Dirlewanger Brigade

The Dirlewanger Brigade, also known as the SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger (1944), or the 36th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (, or Black Hunters, was a unit of the Waffen-SS during World War II. The unit was led by Oskar Dirlewanger and was composed of violent criminals convicted of major crimes such as premeditated murder, rape, arson and burglary who were expected to die fighting on the front line. Originally formed for counter-insurgency duties against the Polish resistance movement, it was used in the Bandenbekämpfung ("bandit fighting") actions in German-occupied Europe. During operations, the unit engaged in pillaging and mass murder of civilians.

The unit participated in some of World War II's most notorious campaigns of terror in Belarus, where it carved out a reputation within the Waffen-SS for committing atrocities. Numerous army and SS commanders attempted to remove Dirlewanger from the SS and disband the unit, although he had patrons within the Nazi apparatus who intervened on his behalf. His unit took part in the destruction of Warsaw, and the massacre of ~100,000 of the city's population during the Warsaw Uprising; and participated in the brutal suppression of the Slovak National Uprising in 1944. Dirlewanger's formation generated fear throughout Waffen-SS organizations, including the SS-Führungshauptamt (SS Command Headquarters) and earned notoriety as the most criminal and heinous SS unit in Hitler's war machine.

Oskar Dirlewanger

The Dirlewanger Brigade is associated with its commander, Oskar Dirlewanger, a sadist called the most evil man in the SS. After receiving the Iron Cross first and second class while serving in the Army of Württemberg during World War I, Dirlewanger joined the Freikorps and took part in the crushing of the German Revolution of 1918–19. He joined the Nazi Party in 1923. After graduation from Citizens' University, Dirlewanger worked at a bank and a knitwear factory. He became a violent alcoholic, and in 1934 was convicted of the statutory rape of a 14-year-old girl and stealing government property. The Nazi Party expelled him and later compelled him to reapply for membership. After serving a two-year jail sentence, Dirlewanger was released. Soon after, he was arrested again for sexual assault. He was interned in a concentration camp. Desperate, Dirlewanger contacted Gottlob Berger, an old Freikorps comrade who worked closely with Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS. Berger secured his friend's release, after which he travelled to Spain to enlist in the Spanish Foreign Legion. He later transferred to the Condor Legion, a German unit which fought in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) for Franco's Falange Española.

After returning to Germany in 1939, Dirlewanger joined the Allgemeine SS (General-SS) with the rank of SS-Untersturmführer. In mid-1940, after the invasion of Poland, Berger arranged for Dirlewanger to train a partisan-hunting military unit under his own control, composed of men convicted of poaching.

Composition
On 23 March 1940 a department in the Ministry of Justice received a telephone call from Himmler's headquarters informing them that Hitler had decided to give "suspended sentences to so-called 'honorable poachers' and, depending on their behaviour at the front, to pardon them". A confirmation of Hitler's order was sent specifying that the poachers should where possible be Bavarian and Austrian, not be guilty of crimes involving trap setting, and were to be enrolled in marksmen's rifle corps. The men were to combine their knowledge of hunting and woodcraft similar to traditional Jäger elite riflemen with the courage and initiative of those who willingly broke the law. In late May 1940 Dirlewanger was sent to Oranienburg to take charge of 80 selected men convicted of poaching crimes who were temporarily released from their sentences. After two months training, 55 men were selected with the rest sent back to prison. On 14 June 1940, the Wilddiebkommando Oranienburg ("Oranienburg Poacher's Unit") was formed as part of the Waffen-SS. Himmler made Dirlewanger its commander. The unit was sent to Poland where it was joined by four Waffen-SS NCOs selected for their previous disciplinary records and twenty other recruits. By September 1940, the formation numbered over 300 men. Dirlewanger was appointed an SS-Obersturmführer by Himmler. With the influx of criminals, the emphasis on poachers was now lost, though many of the former poachers rose to NCO ranks to train the unit.  Those convicted of other more severe crimes, including the criminally insane, also joined the unit.

From the beginning the formation attracted criticism from both the Nazi Party and the SS for the idea that convicted criminals who were forbidden to carry arms, therefore then exempt from conscription in the Wehrmacht, could be a part of the elite SS. A solution was found where it was proclaimed that the formation was not part of the SS, but under control of the SS. Within a couple of years, the unit had grown into a band of common criminals. Accordingly, the unit name was changed to Sonderkommando Dirlewanger ("Special Unit Dirlewanger"). As the unit strength grew, it was placed under the command of the SS-Totenkopfverbände (the formation responsible for the administration of the concentration camps) and redesignated as the SS-Sonderbataillon Dirlewanger. In January 1942, to rebuild its strength, the unit was authorised to recruit Russian and Ukrainian volunteers. By February 1943 the number of men in the battalion doubled to 700 (half of them Volksdeutsche). It became a Waffen-SS unit again in late 1944.

