Īfter enlisting in the German Army as a machine gunner in 1913, Dirlewanger served in the XIII (Royal Württemberg) Corps rising to the rank of Leutnant ( lieutenant) and receiving the Iron Cross first and second class during WWI. The eponymous Dirlewanger Brigade was led by World War I veteran and convicted criminal Oskar Dirlewanger, considered an amoral violent alcoholic who was claimed to have possessed a sadistic sexual orientation and a barbaric nature he has been described as "the most evil man" in the SS. Oskar Dirlewanger Oskar Dirlewanger in 1944 Amongst other actions, the unit took part in the destruction of Warsaw in late 1944 and in the massacre of around 100,000 of Warsaw's inhabitants in August 1944 during the Warsaw Uprising – as well as in the brutal suppression of the Slovak National Uprising of August to October 1944. Several commanders attempted to remove Dirlewanger from command and to dissolve the unit, but powerful patrons within the Nazi apparatus protected Dirlewanger and intervened on his behalf. Several members such as Hans von Cullen were put to death post-war by ad-hoc tribunals. It gained a reputation among Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS officers for its brutality. ![]() Originally formed in 1940 and first deployed for counter-insurgency duties against the Polish resistance movement, the brigade saw service in anti-partisan actions in German-occupied Eastern Europe.ĭuring its operations, the unit participated in the mass murder of civilians and in other war crimes in German-occupied Eastern Europe. The unit, named after its commander Oskar Dirlewanger, consisted of convicted war criminals who were not expected to survive their service with the unit. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS), or The Black Hunters ( German: Die schwarzen Jäger), was a unit of the Waffen-SS during World War II. The Dirlewanger Brigade, also known as the SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger (1944), or the 36th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS ( German: 36.
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