Hi, I'm Oymey. I'm (redacted) years old, and I live at (redacted). I'm really passionate about history, especially World War II. I enjoy researching and learning about military units, particularly the more violent and controversial ones. My interests also include reading about historical conflicts and collecting war-related documents and photos.

I’m really into the history of the Waffen-SS, especially the SS-Sonderkommando Dirlewanger. I've been studying this unit since 2021. I find this unit super fascinating because they were known for being incredibly brutal, and it’s easier to study than the bigger, more complex units like SS Liebstandarte, Das Reich, or Totenkopf. Their dark history is really gripping to me, and I feel like there's a lot to learn from how ruthless they were during the war.

I also work together with User:Riku37 . He also help me find Dirlewanger's photo, most of them and of course all of them are not ours.

Books about Dirlewanger Brigade that I have access to:

- The Defeat of the Damned: The Destruction of the Dirlewanger Brigade at the Battle of Ipolysag, December 1944 - Douglas E. Nash

- No.225 Dirlewanger - Rolf Michaelis

- The SS Dirlewanger Brigade: The History of the Black Hunters - Christian Ingrao

- The Cruel Hunters: Hitler's Most Notorious Anti-Partisan Unit - French L. Maclean (Limited access)

- I MALEDETTI DA DIO: OSKAR DIRLEWANGER E LA SUA UNITA’ Dall’SS-Sonderkommando alla 36.Waffen Grenadier Division der SS - LEONARDO SANDRI

- Oskar Dirlewanger: SS-Sonderkommando Dirlewanger - Soraya Kuklinska

13/11/2024

The photo on the right is Dirlewanger in Slovakia , 1944. This photo was used in 3 books cover.

-The Defeat of the Damned: The Destruction of the Dirlewanger Brigade at the Battle of Ipolysag, December 1944 ( Douglas E Nash ) 2023

-The Cruel Hunters: SS-Sonderkommando Dirlewanger Hitler's Most Notorious Anti-Partisan Unit ( French L. Maclean ) 1998

-Oskar Dirlewanger: SS-Sonderkommando Dirlewanger ( Soraya Kuklińska ) 2022

The owner of the photo is French Maclean. This photo was taken shortly Dirlewanger receive his new medal , the Slovakian War Victory Cross. His collar tab is also has been change . unlike the one in his more famous photo in august 1944.

Riku actually found the picture in 2022 while scrolling down using bing. He screenshot it but forget to take the site's url.

I tried to search for the site again but it's gone. Probably has been deleted after Nash published his book.

Next, SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer Kurt Weisse. He was nicknamed the "Devil" by his own men due to his brutal behavior. He had killed one of his men in 1943 using a batton.

I recently upload a full photo of him and i was very surprise that he is actually very tall. Probably as tall as Dirlewanger .There's one photo of him that i havent touch yet . A photo of him before the war. Like in SA uniform or something , but its not black uniform.

His death written in Wiki was by hanging by his own troops , but i recently read Nash's books and i think, i should rewrite the wiki part of him because it's kind of a disrespect to him? Yes , i know the whole brigade is bunch of criminal and such but i think its better to write the actual factor for his death where it's less kind of a "bad ending" for him

Also , this photo was uploaded by numerous user in the internet, but not in wikicommon , so yea. the owner is still unknown

18/12/2024

I wish I still have the access to any sources about Dirlewanger's unit. I miss reading those books. Douglas's book is one of the great source about Dirlewanger. It's very detailed. I didn't read it to the end though. Especially about the part where they fought against the Soviet in Ipolysag. Slovakia-Hungary border in December 1944. That's the real Dirlewanger Brigade.

The unit was destroyed after that battle. I don't know where the designation "SS-Sonderbrigade" came from. I thought it was the 2.SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger.

I'm still lack of knowledge about Dirlewanger's regiment movement in Warsaw during the surpression. From one source , it is said that Dirlewanger return to the regiment in 7th August and take command where he unite the two kampfgruppe. but according to Mr Nash, Dirlewanger returned on 8 August.

