colonel kurt almers. Shortly before 8 am, 12 rifles cracked and Anton Dostler became the first German general to be executed for a war crime. Next, a medical officer placed a black hood over his head and attached a four-inch white target over Dostlers heart. Did you know that Entartete Kunst, or Degenerate Art, was just one of many tactics that Hitler and Joseph Goebbels used to control the minds of German citizens (and people in the occupied countries)? Im no lawyer, but it sounds like Hitlers harsh edict violated several laws of war. An officer revealed the mission. All of the available witnesses were put on the stand and testified. It read, The captured Americans will be shot immediately.. by askropp 11 Apr 2020, 14:49, Post On Dec. 1, 1945, General Anton Dostler, his head shrouded in a black hood as required by military regulations, died instantly.
When Bertoni blew his whistle to summon the patrol, the Americans opened up with rifle fire. All evidence of their existence was destroyed. Aktion T4 was a program of involuntary euthanasia. In some cases, it is likely that the content is deemed unsuitable by YouTube. As the husband of Governor Maggie Hassan, Thomas Hassan was New Hampshires First Gentleman from 2013 to 2017. . Lieutenant Traficante had the gun stolen from Sessler and planned one last attempt at escape. The defense immediately presented a plea that a military commission did not have jurisdiction to try the accused but that he should be tried by a court-martial. Applications Currently Closed - Please check back later. Almost every Wehrmacht unit was guilty of executing Soviet commissars upon capture. I love hearing from you so keep those comments coming. It was the old I had no choice but to carry out an illegal order excuse, and the prosecution wasnt buying it. Sessler reacted even more strongly. As the war progressed, Hitler began to circumvent the Geneva Convention and its rules on how POWs and captured military/combat personnel were to be treated. On May 23, 1945, excavation began and the bodies were discovered.
The Nazi officer faced a possible death sentence at a military commission appointed by US General Joseph T. McNarney, the Armys commanding general in the Mediterranean Theater.
Dostler came on the phone. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Military, 1990. Read Next: November 20, 1945: Nuremberg Trials, Nazi war criminals go on trial, The defense had another trick up its sleeve; they argued that Dostlers oath of obedience to Adolf Hitler required him to obey the October 1942 Fhrerbefehl (leader order), which proclaimed Allied commando units to violate the Geneva Convention and ordered German units encountering such groups to exterminate them without mercy wherever they find them..
in . First Lieutenant Vincent Russo, on what was not his finest day, was tricked into revealing the details of the operation after his interrogators told him that one of his men had already revealed all. As he was roped to the post, two Catholic chaplains, one of the U.S. Army and one a German POW, gave comfort in his last minutes. by frodo 16 May 2020, 22:02, Return to The Dieter Zinke Axis Biographical Research Section. It seems there isnt a day that goes by where we dont increase our readership. The case of United States v. Anton Dostler is unique. If you would like to read more articles like this, visit our order page. First Lt. Wolfgang Koerbitz, the brigade intelligence officer, was given the assignment of interrogating the men. To subscribe, click here.
On 22 March 1944, fifteen U.S. Army soldiers parachuted into Italy near La Spezia for the purpose of demolishing a railway tunnel. His immediate superior was Dostler. The walking tour books are meticulously researched so you can go directly to those sites and learn about the buildings history as well as an introduction to some of the more interesting people associated with it. The party moved inland over the steep hills until they found an empty barn to occupy. It is Stop Seven of Walk One where you visit the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume. Now the plan was to have the 15 saboteurs cut the line by blowing one of its tunnels. We have no control over this. When the party got to shore, it could not find one landmark and returned to the PT boats. It has nothing to do with principle, morality or justice. You must become a subscriber or login to view or post comments on this article. After the guilty verdict, Dostler was transferred to the Peninsular Base Section Garrison Stockade No. Reconnaissance indicated that there was a natural ravine the team could move through to reach the tunnel entrance.
