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udwigsburg, Germany - German war-crimes prosecutors have asked police to begin a hunt for surviving ex-servicemen from a 7,500-man Nazi military unit accused of some of the worst atrocities of the Second World War in Poland.

The national office on war crimes at Ludwigsburg in western Germany said Friday it had commissioned the state police of Baden-Wuerttemberg to check out new clues obtained from Red Cross archives in Munich that list names and addresses of ex-soldiers.

The most violent unit of the Nazi Party private army, the SS, was commanded by Oskar Dirlewanger and formed of ex-criminals.

Poland has asked Germany to assist with an inquiry into a massacre of 40,000 civilians in August 1944 in the Wola district of Warsaw. The Dirlewanger Brigade is believed to have led the bestial violence as a reprisal for the Warsaw Uprising.

The Uprising Museum in Warsaw obtained copies of 100 index cards listing names of former Dirlewanger members. The news magazine Der Spiegel said Monday it had telephoned and spoken with two of the men.

Dirlewanger himself was captured after the war and tortured to death by Polish soldiers in June 1945. (dpa)