The Cruel Hunters: SS-Sonder Kommando Dirlewanger, Book Review

[Cd.]

I just completed reading French L. MacLeans account on the said Nazi anti-partisan unit. I would say that, while its not the best written book I ever read, it was most definately an interesting read. (Complete Title, The Cruel Hunters, SS-Sonder-Kommando Dirlewanger: Hitler's most notorious anti-partisan unit French L. MacLean, 1998, Atglen PA Schiffer Military History) This describes the activities of the meanest and most vicious unit ever assembled by the Nazi war machine and their vicious commander, Oskar Dirlewanger. In actually, this unit was an assorted group of poachers, criminals of all classifications, including increasing numbers of political criminals.

We see how Dirlewanger, the son of a lawyer enlists in the army in World War One, is wounded several times and after the war takes an active role in defeating communist insurgents. Later he joined the Freikorps, an anti-leftist militia and eventually joins the Nazi Party. He also attends college and earns a Doctors degree in Economics. His life is ruined when he is convicted of having sex with a minor under the age of 14. He spends time in prison but is released and serves in Spain with the Condor Legion. When the war comes, he is charged with leading a group of convicted poachers. This unit acquires an unsavory reputation for cruelty early in the war, yet because it gets good results, Dirlewanger and his group are immune from prosecution.

The story continues to describe the anti partisan campaigns in Russia, in suppressing the Warsaw uprising in 1944 and the Slovakian uprising in 1945. It also tells how the unit came to its final end defeding Berlin from the Soviets. Particular attention is devoted to the mysterious end of Dirlewanger himself who may have been murdered in a French prison or, as some have said, had enlisted in the French Foreign Legion and later lived his final years in Egypt.

The crimes of Dirlewanger are well documented and sometimes very shocking. He was prone to heavy drinking and treated his men with great cruelty. Soldiers in his unit often reported him beating or killing soldiers for minor infractions. Deserters were shot or hanged publically as an example.

The war against the partisans was described in shocking detail. In a war when no quarter was expected and no quarter was given, cruelty can only be expected. But the activities of the Sodorkommandos shocked even the most hardened members of the SS.

MacLean's book is based on many sources, books on the unit by former members, though few members themselves gave testimony, war crimes documents and so on.

The reason there is such little first person testimony, as MacLean states, is because few members survived the terrible massacre by the Red Army, and the few survivors were unwilling to identify themselves as serving in such a unit.

After the war, many leaders made great efforts to distance themselves from the unit. Yet evidence was undeniable that the SS and the Army regarded this unit as being benificial and even encouraged Dirlewanger. This is attested to as the large numbers of official commendations.

I do not necessarily believe, as does the author that this unit was completely evil. MacLean himself admits that many members were political prisoners or people who were there for very minor infractions. What I believe created the monster which was the Sodorkommando was rather the nature of the war they were forced to fight. The cruel nature of anti-partisan warfare created a group of men who were forced to be cruel.

Even Dirlewanger himself did have commendable attributes before the war. His conviction, whether legitimate or not, was overturned though its possible that the SS may have influenced the courts in this matter.

The book's narritive style is far from perfect. MacLean has a tendency to try to talk about individual members, giving mini bios and then not mentioning their roles in various campaigns.

He talks about Dirlewanger's career and says little about his actual life. We learn little about his childhood or personal life, though we can guess that he was never married (because its never mentioned that he ever was) and that he had a fanatical degree of loyalty to the party.

The stories contained in the book are not for the squemish. There are photos of war attrocities (even the cover depicts a mass execution of Russian Partisans). You see hangings, shootings and other unpleasantries. Yes, war can be ugly.

I give this book a rather mild thumbs up, with the warning, this is definately war at its worst.