Then, with the firing party lined up some 50 feet from the post to which Dostler was secured, the officer in charge gave the command to fire. I will be publishing the blog, The Children Who Survived on 10 April. Discover the meaning and history behind your last name and get a sense of identity and discover who you are and where you come from. Three German soldiers also testified about attempts made by Almers and others at the 135th Fortress Brigade to have Dostler rescind his execution order and about the execution itself. During the North Africa campaign, OSS operatives organized warrior tribesmen into a guerrilla force to guard against a possible Axis thrust through Spanish Morocco into the Allied rear. Lavishly illustrated, gripping guide to the Paris that existed under Nazi rule. Hosted by askropp and Frech. It was Hitlers attempt to clean up what he considered the degeneracy of non-Aryan cultures. 1943, and the team could move through to reach the tunnel.! 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They were entitled to be treated as prisoners of war. They were therefore entitled to be treated as prisoners of war, and their execution without trial violated a rule of international law at least 500 years old. If contact could not be made with the PT boats after blowing the tunnel, then the party would proceed inland to a safe house about 40 miles away. Ive touched on several of Hitlers directives, or decrees in past blogs. The execution closely adhered to War Department regulations, which provided clear and detailed instructions for carrying out the sentence. Philippe Bouhler and his wife were captured by the Americans on 10 May 1945. With robust designs and vintage classic style, discover the heritage of military timepieces today! Awards. Written by Jon Kelly, key contributors were Paul McCue (see his book above) and Pat Vinycomb (Stanley Bookers daughter). Safety is so important. In August 1941, Hitler ordered the suspension of T4 killings. At mid afternoon the farmer took a small party to the correct spot and the team determined the exact target location. So tragic that my father who was also serving in the army and stationed in Italy had to find out of his brothers execution from a local newspaper. The directive called for Nazi security forces to act with brutality in their actions against partisan (i.e., resistance) warfare. Shortly after sunrise, the prisoner guard delivered Dostler to the execution party. They initially went after Jews, Untermensch, and political enemies of the Nazis. Thank you to all of you who subscribe to our bi-weekly blogs. The enlisted men disclosed the same information. More than seven hundred pieces of art were exhibited for the purpose of humiliating the artists and to show the German people what type of art was not acceptable to the Nazi regime. Post We apologize if you have tried to access the link and you dont get the expected results. colonel kurt almers.
The remains of Tech/5 Joseph M. Farrell and Tech/5 Liberty J. Tremonte could not be identified with certainty. by Rossano 10 Apr 2020, 12:08, Post Since Orhan Gazi took over the military administration while his father was still alive, he sent Konur Alp to take over the region towards the Black Sea. The men undertook this dangerous ground mission because Allied bombers had already tried and failed to destroy the rail line. McNarney had approved the commissions sentence and denied requests from Dostlers lawyers that their clients life be spared. The immediate, superior command was that of the 75th Army Corps, commanded by Dostler. A military commission of nine officers was set up by Headquarters Mediterranean Theater of Operations to conduct the trial. Bolze realized that they had not summoned a doctor to pronounce the men dead and called the battalion doctor, Heinz Kellner. In a scene of almost indescribable terror, a group of eight was marched up to face the German firing squad. Speer, minister of Armaments and War Production, also refused to obey Hitlers order. The two U.S. Army prosecutors, Major F.W. The colors are. And, as the prosecution quickly pointed out, since the law of war required that even spies be given a lawful trial prior to execution, this line of defense was of little value to Dostler. by Minotauros 09 Apr 2020, 13:30, Post Keitel was hanged on 16 October 1946. The full manuscript (and images) for the new book, Where Did They Put the Gestapo Headquarters? Dostler had signed the order. One instance of the Commando Order being carried out was Operation Bulbasket. In the archaic terminology of Army courts-martial, his colorful sentence was to be shot to death by musketry.. In the end, several of these decrees were used by the International Military Tribunal during the Nuremberg Trials as evidence to convict former senior Nazi officials of one or more of the four counts: conspiracy for the accomplishment of crimes against peace, waging wars of aggression, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Speaking of the last train out of Paris, there is a recent BBC article that you might consider reading: How a ring tells the story of a forgotten secret agent. Apparently no KRL, the KTB is rather poor (handwritten) but for some documents in the Anlagen. In the early days of the North Africa and Italian campaigns, Office of Strategic Services (OSS) personnel initially lacked experience, resources, and the respect of skeptical staff officers in the theater. This decree targeted political enemies and foreign resistance fighters.
