Brandenburgers

Discussion in 'Axis Units' started by Mat McLachlan, Apr 8, 2009.

  1. Mat McLachlan

    Mat McLachlan Junior Member

    Hi all,

    I'm doing some research about the Brandenburgers, but there's not alot of info around. I have Ian Westwell's book which gives a good overview, but where should I look for more specific information?

    In particular I'd like to know about the operations and movements of the 7th Company, 2nd Battalion.

    All advice much appreciated.

    Cheers,

    Mat
     
  2. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Hi Mat,

    Have you tried a Google search?

    I tried the above and got a shed load of info back type '2nd Battalion Brandenburgers' into the search window.

    Order of Battle

    Detachments

    Cheers
    Andy
     
  3. Mat McLachlan

    Mat McLachlan Junior Member

    Hi Andy,

    Thanks for this. I had searched Google, but obviously not with the same dexterity as yourself!

    Cheers,

    Mat
     
  4. tropper66

    tropper66 Member

    Book; The Brandenburger Commandos ; by Franz Kurowski
    Stackpole books £12.95

    A very good read
     
  5. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

    Mat,

    I seem to remember a thread on the Brandenburgers and Kuno, one of our forum members had an interest in the Brandenburgers.

    Have a search on our forum.

    Regards
    Tom
     
  6. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

  7. tropper66

    tropper66 Member

    Book; The Brandenburger Commandos ; by Franz Kurowski
    Stackpole books £12.95

    A very good read

    Yes Kurowski has writen over a hundred books, so what, Charles Whiting has writen nearly four hundred , but he is well thought of in Germany
     
  8. Kuno

    Kuno Very Senior Member

    Franz Kurowski is known under about a dozen (!!!) pseudonyms. He is a specialist for North Africa, U Boats, Russia and Kriegsmarine. I just wonder, how one person should be able to write so many books in so many fields...
     
  9. tropper66

    tropper66 Member

    EV Tarrent has Writen a very good number of books about the German Navy,u Boats, Stalingrad ect and he is an ex Prison officer, any researcher will tell you If you take your time and do the research there is no subject you cannot cover Most historians do not write from personel experiance but I think it helps if the writer is interested in his subject matter, And some of Whitings book are very poorly researched, he is also the one guilty of the Leo Kessler rubish
     
  10. Kuno

    Kuno Very Senior Member

    North Africa
    Main article: Operation Salaam
    When the Afrika Korps shipped to Libya, Brandenburgers did also. The men, raised as four companies of special Tropical Units, were fluent in either English or Arabic and used captured British vehicles to operate behind enemy lines in raids and reconnaissance missions, mirroring the actions of the British LRDG. Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel at first disapproved of the Brandenburgers, but after he saw the damage being inflicted by the LRDG and Stirling's SAS, he realised their value and accepted their unorthodox methods. The unit was charged with disrupting British supply lines, but it was difficult to resupply them or provide transportation, so most men were either killed or captured.

    Above is copied from Wikipedia.

    This content of this article in regard of the Brandenburger-activities in North Africa is copied and copied and copied again. But that does not mean, that it consequence it would become more true.

    A) Hardly any of the Brandenburger in NA was capable of Arabic language. As far as Libya and Egypt are concerend know about 1 (one).

    B) They did definitely not execute missions comparable to the LRDG in general. Operation Salam was the one and only such mission (and it was not lead planned, executed and led by a Brandenburger!)
     
  11. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

    I have found a few references to the Brandenburg Division in "British Intelligence in the Second World War", Volume No 4.

    Regards
    Tom
     

    Attached Files:

  12. davidbfpo

    davidbfpo Patron Patron

    This book or memoir review by a Swedish military historian was re-tweeted by ww2talk today; the review's title is: Surprisingly Good German Special Forces Memoir and the book itself is: 'Blood and Soil' by Sepp de Giampietro (An Italian from the Tyrol).

    The review starts with:
    Link to review: Lars Gyllenhaal: Surprisingly Good German Special Forces Memoir

    It was first published in 1984 in German and re-published in mid-2019. There appear to various reviews and here is an Amazon link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blood-Soil-Memoir-Third-Brandenburger/dp/1784383414
     

Share This Page