[Comment under "SS Dirlewanger Brigade: separating fact from fiction"]

I feel like I could write a book about this, but I never have the time. I met a man long ago in this brigade and what stories he told. Not a lot is known about this unit and the little that is know is misunderstood or made up. This brigade was raised to fight partisans. The worst of the worst. This unit was formed with the idea of using hunters, and rugged outdoors-men. They received little training and were sent out to combat people who they themselves could be. They fought within the confines of the rules of war as much as their enemies let them. They were very successful and brought down several terrorist cells, killing or capturing the leaders. The fighting was hard and ruthless, so these men had to also be ruthless at times. One anecdote he told me was they were fighting in the Pripet marshes and were sent to hunt a cell who had attacked many civilian and military targets. When they found the area they were in, a big fight broke out and they wiped out the entire enclave that had women and kids shooting at them. A army unit responded and the officer in charge was upset to see dead women and children, which Dirlewanger picked up a ppsh held by a young girl and said "tell her you don't believe in shooting children" meaning she would have shot him.