The Cruel Hunters: Ss-Sonderkommando Dirlewanger Hitler's Most Notorious Anti-Partisan Unit (Schiffer Military History)

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Summary: A thoroughly documented discussion of a frightening topic.
Review: "Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men. . ." Macbeth, Act III, Scene 1

The Cruel Hunters is a detailed and thoroughly documented account of the activities and personnel of one of the most ghastly and criminal units in the Second World War. The author, French Maclean, is a military historian and a soldier himself who stumbled on the operational records of the Dirlewanger unit in the U.S. National Archives while working on another project. The heart of the book is a chronological narrative of the unit's activities. Mr. Maclean, however, has added important dimensions to this narrative. He describes and documents authoritatively the much-disputed relationship of this unit to the SS, the German Army, and top Nazi leadership. He provides extensive information on many of the individuals who made up the unit from personnel records, detailing both pre-war and wartime activities. He provides what amounts to a biography of Dirlewanger himself. This book reveals the strange mixture of savagery, bureaucracy, and perversion at the worst levels of the Nazi organization. Eight appendices and a list of sources offer tabulated data and ample material for further research. A collection of photographs, few more horrible than the two portraits of Dirlewanger himself, adds impact.

Rating:
Summary: Filled with statistics
Review: A very thorough work, meticulous in it's presentation of as much original documentation as possible. The book presents a very vivid picture of one of the most infamous anti-partisan SS units. No compromise is made in detail, though the author chooses not to provide any conjecture or analysis of the events involved. Although the events themselves were painfully poignant, the diction itself is rather dull.

Despite it's flaws, I highly recommend the book as a research tool for anyone interested

Rating:
Summary: The Cruel Hunters
Review: I cannot begin to tell how disappointed I am in this book. Having read numerous books on the holocaust especially the Einsatzgruppen, MacLean's book leaves me scratching my head. First, overall it is a very poorly written book. It reads like he took information he gathered from microfilm and pasted it directly to the page and put it into a book. Secondly, MacLean gives the reader no perspective of how horrific these crimes were. No authors comments, interpretation, narrative or interviews to give the reader the true idea of the crimes this unit committed. He is obviously a military officer, that seems very interested in order of battle tables and detail of military awards ("Iron Cross 2nd class ") various members were awarded. The detail he covers in this books is excruciatingly in excess and adds nothing historically to the history he is trying to tell. For example every time introduces a new character he will give his date and place of birth, Nazi Party number, SS number etc. If you want to read a first class book on the Einsatzgruppen I strongly recommend "Masters of Death" by Richard Rhodes who is a professional historian. Bottom line I do not recommend this book.

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Summary: fascinating and authoritative study of the Dirlewanger Bde
Review: I read Col. French MacLean¹s book, entitled The Cruel Hunters with great interest and appreciation, particularly since I have written on the subject of German military history during World War II, including the actions of Waffen SS troops, and I understand the amount of effort that went into the creation of this book. The book is an outstanding work of military history for a number of reason, which I have listed below. 1. Research- Col. MacLean obviously spent many hours locating, translating and organizing the enormous amount of information available at the National Archives and collecting pertinent texts and other material. He located personnel reports, combat histories, efficiency reports authored by Dirlewanger¹s superiors et al and successfully took this vast amount of information and organized it into a coherent account of how the Dirlewanger Brigade originated, how it operated and why it was unique in many ways. The context of the war is woven into the story s! o that one sees the larger picture of the events of the war in the east that allowed such a unit to exist. 2. Presented a fascinating account how men react to evil in time of war- The many personal accounts put a human face to characters we meet in the book. Some of these characters can be respected as soldiers, while a great many were war criminals of the worst kind and some were ordinary soldiers who became caught up in the cult of evil that Dirlewanger promoted and encouraged by every means possible. All who served in the unit were tainted and corrupted by the crimes committed by this unit. It becomes clear, that in at least some instances, the Dirlewanger Brigade was used not against actual partisans, but to murder those the Nazis had decreed were criminals, such as the Jews, Poles and Slavic Russians. 3. Portrait of Dirlewanger- A fascinating portrait of an evil man emerges from the pages of this book. For those who wonder how atrocities occur in war, this book will pro! vide some answers. This is an account of operations by a gr! oup of men who were governed by hate and the hand of a psychotic commander who had inhuman methods of command and discipline. 4. Readable account- The military records, personal accounts, letters written by Dirlewanger to Himmler and other SS officials, general accounts and other material is presented in an entertaining and readable fashion. 5. Description of the operations of the SS hierarchy- The author presents a fascinating view into the inner working of the SS higher command, which was driven by hate, racial fears and political influences. Dirlewanger was time and time again protected by certain high ranking members of the SS high command, who considered the murderer a fine and valuable fellow. Even when the horrific behavior of the detachment came to the knowledge of German military authorities, who in some cases tried to prosecute Dirlewanger for war crimes, Himmler, Artur Nebe (Government Criminal Police Office) or Gottlob Berger, who was a personal friend of Dirl! ewanger, protected him. This shows intimately how the Nazi leadership allowed and even encouraged the murderous behavior of this anti-partisan unit because under Dirlewanger¹s leadership, it carried out the acts of racial and political hatred which they decreed, without mercy, conscience or humanity.

