In Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin, Timothy Snyder wrote that "Dirlewanger's preferred method was to herd the local population inside a barn, set the barn on fire, and then shoot with machine guns anyone who tried to escape."[1] Rounded-up civilians would be also routinely used as human shields and marched over minefields.[2] In Masters of Death, Richard Rhodes wrote that Dirlewanger and his force "raped and tortured young women and slaughtered Jews Einsatzgruppen-style in Byelorussia beginning in 1942."[20] Snyder cautiously estimated that the Sonderkommando, by then regiment-sized, killed at least 30,000 Belarusian civilians.[1] Himmler was well aware of Dirlewanger's reputation and record, but nonetheless awarded him the German Cross in Gold on 5 December 1943,[4] in recognition of his unit's actions such as during Operation Cottbus (May—June 1943), during which Dirlewanger reported exterminating more than 14,000 "bandits".