Although other Strafbataillons were raised as the war proceeded and the need for further manpower grew, these penal military units were for those convicted of military offences, whereas the recruits sent to Dirlewanger Brigade were convicted of major crimes such as premeditated murder, rape, arson and burglary. Dirlewanger provided them with an opportunity to commit atrocities on such a scale that it even raised complaints within the brutal SS. The historian Martin Windrow described them as a "terrifying rabble" of "cut-throats, renegades, sadistic morons, and cashiered rejects from other units". Some Nazi officials romanticized the unit, viewing the men as "pure primitive German men" who were "resisting the law".

Operational history
During the organization's time in the Soviet Union, Dirlewanger burned women and children alive, let starved packs of dogs feed on them, and injected Jews with strychnine. Transcripts of the Nuremberg Trials show Soviet prosecutors frequently questioning defendants accused of war crimes on the Eastern Front about their knowledge of the Dirlewanger Brigade.

Occupation of Poland
On 1 August 1940, the Dirlewanger was assigned to guard duties in the region of Lublin (site of a Nazi-established "Jew reservation" established under the Nisko Plan) in the General Government territory of occupied Poland. According to journalist and author, Matthew Cooper, "wherever the Dirlewanger unit operated, corruption and rape formed an every-day part of life and indiscriminate slaughter, beatings and looting were rife". The General Government's Höherer SS- und Polizeiführer (HSSPF) Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger was disturbed by the unlawful behaviour of the Dirlewanger. His complaints resulted in its transfer to Belarus in February 1942.

Belarus
In Belarus (named the Reichskommissariat Ostland by the Nazis), the unit came under the command of local HSSPF Erich von dem Bach. The Dirlewanger resumed so-called anti-partisan activities in this area, working in cooperation with the Kaminski Brigade, a militia of Russians under the command of Bronislav Kaminski. Dirlewanger's preferred method of operation was to gather civilians in a barn, set it on fire and shoot with machine guns anyone who tried to escape; the victims of his unit numbered about 30,000. According to the historian Timothy Snyder:

In September 1942, the unit murdered 8,350 Jews in Baranovichi ghetto and then a further 389 people labeled "bandits" and 1,274 "bandit suspects". According to the historian Martin Kitchen, the unit "committed such shocking atrocities in the Soviet Union, in the pursuit of partisans, that even an SS court was called upon to investigate."

On 17 August 1942, the expansion of the Dirlewanger to regimental size was authorized. Recruits were to come from criminals, Eastern volunteers (Osttruppen) and military delinquents. The second battalion was established in February 1943 when the regiment's strength reached 700 men, of whom 300 were anti-communists from Soviet territory; and the unit was redesignated as the SS-Sonderregiment Dirlewanger. In May 1943, the eligibility to volunteer for service in the regiment was extended to all criminals and as a result 500 men convicted of the most severe crimes were absorbed into the regiment. May and June saw the unit taking part in Operation Cottbus, an anti-partisan operation. In August 1943, the creation of a third battalion was authorised. With its expansion, the Dirlewanger was allowed to display rank insignia and a unique collar patch (at first crossed rifles, later crossed stick grenades). During this period, the regiment saw heavy fighting; Dirlewanger himself led many assaults.

In November 1943, the regiment was committed to front-line action with Army Group Centre in an attempt to halt the Soviet advance, and suffered extreme casualties due to ineptitude. Dirlewanger received the German Gold Cross on 5 December 1943 in recognition of his earnestness, but by 30 December 1943, the unit consisted of only 259 men. Large numbers of amnestied criminals were sent to rebuild the regiment and by late February 1944, the regiment was back up to full strength. It was decided that Eastern volunteers would no longer be admitted to the unit, as the Russians had proven to be particularly unreliable in combat. Anti-partisan operations continued until June 1944, when the Soviets launched Operation Bagration, which was aimed at the destruction of Army Group Centre. The Dirlewanger was caught up in the retreat and began falling back to Poland. The regiment sustained heavy casualties during several rearguard actions but reached Poland.

Return to Poland

When the Armia Krajowa began the Warsaw Uprising on 1 August 1944, Dirlewanger was sent into action as part of the Kampfgruppe formation led by SS-Gruppenführer Heinz Reinefarth; once again serving alongside Bronislav Kaminski's militia (now named SS Sturmbrigade RONA). Acting on orders that came directly from Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, Kaminski's and Dirlewanger's men were given a free hand to rape, loot, torture and butcher.

In what became known as the Wola massacre, Kaminski and Dirlewanger personnel indiscriminately massacred Polish combatants along with civilian men, women and children, in the Wola District of Warsaw. Up to 40,000 civilians were murdered in Wola in less than two weeks of August, including all hospital patients and staff. Many otherwise unknown crimes committed by Dirlewanger at Wola were later revealed by Mathias Schenck, a Belgian national who was serving in the area as a German Army sapper. Regarding an incident in which 500 small children were murdered, Schenck stated: 

The regiment arrived in Warsaw with only 865 enlisted personnel and 16 officers but it soon received 2,500 replacements. These included 1,900 German convicts from the SS military camp at Danzig-Matzkau. Nevertheless extremely high casualties figures were inflicted on Dirlewanger during fighting in Warsaw by the Polish resistance. During the course of the two-month urban warfare Dirlewanger lost 2,733 men. Thus, total casualties numbered 315% of the unit's initial strength. While some of the regiment's actions were criticized by von dem Bach (who after the war described them as "a herd of pigs") and the sector commander, Generalmajor Günter Rohr, Dirlewanger was recommended for the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross by Reinefarth and promotion to SS-Oberführer der Reserve.

