| Collation |
303 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. |
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text txt rdacontent |
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unmediated n rdamedia |
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volume nc rdacarrier |
| Series |
Schiffer military history |
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Schiffer military history.
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| Bibliog. |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 286-292) and index. |
| Contents |
A monster is born -- The anti-partisan years, 1942 -- The anti-partisan years, 1943 -- Farewell to Russia, 1944 -- Warsaw -- The monster dies -- Judgment at Nuremberg -- Appendix 1: SS ranks -- Appendix 2: Sonderkommando officers -- Appendix 3: Sonderkommando enlisted personnel -- Appendix 4: Fate of Dirlewanger protagonists -- Appendix 5: Dirlewanger unite designations -- Appendix 6: German anti-partisan operations with Sonderkommando Dirlewanger -- Appendix 7: Composition of Sonderkommando Dirlewanger -- Appendix 8: Glossary. |
| Summary |
"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."--Book jacket. |
| Note |
Gift of Maura McDonald. |
| Subject |
Dirlewanger, Oskar, 1895-1945.
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Dirlewanger, Oskar, 1895-1945. fast (OCoLC)fst00418241 |
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Waffen-SS. SS-Sonderkommando Dirlewanger -- History.
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Waffen-SS. SS-Sonderkommando Dirlewanger. fast (OCoLC)fst01429463 |
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World War, 1939-1945 -- Regimental histories -- Germany.
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World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements.
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World War, 1939-1945 -- Germany.
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Regimental histories. fast (OCoLC)fst01354209 |
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War -- Underground movements. fast (OCoLC)fst01355184 |
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Germany. fast (OCoLC)fst01210272 |
| ISBN |
9780764304835 (hbk.) |
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0764304836 (hbk.) |
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