Like most amateur military historians, my knowledge of the Dirlewanger Brigade was limited to their barbaric behaviour putting down the Warsaw uprising. That is, until I started reading this book.
I found that the immense detail contained in the book took a lot of reading, and left me in awe on how the author not only found the information, but crammed it into one book.
Following introductions, forewords and notes, we are given an insight into how the Dirlewanger unit came into being. It can really be attributed to the ramblings of Adolf Hitler, taken as gospel by a lackey who saw an opportunity for self-advancement, combined with the wife of a Party member who attempted to use the ‘Old Boy’ network to get her husband out of jail.
As an anti-partisan unit, they had quite a bit of success, but when the situation in Hungary became critical the mistake was made of viewing them as regular soldiers. This was compounded with the move to expand the Dirlewanger formation by recruiting not just criminals from the camps, but also political prisoners. Even Dirlewanger himself was quoted as saying it was not a good idea to fight the Soviets with Communists.
The text tells us of calamity after calamity due to poor planning and inept leadership which culminated in rather a lot of these troops going over to the Russians. Surprisingly, some fought well, and some officers led well. Some were good soldiers who had transgressed either military or political rules, and were hoping to rehabilitate their lives. As above, the detail taken from reports and the recollections of survivors is incredible, making it a really good read. Both historians and wargamers will find a lot to interest them, backed up with the few photos of the time.
Personalities are described, and at the end of the book, their ultimate fate. The end notes include a series of maps, a list of the command structure of Dirlewanger, the German and Hungarian order of battle, Soviet order of battle (2nd Belorussian Front), a comparison table of ranks, and a glossary of German military terminology.

Tankette