Dirlewanger Brigade and the Battle of Ipolysag

Dirlewanger Brigade and the Battle of Ipolysag With Douglas Nash More Third Reich content on WW2TV One of the most notorious yet least understood body of troops that fought for the Third Reich 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. Douglas Nash is a West Point Class graduate and retired U.S. Army Colonel with 32 years of active duty service in places like Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany, Cuba, and Uzbekistan. We are delighted that he is joining us on WW2TV. Douglas is the author of several books focussing on German units in the later part of the war. Douglas’ previous WW2TV shows: Operation Konrad: The Three Relief Attempts of Budapest by the IV SS Panzer Corps The Other Battle of Warsaw - August 1944 and the IV SS-Panzerkorps The Defeat of the Damned: The Destruction of the Dirlewanger Brigade at the Battle of Ipolysag, December 1944 by Douglas E. Nash USA UK Other Panzer Shows you may enjoy: Panzers - German Armoured Units in Normandy on D-Day Smashing Hitler’s Panzers - The Battle of the Bulge Battling the German Panzers - The Canadian 7th Brigade The Other Battle of Warsaw - August 1944 and the IV SS-Panzerkorps Panzer Counter-attack at Son Bridge Panzer Killers - 3rd Armor in the Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge) You can become a YouTube Member and support us here You can become a Patron here Please click subscribe for updates Social Media links - WW2TV Bookshop - where you can purchase copies of books featured in my YouTube shows. Any book listed here comes with the personal recommendation of Paul Woodadge, the host of WW2TV. For full disclosure, if you do buy a book through a link from this page WW2TV will earn a commission. UK - USA -