Rating:
Summary: Great Subject........Terrible Book
Review: I was very excited when i got this book and couldn't wait to read it. Well as i started to get deeper into the book I just couldn't believe I was reading about a great subject written so poorly. I have read 100's of WW2 books and i have to say this was by far the worst. All the author talked about was so and so got promoted or recieved the iron cross first class. Stuff the nobody really cares about. And when someone does get promoted you have to read the entire recomondation. Its truly a brutal piece of work. Basically he skims over the fights that the Cruel hunters were in and just had stats on how many people were killed or shipped back to the Reich. I have to say if you really want to read this book E mail me and you can have mine!

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Summary: Important Detailed Information Missing
Review: In the book "Cruel Hunters" MacLean fails in several areas: first, he does not give detailed information as to how many women children and others innocent villagers were brutally exterminated during the war in Russia by the SS Commando. What really happened during that savage war, as it had been documented in numerous other books, and what really misses from that particular book are the details about the holocaust that was perpetrated with extreme organization and methodicism by the German SS. What Maclean gives are just dry details about some of the operations of the commando without conclusive analysis about the ideology and the fanatical indoctrination with which all German troops, and particularly the SS, were imbued before the invasion. More details about precisely the number of exterminated people, which furnished by other sources, reaches approximately millions.

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Summary: Vague combat history , but.....
Review: The actual combat accounts in this book are far and few between , which is a shame . I wish the writer would have spent more time tracking down eye witnesses and former members, rather than old documents which may have been 'doctored' at some point in history anyway . BUT , the detailed personnel apendix in the back of the book made it all worth it for me . Being that i positively I.D'd one of the helmets in my collection to a member of this unit! So in that respect , this book can be a bevy of information to the right people .

Rating:
Summary: Like reading an encyclopedia
Review: What happens when you organize criminal riff-raff into a military formation, then give them carte blanche to act as they please? The answer is in the book, and it's not pretty. SS Sonderkommando Dirlewanger was originally formed from convicted poachers, but eventually grew to include many who were convicted of various crimes or had fallen from grace. However, some men who were not criminals were also assigned to this unit.

"This Waffen-SS formation consisted not only of common criminals, but also disgraced army and SS officers, reduced in rank and now serving as privates. However, not all officers and non-commissioned officers were sent to the unit as punishment. Many had been previously assigned to the SS main headquarters and were transferred to the Sonderkommando to gain front-line combat experience and perhaps an award or two before returning to Berlin." The commander, Oskar Dirlewanger, was himself a sexual deviant, having had several episodes involving girls under 14 years of age. He was also monstrously cruel, and though designated as an anti-partisan unit, they spent a great deal of their time hunting (and killing) Jews.

The book is written in a severely factual style, rather dry actually, but is still very interesting nonetheless because of its subject matter. I found especially interesting the chapter on the Warsaw uprising and the Sonderkommano's role in crushing the Polish Home Army, as there does not seem to be much literature on that elsewhere.

Chapters are as follows: 1. A Monster is Born (Dirlewanger's early years, in and out of the SS, and his run-ins with authorities). 2. The Anti-Partisan Years, 1942. 3. The Anti-Partisan Years, 1943. 4. Farewell to Russia, 1944. 5. Warsaw. 6. The Monster Dies (Dirlewanger's summary execution). 7. Judgement at Nuremburg.