As written in the Axis History Forum in the topic of "Hauptmann der Polizei Herbert Meyer of the Dirlewanger Regiment" on 08 Feb 2022, 21:07, Mr Nash said :

I repeat, there was no Dirlewanger until 8 August. Serious all-day fights only for Michler's Palace. Meyer's large losses on 8 August were reported to Dirlewanger by only 40 soldiers out of 365. Apparently, he was crying (PTSD) in front of Dirlewanger.
From August 7, Steinhauer (II bataillon) made his way back to the Bruhl and Saxon Palace. The Home Army forces on their route strike weak and poorly armed. Elite Kedyw fought in the cemetery against Reck and Schmidt forces.
Completely also came from the Dachau disciplinary camp for SS soldier and the Wehrmacht prisoners Glatz, Anklam, Torgau, etc. I even saw information about Kriegsmarine's sailor directed to Dirlewanger for unauthorized extension of his pass in Lorient.

I'm pretty much are very confused. It must be hard for Meyer to accept that out of 365 men , only 40 of them survive the assault on Wola. No wonder ptsd went up to him. Meyet aren't that kind of hardened SS officer like Weisse. He wasn't an SS officer but a SchuPo.

Also I had found a few image of Dirlewanger's commanding officer such as Herbert Meyer, Steinhauer and idk maybe just them. I would upload their image after gather the info each of it.

31/01/2025

Finally, I had the access to Douglas's book again. I hope I'm be able to read it to the end.

also, I just realised that, other than Douglas's book, I also can use Maclean's. Maclean's book also are rich with info about the Einheit's combat reported. There's also a claim that Dirlewanger would fly in a light recon plane over a russian village.

I also had obtained some rare image of the Einheit's members. very rare. extremely rare.

One of it is Josef Steinhauer image and the two other is a Enlisted men.

Here's the image that i've been searching for 2 years. Dirlewanger soldier on off duty.

On the right, This is one of the rare example of SS-Schutzen that served in Dirlewanger's battalion , he probably had volunteer in early 1943 or 42. Judging by that Collar tab, this image probably are taken after February 1943.

The Sonderkommando designation was changed into Sonderbataillon on November 1942. People should knew that changed. In wiki, it was said that when the unit was under the command of Totenkopfverbande, the unit changed into Sonderbataillon. Incorrect.

04/03/2025

Hello again Wikitalk.

Recently, I decided to change something in Wiki that involved the Dirlewanger Brigade. I notice that people tend to incorrectly use the unit's designation in incorrect way. Like, for example. Some people love to use "SS-Sturmbrigade" designation. whenever talking about the brigade. but please be noted that the designation only used between October till February 1945.

Yes, It kind of sound "Elite" status. But like what Sir. Nash said, that was for honorific purpose only. Nothing else.

There's also some individual who literally use the designation of "36th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS" while refering to the unit during operation year of 1940-1944. It's ~~fucking~~ annoying tbh.

And there's this one individual who fucking put an image of Gigachad Dirlewanger in the wiki page of Oskar Dirlewanger. Like What the fuck? A war criminal and a convicted rapist is seen as chad? Will you see a person who raped your mother or your sister a chad? What kind of mindset is that? Fucking TNO bastard. And the image wasn't even made by him. Fuck you. I'm well aware that such image is often use as a racist meme among TNO community. OFTEN against Belarussian or Poles.

I'm not hating the whole TNO community though.

Origins of interest in Dirlewanger's gangs.

I don't really remember exactly when, but it was probably around late 2021 or early mid 2022. I was searching for what is the most realistic war movies and I found this Soviet film titled "Come and See". At that time, I was still unaware of the existent of Dirlewanger and his Brigade. So i watched it and was traumatized during the barn scene. Like,

I was there

-kind of feeling. Just because of one single peasant insult a soldier, the whole village is burned down? That's awful! Their behavior is also very unnatural and non of them act like a normal soldiers or those disciplined SS soldiers. Drunk and laughing loudly while their SS-Sturmbannfuhrer is there? That's kind of different. After watching it, I scrolled down the comment and found this comment stating:

This are real...

