"The book is fundamentally a study of what Pieper calls the SS Cavalry Brigade's 'dual role' as both a political paramilitary force with ideological goals and as a conventional military unit. ... a detailed account of a Waffen SS unit with a complex history and a penetrating study of how this unit carried out numerous atrocities. ... Pieper has produced a fascinating book of value to anyone studying the Holocaust, the SS or the Eastern Front. Highly recommended." (Jonny Briggs, The Second World War Military Operations Research Group, secondworldwaroperationsresearchgroup.wordpress.com, December, 2015)