By 3 October 1944, the remaining Polish insurgents had surrendered and the depleted regiment spent the next month guarding the line along the Vistula. During this time, the regiment was upgraded to brigade status, and named SS-Sonderbrigade Dirlewanger (SS Special Brigade Dirlewanger). In early October, it was decided to upgrade the Dirlewanger again, this time to a Waffen-SS combat brigade. Accordingly, it was redesignated 2. SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger in December 1944, and had soon reached its complement of 4,000 men.

Slovakia and Hungary
When the Slovak National Uprising began in late August 1944, the newly formed brigade was committed to action. The brigade played a large part in putting down the rebellion by 30 October. With the outcome of the war no longer in doubt, large numbers of communist and socialist political prisoners began applying to join the Dirlewanger in the hope of defecting to the Soviets. SS-Brigadeführer Fritz Schmedes, disgraced former commander of the 4th SS Polizei Division, was assigned to the Dirlewanger by Himmler as punishment for refusing to carry out orders. With his extensive combat experience, Schmedes became the unofficial advisor to Dirlewanger on front line combat.

In December, the brigade was sent to the front in Hungary. While several newly formed battalions made up of communist and socialist volunteers fell apart, several other battalions fought well. During a month's fighting, the brigade suffered heavy casualties and was pulled back to Slovakia to refit and reorganize.

Germany
In February 1945, orders were given to expand the brigade to a division; however, before this could begin it was sent north to the Oder-Neisse line in an attempt to halt the Soviet advance. On 14 February 1945, the brigade was redesignated as the 36. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS. With its expansion to a division of 4,000 men, the Dirlewanger had regular Army units attached to the formation: a Grenadier regiment, a Pionier brigade and a Panzerjäger battalion. Individual Sturmpionier demolition engineers had already been attached to the force during the fighting in Warsaw.

When the final Soviet offensive began on 16 April 1945, the division was pushed back to the northeast. The next day, Oskar Dirlewanger was seriously wounded in combat for the twelfth time. He was removed from the front and he was sent to the rear and Schmedes immediately assumed command; Dirlewanger would not return to the division. Desertion became more and more common; when Schmedes attempted to reorganize his division on 25 April, he found it had virtually ceased to exist. On 28 April 1945, SS-Sturmbannführer Ewald Ehlers, who commanded the 73rd Waffen Grenadier Regiment of the SS within the Dirlewanger Brigade, was hanged by his own men. He had been a former commandant of Dachau concentration camp who had been convicted of corruption. On 1 May 1945, the Soviets wiped out all that was left of the 36. Waffen-Grenadier-Division in the Halbe Pocket. The small remnant of the division that managed an escape attempt to reach the U.S. Army lines on the Elbe river. Schmedes and his staff managed to reach the Americans and surrendered on 3 May.

Only about 700 men of the division survived the war. In June 1945, Dirlewanger was captured by the Free French forces in Germany; he had died in their custody by 8 June, allegedly killed by Polish soldiers in Altshausen. In 2009, Polish authorities claimed to have identified three surviving members of Dirlewanger living in Germany and announced the intent to prosecute them.

Order of battle
SS-Sturmbrigade "Dirlewanger" (October 1944)
 Brigade Stab
 SS-Regiment 1
 SS Regiment 2
 Artillerie-Abteilung
 Füsilier-Kompanie
 Pioneer-Kompanie
 Nachrichten-Kompanie

36.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (March 1945)
 Division Stab
 72.Waffen-Grenadier-Regiment der SS
 73.Waffen-Grenadier-Regiment der SS
 Panzer-Abteilung Stansdorf I
 Artillerie Abteilung 36
 Füsilier Kompanie 36
 1244. Volks-Grenadier-Regiment
 687.(Heer) Pioneer-Brigade
 681.(Heer) Schwere-Panzerjäger-Abteilung

Legacy

The cross-grenades emblem of the Dirlewanger are still used by neo-Nazis. It has been used by the Aidar Battalion during the War in Donbass.

Notes

References
  Michaelis, Rolf – Das SS-Sonderkommando Dirlewanger: Ein Beispiel deutscher Besatzungspolitik in Weißrussland
 A witness account of a German Sturmpionier soldier from the Warsaw Uprising.com.
 Testimonies concerning activity of Division during Wola massacre

#36
Category:Warsaw Uprising German forces
Category:Infantry divisions of the Waffen-SS
Category:Nazi war crimes in Poland
Category:Nazi war crimes
Category:Military units and formations established in 1940
Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1945
Category:Penal units