Coincidentally, the day before the Degenerate Exhibition opened, the Great German Art Exhibition was unveiled right down the street to showcase artwork of which the Nazis approved. He stated that in his opinion these 15 prisoners did not fall under the Fhrers order. Then clumps of grass were placed on top. The postwar position taken by former Wehrmacht leaders and officers that the regular German army did not participate in atrocities or crimes against humanity is not true. The three rubber dinghies struggled through the rough surf in the pitch black night toward an inhospitable stretch of rocky beach. Four of the euthanasia centers continued to perform Sonderbehandlung, or special treatment for the remainder of the war. Finding images of French collaborators can be tough at times. Further, they stated that the Americans were not wearing distinctive military insignia that could be identified at a distance and thus were improperly uniformed and not entitled to POW status. He later became the master of a small ship, or brig, laying the foundation of the Allan Shipping Line, running goods from the Scottish west coast port of Greenock to Montreal, and returning with Canadian goods. After Menton left PzGR Afrika (or 125? This was the Nazi repository and sorting house for art stolen from Jewish families, Jewish-owned art galleries, and artwork the Nazis deemed as degenerate. colonel kurt almers. Dostlers body slumped forward, dead.
That unit, commanded by Colonel Kurt Almers, was subordinate to Basic Anton Dostler's seventy fifth Military Corps. For General Dostler, that settled the matter.
You want to know the stories behind the brick and mortar in front of you. All of northern Italy was under the command of Army Group von Zangen, led by his subordinate, General Gustav von Zangen.
It also was responsible for killing anyone who was sick, blind, incurably ill, had Down syndrome, crippled or suffered any ailment that the Nazis onsidered an asocial condition. The Gliederung of May 1943 is from the Abwicklungsstab, but we don't know whether it was ever introduced. by askropp 11 Apr 2020, 13:17, Post Unable to quell his fears, Klaps began to telephone headquarters to talk to Dostler again to find out if he had read the telegram. Colonel KURT D. TONGREN.
He was sentenced to death on May 7, 1947, however the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment two months later. As the war progressed, Hitler began to circumvent the Geneva Convention and its rules on how POWs and captured military/combat personnel were to be treated. The defense admitted they were entitled to a lawful trial even if treated as spies. By the end of the war, almost 300,000 people had been murdered in a program that administered Gnadentod, or a merciful deathtwo hundred thousand Germans and Austrians and one hundred thousand from other countries, primarily Eastern Europe. Radar showed several objects patrolling the area, and the decision was made to abandon the attempt. The officer in charge gave the command to fire. These programs generally have a lot of people interested, so they can demand a lot of time commitment from volunteers. Any German officer failing to carry out this order would be summoned before a war tribunal. The convoy stopped as the guards disarmed Traficante and searched the other 14 men. The officer in charge then read aloud the charge, the finding and the sentence and granted the condemned a brief moment with a Roman Catholic chaplain. The unit then did a more complete target study based on profiles of the railway and intelligence gathered from engineers of the Italian Railways Maintenance Section. Arthur Kullmer (17 August 1896 - 28 March 1953) was a German general during World War II who commanded several divisions. For further reading, Fred L. Borch recommends: Anatomy of Perjury, by Richard Raiber, and the United Nations War Crimes Commissions Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals. The defense presented its case, claiming that for any person to be accorded the rights of a prisoner, he must have a fixed distinctive emblem recognizable at a distance on his uniform. He had little experience in this sort of thing, so a naval intelligence officer, Corvette Captain Friedrich Klaps, was brought in to help. Colonel Kurt Almers, the commander of the German 135 garrison brigade detaining the U.S. military, arranged for the interrogation of the prisoners, and then reported to his superior Dostler. by askropp 11 Apr 2020, 16:40, Post Two days later, they were captured while wearing their military uniforms. If you havent seen Mikes documentary, I highly recommend you get a copy and view it. In fact, no one on the team had talked. Others then placed the rifles at random in a holding rack, from which each member of the detail chose a weapon. In the meantime, Almers had reported the Americans capture to higher headquarters. Bolze also named Major Almers and 1st Lt. Koerbitz as the officers that gave him the orders. *Lighting a path to truth* Former Navy JAG Worldwide U.S. Military Defense. The radiomen on the boats kept trying to reach the shore party, but all was silent. They asked Dostler to reconsider his order or at least stay the execution. A fishing boat returning to Bonassola reported seeing several small rubber boats hidden along the shore. You will note that there was still no new PzGR 125 at Tebaga.
