The 36th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, also known as the SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger (1944),or simply the Dirlewanger Brigade, was a military unit of the Waffen SS during World War II. Composed of criminals expected to die fighting in the front-line, the unit was led by Oskar Dirlewanger . Oskar Dirlewanger (26 September 1895 – 7 June 1945) was a German… Read more »
The Brandenburgers were members of the Brandenburg German special forces unit during World War II. Originally the unit was formed by and operated as an extension of the military’s intelligence organ, the Abwehr. Members of this unit took part in seizing operationally important targets by way of sabotage and infiltration. Being foreign German nationals who were convinced Nazi volunteers, constituent members had… Read more »
Rudolf Lange was a German SS functionary and police official during the Nazi era. He served as commander in the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and all RSHA personnel in Riga, Latvia He attended the Wannsee Conference, and was largely responsible for implementing the murder of Latvia’s Jewish population. Einsatzgruppe A killed over 250,000 people in less than six months. Lange was… Read more »
After Adolf Hitler) (did you know) had approved Anton Mussert as “Leider van het Nederlandse Volk” (Leader of the Dutch People) NS in December 1942, he was allowed to form a national government institute, a Dutch shadow cabinet called “Gemachtigden van den Leider“, which would advise Reichskommissar Arthur Seyss-Inquart from 1 February 1943. The institute would… Read more »
During the Ardennes Offensive (Battle of the Bulge) the Combat Group of the 1ST SS Panzer Division, Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, led by SS Sturmbannführer Joachim Peiper, was approaching the crossroads at Baugnes near the town of Malmédy. There they encountered a company of US troops, the Battery B of the 285th Field Artillery Observation… Read more »