SS-Sonderkommando Dirlewanger

Sonderkommando Letter dated September 17, 1943

Sonderkommando Letter dated September 17, 1943. Here is a letter written by SS-Rottenführer Franz Witt; he was assigned to the 3rd Battalion of SS-Sonderkommando Dirlewanger. In it, he describes an engagement on September 5, 1943, during which SS-Grenadier Haberland was killed in action, but 35 partisans were killed and 15 were wounded. My guess is that Dirlewanger killed the 15 wounded partisans in addition to the 35 killed in action. That would equal Franz’s total of 50.

FPN 02678
September 17, 1943

Dear Juppes,

Thanks for your letter from the 28th (August 28) and as I can see from it, the matter with the W.E.A. has been resolved for now. There is not much news from here to tell you. A few days ago, we had another skirmish here. In Mirki we were supposed to guard some harvesting, instead from a nearby forest, we were attacked by a gang. We had to search the whole forest and then smoked the whole village out. Believe me, it was not a pretty sight to see all the summer labor of the farmers going up in flames. But it is their own fault; they cooperate too much with these bandits. They even had a mortar, but we found the thing later in the forest. We lost one dead, Grenadier A. Haberland [Albert Haberland, born January 10, 1919 in Essen] and Specker was wounded. The bandits fled into the land but left 50 dead behind. Tomorrow I have a day off; I have to visit a dentist in Minsk. I will close now; hope all is well; give my greetings to Marlene and Berti.

Your Old Cousin Ette

Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger Letter dated December 4, 1944

Sturmbrigade Letter dated December 4, 1944

Sonderkommando Letter dated December 4, 1944. During the research for the book, I could not find a single living man, who would admit to serving with Dirlewanger. Over the last couple of years, however, I have come across a dozen letters, written by seven different soldiers in the unit. This one is from Franz, serving in SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger; it was written one day after the brigade killed 136 partisans during the Slovak National Uprising. Franz may have been from Bamberg in Bavaria. It is not in the book, but is interesting; I have added the bracketed material in explanation.

FPN 01499 D
Slovakia, December 4, 1944

Dear Hermann,

I just returned from an operation and found your letter from November 16. Yes, we all have to suffer in this war; my deepest condolences to you on the death of your wife. We just have to carry on until better times come. The news from Bamberg is always welcome here. The latest from here: our Chief [Dirlewanger] was awarded the Knights Cross in October [actually the date was September 30, 1944]; there were no celebrations here, the operations are too hard and there is no time for that. The Slovakians are now openly allied with the Russians and every dirty village is a nest of partisans. The forests and the mountains in the Tatra make the partisans a mortal danger. We make short work of any prisoners we take. Right now, I am in a village not far from Ipoliság [a small town, with a Hungarian population, in southern Slovakia just north of Budapest, Hungary.] The Russians are right at the gates. The replacements we just got are no good; it would be better if they were left back at the [concentration] camp. Yesterday twelve of them deserted to the Russians; these were all old communists; it would have been better if they had all been hanged on the gallows. But there are some real heroes here nevertheless.

Well the enemy artillery is opening up again and I must end. Cordial greetings from your brother-in-law.

Franz