In what became known as the Wola massacre , '' Kaminski '' and '' Dirlewanger '' personnel indiscriminately massacred Polish combatants along with civilian men , women and children , in the Wola District of Warsaw . Up to 40,000 civilians were murdered in Wola in less than two weeks of August , including all hospital patients and staff . Many otherwise unknown crimes committed by '' Dirlewanger '' at Wola were later revealed by Mathias Schenck , a Belgian national who was serving in the area as a German Army sapper . Regarding an incident in which 500 small children were murdered , Schenck stated : The regiment had arrived in Warsaw numbering only 865 enlisted personnel and 16 officers , but had soon received 2,500 replacements . These included 1,900 German convicts from the SS military camp at Danzig-Matzkau . However , the resistance inflicted extremely high casualties on '' Dirlewanger '' during fighting in Warsaw . During the course of the two-month urban warfare '' Dirlewanger '' lost 2,733 men . Thus , total casualties numbered 315 % of the unit 's initial strength . While some of the regiment 's actions were criticized by von dem Bach ( who after the war described them as " a herd of pigs " ) and the sector commander , '' Generalmajor '' Günter Rohr , Dirlewanger was recommended for the Knight 's Cross of the Iron Cross by Reinefarth and promotion to '' SS-Oberführer der Reserve ''
Wola massacre
Wola massacre
Dirlewanger Brigade