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A few weeks ago Iread a good book on the brandenburg division by Eric Lefevre. Basically about a unit of the the Abwehr who worked ahead of the main forces to destroy or capture key bridges of other installations (mostly bridges so the blitzkrieg could carry on). They infiltrated enemy territory wearing full camoflage (read enemy uniform on top of there own) and cast them off at the last minute before firing. (somthing to do with old navy ploy of being able to display enemy colours until hoisting up there own before firing.) Strictly legal or not these highly uncommen fighting guys showed alot of guts!

brave men indeed even if they were on the wrong side :fadein:

At the moment I am reading James Lucas' book Kommando about German special forces in WW2. Big part of this book is about these Brandenburgers, who were involved in many operations. For example in the invasion of Holland and Belgium ('40), Battle of the Bulge ('44) and anti-partisan operations in Russia.

The Brandenburgers were often Volksdeutsche (people who were German but emigrated to or living in other countries) and recruited by the Abwehr for the good case (NOT!). Main advantage of these people was that they spoke the languages of the countries German wanted to invade.

Is Eric Lefevre's book a good read?

A review of Lefevre's book: http://members.aol.com/TFGrantel/books/brandenburg.html


My book review of Kommando (by James Lucas):
Kommando (Cassell Military Paberbacks, ISBN 0-304-35127-X) tells the story of German Special Forces in WW2. The book is divided in 4 parts:
- Abwehr and Brandenburg units (50% of the book)
- Navy units (for example K-Men and human torpedoes)
- Lufwaffe units (for example KG200 and Sonderkommando Elbe)
- Werewolf units and Freikorps

I liked especially the first (and main) part of the book about the "Brandenburg" units. These units were used in the first hours of the invasion of Poland, Holland and Belgium, but also on the Eastern Front, North Africa, Battle of the Bulge and the attack on Tito's headquarter. The "Brandenburgers operated often behind enemy lines wearing civilian clothes or their enemies uniform. Their main task was anti partisan operations and the capture bridges/cross roads before the main German troops arrived.