There are no accurate records as to how many people disappeared under the Nacht und Nebel decree. Dostler also stated that he had orders from both General von Zangen and Field Marshal Kesselrings headquarters to proceed with the executions.
They found a copy of the prefects report of the capture of the Ginny team and the names of Vittorio Bertoni and Giobatta Bianchi. If there is a topic youd like to see a blog written about, please dont hesitate to contact me. Two of the team were captured without a struggle near Francos house. Join historians and history buffs alike with our Unlimited Digital Access pass to every military history article ever published (over 3,000 articles) in Sovereigns military history magazines. I suppose its like the old saying, What is one mans junk is another mans treasure. Regardless of all the intellectual jibber-jabber analysis, it simply boiled down to art that Hitler didnt like, and it was a prelude for things yet to come. They added that the Ginny saboteurs were not wearing distinctive military insignia recognizable at a distance and were, therefore, improperly uniformed and thus not entitled to POW status. Dostler was located in the U.S. 85th Division POW camp and had been formally charged with committing a war crime. Dostler gathered his staff officers together to discuss whether the 15 Americans fell under this order. 2. In 1944, the German forces in Italy were commanded by Field Marshal Albert Kesselring. The narrow, rocky coastal plains of the Italian peninsula were crossed by numerous roads and railways, which the Germans used as lines of supply.
Founded in 1999. In one last desperate attempt to help the Americans, Sessler left his pistol hanging on the door so one of the prisoners could steal it. His execution by firing squad in Italy was the final page in the story of a horrific war crime ordered by Dostler some 21 months earlierthe murder of 15 American soldiers who had been captured behind enemy lines. While there are are walks that take you past famous places made infamous by Nazi rule, there is also a lot of detailed information. Each location on the walk is fully explained. Some German parents were more than willing to surrender their deformed children to the Nazis for special treatment but the parents who were reluctant to give up their children were threatened by the Nazis with being sent to forced labor camps.
Kurt could have spent an entire episode on the latest woke idiocy from the Academy of Motion Pictures.. but he got distracted by the "real" fake news from the Atlantic Monthly. The cliff rose almost straight up from oceans edge. The next day, March 25, the brigade received a telegram stating, THE CAPTURED AMERICANS WILL BE SHOT IMMEDIATELY. I believe there were some reorganizations in 164. leAfrDiv in February / March 1943, and regiments were renamed, transferred or pooled together.
Click here to read the blogThe Last Train Out of Paris. Under no circumstances were commandos to be sent to a POW camp. Almers, Klaps and Sessler were shocked by the order to kill POWs. Many of the decrees he signed, including Nacht und Nebel, were cited by the court as evidence of his guilt. He was told to hold up on the execution until higher headquarters could rule on the edict.
None had any boots or shoes, and two wore no outer clothing. The exhibition displayed a cross section of the confiscated artwork from artists such as Paul Klee (escaped to Switzerland), Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (committed suicide), Elfriede Lohse-Wchtler (murdered at the Sonnenstein Euthanasia Center), Max Beckmann (self-imposed exile in the Netherlands), Marc Chagall (barely escaped to America), Otto Dix (imprisoned but released), Max Ernst (arrested by the Gestapo, escaped, and fled to America), and Piet Mondrian (emigrated to America).
The defense argued that by the stealthy nature of the mission, the OSS members were spies rather than legitimate combatants. The Kommandobefehl, or Commando Order was issued on 18 October 1942. The Allied air forces had been conducting Operation Strangle to cut all German lines of communication; however, bombing in the mountainous terrain along the coast had not succeeded in cutting the Genoa Livorno line.
Well, the bad news is that I think this year will be a wash-out from a travel perspective. The information was sent to Dostler. / IR 125 in 1941, but in Africa he was commander PzGR 433 (only in 1942, he became ill after Alamein). Colonel Kurt Almers was in charge of the German military unit in La Spezia and despite several attempts to persuade his superior officer, Gen. Anton Dostler, to forgo executing the U.S. soldiers, the men were shot within 48-hours of their capture. Duration: 00:17:18. Although sentenced to death, Kesselrings sentence was commuted, and he was ultimately released in 1952. The investigation now began to pick up speed.
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