisions of the Second World War: Leibstandarte, Das Reich, and Totenkopf. The war crimes committed by these units (at places like Oradour, Malmedy, and Le Paradis) remain contentious topics of discussion to this day, and their fighting qualities have been analyzed for decades. By examining a focused group of men in great detail, specifically the 226 Tiger crewmen at Kursk, the author provides an insight into the sprawling and enigmatic organization that was the Waffen-SS. This project aims to scrape away the mythology surrounding the most-feared soldiers, who crewed the most iconic tank, at one of the most vicious battles of the Second World War.

Waffen-SS Tiger Crews at Kursk: The Men of SS Panzer Regiments 1, 2, and 3 in Operation Citadel, July 5–15, 1943

Hard cover, small format (6"x9"), 210 pages, 75 photographs, numerous maps and charts. German general officer casualties in WW2 were far higher than those of all the Allied nations combined. French MacLean, a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army (ret.) examines all aspects of why the German armed forces lost so many high-ranking officers. The result is a fascinating look at how the German war machine was directed at the combat level as most senior officers directed combat operations from the front; instead of at a headquarters a safe distance from the battle. The subject has not been covered in any book previously published in English.

Quiet Flows the Rhine, German General Officer Casualties in World War II

J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing

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Books by MacLean, French L.