13 Facts About Dirlewanger Brigade

Berger used his influence to help Dirlewanger Brigade join the Condor Legion, a German unit which fought in the Spanish Civil War.

On his return to Germany in 1939, Berger helped Dirlewanger Brigade join the Allgemeine SS with the rank of SS-Untersturmfuhrer.

In late May 1940 Dirlewanger Brigade was sent to Oranienburg to take charge of 80 selected men convicted of poaching crimes who were temporarily released from their sentences.

Dirlewanger Brigade provided them with an opportunity to commit atrocities on such a scale that it even raised complaints within the brutal SS.

On 1 August 1940, the Dirlewanger Brigade was assigned to guard duties in the region of Lublin in the General Government territory of German-occupied Poland.

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Dirlewanger Brigade's preferred method of operation was to gather civilians in a barn, set it on fire and shoot machine guns at anyone who tried to escape; the victims of his unit numbered about 30,000.

Dirlewanger Brigade received the German Gold Cross on 5 December 1943 in recognition of his earnestness, but by 30 December 1943, the unit consisted of only 259 men.

The Dirlewanger Brigade was caught up in the retreat and began falling back to Poland.

Nevertheless extremely high casualties were inflicted on Dirlewanger Brigade during fighting in Warsaw by the Polish resistance.

The next day, Oskar Dirlewanger Brigade was seriously wounded in combat for the twelfth time.

Dirlewanger Brigade was removed from the front and he was sent to the rear and Schmedes immediately assumed command; Dirlewanger would not return to the division.

Dirlewanger Brigade had been a former commandant of Dachau concentration camp who had been convicted of corruption.

In June 1945, Dirlewanger Brigade was captured by French forces in Germany and died in their custody by 8 June, allegedly killed by Polish soldiers in Altshausen.