This indeed happened...

Remember Khatyn....
This was based on the real Dirlewanger Brigade....

Wait what? This movie is based on true story? What is the Dirlewanger Brigade? So, I decided to make a small research about this Brigade and what is Khatyn. So they are the most feared unit during ww2. I decided to research more, more and more. I also tried to find any available image of the unit and Oskar's. I keep trying to know more about this unit. I don't know why. Their brutality amazed me. NOT IN A WAY THAT I SYMPATHIZE THEM!

Then in 2023, I was given a task by English Teacher to make a presentation about anything. ANYTHING. I decided to make a presentation about the brigade. but i was still lack of info about them so i rely on Wiki. However, due to lack of time spending on making the presentation slide. I keep changing topic. From the Brigade, to its commander and then Khatyn which is the topic i pick in the slides. I ended missing the day which i was supposed to make the presentation. What a waste. It was presented by my partner (who dont know anything about it) and another classmate who barely understand the event i'm picking. Anyway, I was creditted for making the slides.

I keep researching the brigade from outside (I mean outside of Wikipedia) and then I found this book.

The SS Dirlewanger Brigade: The History of the Black Hunters - Christian Ingrao.

I first found the book while scrolling in Everand (at that time was Scribd). So, I borrow the ebook and read it. It truely amazed me and I realize, Wikipedia page on this unit don't have this additional info. However, I wasn't yet ready to do editing in Wiki so i decided not to. Then, I found Maclean's book at the Internet Archive. This one is completely different.

It's a large record of Dirlewanger's unit operation during the whole war. Tho, Ipolysag chapter isn't very covered in the book since the record of the operation probably got burned during the German retreat in late 1944 or early 1945.

On 15 September 1944, I made my first ever edit on Warsaw Shield. There's a photo of Dirlewanger's men there and said "A Sturmbrigade"..... That's what i changed. I changed it to "SS-Sonderregiment Dirlewanger". Then I make more editing. I also make a correction on any ranks, especially the RONA Brigade. Previous user put their rank as "SS-" instead of "Waffen-". NOT GERMAN > NO SS RANK BUT WAFFEN RANK. Then, I found Nash's book.

That's the book I repeatedly use as my main source for Dirlewanger Brigade. Other than that, Maclean's is also a good source. A very expensive one too similar to Nash's. Tho Maclean's book is no longer accesable in Internet Archive, I might be still able to use some part of it that is still available for reading using the text finder.

For now, the Hungary Chapter is by far are the most difficult one to write because It cost me time to read the whole book. The battle of Ipolysag itself is very complicated and complex, unlike the regular Anti-Bandit warfare that Dirlewanger fought from 1942-1944 (before December). Unlike Ipolysag, Anti Partisan Operation is easier to studied because their task is basically:

Go to forest
Find and kill partisan
Search for nearest village
Burn em

That's what I understand of it, The whole unit's organisation is also simple. For example, SS-Sonderregiment Dirlewanger had only 2 battalion with 4 Kompanie each. (That's the main combat forces, not including HQ and Additional group). But December 1944 is different. Dirlewanger had to deal with modern fighting. He had to stayed at HQ while his whole 6 battalion is spread wide at 40km wide ipolysag. He's unfamiliar with this kind of fighting because he often fight along with his unit like when Dirlewanger personally lead the Kampfgruppe Dirlewanger fighting at the Old Town. FIghting in Ipolysag prevent him from knowing the status for his own battalion and that's where their major defeat happened. Hofle should have not send Dirlewanger's battalions at three different area, far from each other and commanded by different commanders instead of by Dirlewanger himself.

Hmm, I don't know what to say now.

