The Defeat of the Damned

“With the publication of this book, Colonel Doug Nash, United States Army Retired, has become the finest author in the US concerning the Waffen-SS…Nash has now written seven books in which Waffen-SS troops were major combatants. That is quite a feat, but perhaps more importantly, his breadth of knowledge and presentation cover not only personalities, but also combat operations, equipment, and organizational subjects within each book…What is most important about these works is that they touch on several complex relationships involving the Waffen-SS in Nazi Germany that perhaps we should remind ourselves of—especially as we begin consuming this latest book about the Waffen-SS Dirlewanger Brigade during the battle of Ipolysag in Hungary in December 1944." ~Colonel French MacLean, author of "The Cruel Hunters: SS-Sonderkommando Dirlewanger – Hitler’s Most Notorious Anti-Partisan Unit"

“The Defeat of the Damned sparkles in its richly detailed view of the infamous Dirlewanger Brigade. This little-known German Waffen-SS unit assembled from poachers, criminals from concentration camps and SS convicts committed some of the worst killing operations in Poland and Russia. Crimes committed for the Nazi regime that imprisoned them! With its murderous path behind, the Brigade came to its end as front-line gap filler fighting Russian armies where its own losses were in the thousands. No redemption, no salvation.” ~Stephen Tyas, author of "RSHA: Reich Security Main Office, Organization, Activities, and Personnel"

“It is tempting to think that nothing is left to discover about the Dirlewanger’s Sonderkommando and his gang of convicted poachers, Waffen-SS, Police probationers and concentration camp volunteers. However, critical to its success is research using previously unsourced archival material. From the gripping narrative, one senses the desperation of the decisions and deployments made by the protagonists when the Dirlewanger Brigade played its part in the battle in December 1944 for Ipolysag in Northern Hungary.” ~Stuart B. T. Emmett, author of "Strafvollzugslager der SS und Polizei: Himmler’s Wartime Institutions for the Detention of Waffen-SS and Polizei Criminals"

"The book is replete with surprising detail such as the fact that there is only one documented war crime committed by this notorious unit in Hungary. Interesting, too, are the mass defections to the Russians on 15 December 1944 caused in part by Himmler’s decision to fill the ranks with political prisoners who in many cases held pro-Soviet views. In all a wonderfully comprehensive and detailed account of a little-known aspect of WWII history. " ~Alexandra Richie, author of the international best-sellers "Warsaw 1944: Hitler, Himmler, and the Warsaw Uprising" and "Faust's Metropolis: A History of Berlin"