On April 13, 1945 (less than a month from the end of the Second World War), German SS and Luftwaffe troops, retreating from the Allied advance, murdered 1016 political and military prisoners near the German town of Gardelegen . The crime was discovered two days later by the American 102d Infantry Division , 405th Regiment, 2d Battalion, F Company.

Discovery

Discovery of the massacre seems to be a fluke. Consensus is that American Lieutenant Emerson Hunt of the ____unit____ was captured by German forces on April 14. Lt. Hunt bluffed the German forces defending the town of Gardelegen into beliving that American tanks were approaching the city, leading the German commander to surrender to American forces. The Americans arrived at the site before the Germans had time to bury all of the bodies.

Details

1016 political and military prisoners were locked inside a barn on the Isenschnibbe estate and burned to death. Victims who escaped the burning barn were shot.

About 700 of the bodies were buried in mass graves near the site. American troops arrived before the evidence was completely hidden.

Investigation

An investigation was undertaken by Lt. Col. Edward E. Cruise , Investigating Officer, Ninth Army War Crimes Branch.

Text of Lt. Cruise's report and text of other exibits from US Army file 000-12-242 can be found online at http://members.home.nl/fjmvangorp/cruise00.htm

Current Situation

Several days after discovering the atrocity, American troops forced the German residents of the town of Gardelegen to rebury the dead in individually marked graves.

Gardelegen is now a national memorial.

The sign at the cemetary reads:

            Gardelegen
         Military Cemetery
Here lie 1016 allied prisoners of
war who were murdered by their
captors.
They were buried by citizens of
Gardelegen, who are charged with
responsibility that graves are for-
ever kept as green as the memory
of these unfortunates will be kept
in the hearts of freedom-loving men
everywhere.______________
Established under supervision of 102d
Infantry Division. United States Army
Vandalism will be punished by max-
imum penalties under laws
of military government.
                     Frank A. Keating
                     Major General, U.S.A.
                     Commanding

External Links

Article within the 102d Infantry Division history pages

A personal research project

From the "Holocaust Encyclopedia"

Holocaust Forgotten