Table of Unit Designation


Date	Title
14 June 1940 – 1 July 1940	Wilddiebkommando Oranienberg
1 July 1940 – 2 November 1942	SS-Sonderkommando Dirlewanger
2 November 1942 – 1 May 1944	SS-Sonderbataillon Dirlewanger
1 May 1944 – 19 December 1944	SS-Sonderregiment Dirlewanger
19 December 1944 – 14 February 1945	2.SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger
14 February 1945 – 1 May 1945	36.Waffen Grenadier Division der SS

Composition


	July 1940 - June 1942	July 1942 - June 1943	July 1943 - June 1944
Regular	5%	5%	5%
Poachers	94%	60%	15%
Foreign Troops	0%	15%	30%
SS & Army Penal Troops	1%	20%	15%
Concentration Camp Inmate	0%	0%	35%
Regular Army Troops	0%	0%	0%


	July 1944 - November 1944	December 1944 - February 1945	February 1945 - May 1945
Regular	5%	5%	5%
Poachers	5%	5%	5%
Foreign Troops	10%	5%	5%
SS & Army Penal Troops	40%	45%	40%
Concentration Camp Inmate	40%	40%	15%
Regular Army Troops	0%	0%	30%

2.SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger Orders of Battle


Position	Rank	Name
Kommandeur	SS-Oberführer	Oskar Paul Dirlewanger
Ia (Operations Officer)	SS-Sturmbanführer	Kurt Weisse
O1 (Assistant Operation Officer)	SS-Obersturmführer	Helmut Lewandowski
Ib (Supply Officer)	SS-Hauptsturmführer SS-Hauptsturmführer	Fritz Missmahl Hans Bünger
Ic (Intellegience Officer	Unknown	Unknown
IIa Adjutant (Personnel Officer)	SS-Obersturmführer SS-Hauptsturmführer	Franz Bauser Julian Scherner
III (staff judge advocate)	SS-Hauptsturmführer	Dr. Bruno Wille
IVa Stabsintendant (Staff Director/supply officer)	SS-Obersturmführer SS-Obersturmführer	Otto Gast Hans Schäftlmeier
IVb (chief medical officer)	Stabsartzt	Dr. Heinz Hartlieb
IVc (veterinarian)	SS-Obersturmführer	Dr. Friedrich Turek
SS-Sturmregiment-1	SS-Sturmbannführer SS-Sturmbannführer SS-Obersturmbannführer	Josef Steinhauer Kurt Weisse Erich Buchmann
I. Bataillon	SS-Obersturmführer	Herbert Meyer
II. Bataillon	Major der Schupo	Josef Steinhauer
III. Bataillon	SS-Untersturmführer	Siegfried Pollack
SS-Sturmregiment-2	SS-Obersturmbannführer SS-Sturmbannführer	Erich Buchmann Ewald Ehlers
I. Bataillon	SS-Obersturmführer	Wilhelm Stegmann
II. Bataillon	SS-Sturmbannführer	Ewald Ehlers
III. Bataillon	Oberleutnant	Nitzkowski
Gemischte/Halb Bataillon	SS-Sturmbannführer SS-Hauptsturmführer	Ewald Ehlers Walter Ehlers
SS-Artillerie-Abteilung Dirlewanger	SS-Hauptsturmführer SS-Hauptsturmführer	Willy Schneier Fritz Missmahl
SS-Schwerer Mörser Kompanie (Heavy Mortar Company)	SS-Obersturmführer	Otto Rühs
SS-Nachrichten Kompanie (Signal Company)	SS-Untersturmführer	Ludwig Bahrke
SS-Aufklärungs-Kompanie (Reconnaissance Company)	SS-St.OJ	Paul Löffler
SS-Sanitäts-Kompanie (Medical Company)	SS-Obersturmführer	Werner Peiler
SS-Verwaltungs (Administrative/logistics)	SS-Untersturmführer	Hans Bünger
SS-Ersatz-Kompanie (Replacement Company)	SS-Obersturmführer	Paul Zimmermann
SS-Feldpost (Post office)	SS-Obersturmführer	Walter Wiedemann

I'm writing a book

I think it is the right time. Although I’m about to start my second semester, I believe I still have time to write at least a few chapters of this book.

'His' words truly inspired me to start this project. After all, my friend Asl wrote a book about religion and relationships, and there is even a 14-year-old boy who published a book on the Cold War.

Seeing them succeed is what really drives me to write this.

I must do it.

gez. M