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The Defeat of the Damned: The Destruction of the Dirlewanger Brigade at the Battle of Ipolysag, December 1944
One of the most notorious yet least understood body of troops that fought for the Third Reich during World War II was the infamous Sondereinheit Dirlewanger, or the "Dirlewanger Special Unit." Formed initially as a company-sized formation in June 1940 from convicted poachers, it served under the command of SS-Obersturmführer Oskar Dirlewanger, one of the most infamous criminals in military history. First used to guard the Jewish ghetto in Lublin and support security operations carried out in occupied Poland by SS and Police forces, the unit was soon transferred to Belarus to combat the increasingly active Soviet partisan movement. After assisting in putting down the Warsaw Uprising during August-September 1944, by November of that year it had been enlarged and retitled as the 2. SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger. One month later, it fought one of its most controversial actions near the town of Ipolysag, Hungary, now known by its Slovak name of Sahy, between 13 and 18 December 1944. As a result of its overly hasty and haphazard deployment, lack of heavy armament, and a confusing chain of command, it was virtually destroyed by two Soviet mechanized corps. Consequently, the Wehrmacht leadership blamed Dirlewanger and the performance of his troops for the encirclement of the Hungarian capital of Budapest during late December 1944 that led to the annihilation of its garrison two months later. The brigade's defeat at Ipolysag also led to its compulsory removal from the front lines by General der Panzertruppe Hermann Balck and its eventual shipment to a rest area where it would be completely rebuilt, so thorough was its destruction. Despite its lackluster performance, the brigade was rebuilt once again and sent to East Prussia in February 1945, but never recovered from the thrashing it received at the hands of the 6th Guards Army in December.
Contents:
Foreword
Introduction
Chapter 1: Dirlewanger's Willing Executioners (note: a brief thumbnail history of the brigade and of Oskar Dirlewanger up to September 1944)
Chapter 2: From Regiment to Brigade (note: a description of the overly rapid expansion of the regiment into a brigade while in Slovakia and how the introduction of nearly 1,000 "politicals" from concentration camps changed the character of the unit)
Chapter 3: Budapest Threatened (note: a recap of the fighting in Hungary from September to mid-December 1944 and the Soviet drive through the Ipoly River corridor)
Chapter 4: Deployment into Hungary (note: The state of emergency 11 December 1944 and the initial stages of the brigade's movement from rest area in Slovakia to the Ipolysag/Sahy area)
Chapter 5: Initial Dispositions (note: how the brigade was split up and deployed into three separate locations under 3 separate commands and how this influenced what happened on 15 December)
Chapter 6: The Battle of Ipolysag/Sahy on 15 December 1944 and the Destruction of the Dirlewanger Brigade
Chapter 7: The Axis Front North of the Danube Collapses, 16 - 19 December 1944
Chapter 8: German Attempts to Save the Front and Soviet Reactions, 20 - 28 December 1944 (including the encirclement of Budapest)
Chapter 9: The Brigade's Remnants are Withdrawn from Combat, 29 December 1944 - 3 January 1945
Chapter 10: Aftermath (note: this will briefly discuss the expansion of the Brigade into a Division, its actions in Germany during the next 3 months and its fate [as well as Dirlewanger's] at the war's end)
Maps
Appendices 1–5
Endnotes
Index
Acknowledgements
Contents:
Foreword
Introduction
Chapter 1: Dirlewanger's Willing Executioners (note: a brief thumbnail history of the brigade and of Oskar Dirlewanger up to September 1944)
Chapter 2: From Regiment to Brigade (note: a description of the overly rapid expansion of the regiment into a brigade while in Slovakia and how the introduction of nearly 1,000 "politicals" from concentration camps changed the character of the unit)
Chapter 3: Budapest Threatened (note: a recap of the fighting in Hungary from September to mid-December 1944 and the Soviet drive through the Ipoly River corridor)
Chapter 4: Deployment into Hungary (note: The state of emergency 11 December 1944 and the initial stages of the brigade's movement from rest area in Slovakia to the Ipolysag/Sahy area)
Chapter 5: Initial Dispositions (note: how the brigade was split up and deployed into three separate locations under 3 separate commands and how this influenced what happened on 15 December)
Chapter 6: The Battle of Ipolysag/Sahy on 15 December 1944 and the Destruction of the Dirlewanger Brigade
Chapter 7: The Axis Front North of the Danube Collapses, 16 - 19 December 1944
Chapter 8: German Attempts to Save the Front and Soviet Reactions, 20 - 28 December 1944 (including the encirclement of Budapest)
Chapter 9: The Brigade's Remnants are Withdrawn from Combat, 29 December 1944 - 3 January 1945
Chapter 10: Aftermath (note: this will briefly discuss the expansion of the Brigade into a Division, its actions in Germany during the next 3 months and its fate [as well as Dirlewanger's] at the war's end)
Maps
Appendices 1–5
Endnotes
Index
Acknowledgements
355 pages, Hardcover
First published October 15, 2023
About the author
Douglas E. Nash
11 books17 followersDoug Nash is a West Point Class of 1980 graduate and a retired U.S. Army Colonel with 32 years of active duty service in places like Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany, Cuba, and Uzbekistan. He served in a variety of Army units, such as armored cavalry, armor, and special operations forces, including Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations. He is currently employed by the U.S. Navy working for Marine Corps University's History Division in Quantico, Virgnia. His works include "Hell's Gate: The Battle of the Cherkassy Pocket January to February 1944" and "Victory Was Beyond Their Grasp: with the 272nd Volks-Grenadier Division from the Huertgen Forest to the Heart of the Reich (which was nominated for the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction)," as well as several articles for military history magazines, such as World War Two, Army History, and Armchair General. Along with Remy Spezzano, he is currently working on a book about the German relief of Kovel, March 1944. In addition, have edited works such as George Nipe's "Blood, Steel and Myth: The Battle of Prokorovka and the IInd SS Panzer Korps" and "Kampfraum Arnhem." When not writing, he enjoys Civil War Re-enacting and serving as a sailing crew member of the Deck Department of the restored WWII Liberty Ship, the S.S. John W. Brown, docked in Baltimore, MD.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 7, 2024
Great WWII history of a criminal SS group.
Well researched, the book traces the formation of the Dirlewanger Brigade until it's destruction in 1945. If you need a minutely detailed record, this is it.
Well researched, the book traces the formation of the Dirlewanger Brigade until it's destruction in 1945. If you need a minutely detailed record, this is it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review