Atrocity at Gardelegen: April, 1945

Soon it will be April 14, 2005, the 60th Anniversary of the discovery of one of the more grisly atrocities committed by the SS during WWII. As elements of the 405th Regiment of the 102nd Infantry Division approached Gardelegen resistance was sporadic. From Gardelegen the rest of the tale:

"On April 14 the 2d Bn, 405th Infantry, approached the village of Wiepke through a typical gloomy German forest. Progress was slow against, rather intense but sporadic small arms fire, since flat terrain and concealment in the village favored the defenders. With the aid of artillery fire, tanks, and TDs, Wiepke was soon mopped up and the battalion headed south. Along the northern edge of Estedt intense small arms and 20mm flak opened up on our leading companies. Here a battle group of para troopers were guarding the approach to Gardelegen, an ancient, moated town now the site of a great airfield and a German air force replacement center. Two platoons of tanks accompanied by determined Ozark doughs roared over this strongpoint and soon engulfed Estedt itself. But no sooner had our force emerged from the town than they again found themselves under heavy automatic fire from the woods to the south and west. Gardelegen, it appeared, was a prize jealously guarded.

Without a breathing spell artillery went into position and was all set to plaster the woods. At this point, however, a German sedan with motorcycle escort, conspicuous under large fluttering white flags, dashed up from the south. The commandant of the Gardelegen garrison it seemed, had lost all desire to defend the fatherland. His present errand was to seek out an American commander to whom he could surrender.

This colonel, it turned out, had been persuaded to pursue this wise course by Lt Emerson Hunt, liaison officer between the Ozark Hq and his 701st Tank Battalion. He, as well as several wire crews of the 102d Signal Company, not aware that Gardelegen had been bypassed, had been captured that day by its outguards.

Lt Hunt, upon being questioned, demanded to be taken to the highest German commander. He then succeeded in intimidating that worthy colonel, as well as his staff, into believing that American tanks within the half-hour would blast Gardelegen from the face of Germany. But not knowing exactly where his battalion was at that time located, he suggested the garrison surrender immediately to the nearest American commander, who judging from the noise, was only then approaching from Estedt. No sooner said than done. Lt Hunt was sent back to notify his tanks that complete capitulation would be arranged. To ensure safe and speedy passage through the German outposts, a Luftwaffe major accompanied him. Before nightfall this individual was considerably puzzled concerning the location of the American tanks -- and well he might be, for with the exception of 2 platoons of the 701st in Estedt, our armor was far, far away. The Luftwaffe colonel, however, was not aware of this ruse and agreed with alacrity to the stipulations set forth by Colonel Williams, CO of the 405th Infantry. Punctually at 1900 he reappeared with his sedan, motorcycle and white flag to escort Colonel Williams into town where the entire garrison, its arms already stacked, stood neatly drawn up for surrender. On this decorous, if not ceremonial note, the Battle for Gardelegen ended. What recriminations and accusations passed between the German commander and the Gardelegen Kreisleiter (county supervisor) will never be known. But certainly the surrender was ill-timed because it interrupted the ghoulish activities in a barn on the outskirts of town.

There on Monday morning were found the charred and smoking bodies of over 300 slave laborers, prisoners of the Nazis who had been deliberately burned to death by their captors. Freshly dug common graves in nearby fields mutely emphasized the haste with which all evidence of this atrocity was being concealed. Another day and no trace would have remained.

Investigation disclosed that 1016 political and military prisoners had perished here. Part of a larger group, they were being driven west to escape the Russians when suddenly their guards discovered that the fall of Gardelegen was imminent. Following already well-recognized Nazi precedent, these men were murdered to prevent any possibility of their turning on their captors in the event of sudden liberation. Under General Keating's stern supervision a memorial cemetery was established, to be kept forever green, by the citizens of Gardelegen

Dad was a 1st Lt. in the 405th and was with them from their first combat on 23 October through the end of the war and was with the 405th when it made the grisly discovery. In all well over 2000 prisoners had been herded by train and on foot from an aircraft factory in eastern Germany across the Elbe trying to escape the Russian Army. of the 2000 plus, 800 were shot as they faltered or died on the wayside. The remaining bodies are buried in Gardelegen in a military style cemetery. Twenty two days after the discovery, Germany captiulated and that war was over."

In 1956, with my dad, we visited that cemetery which the people of Gardelegen have been charged with keeping it pristine for eternity. Watching dad stand there looking at more than a thousand Crosses and Stars of David I was amazed to see a single tear slide down his cheek as he turned so that his children wouldn't see him cry. More than 10 years later the savagery of fascism still affected dad.

Atrocities continue in a different war, different enemy but the same fascist mindset. Now, like then, we cannot relax, we cannot allow ourselves to be unguarded, we cannot lose.

Update: This photo was supplied via the Internet by my friend Miguel Buitrago of Bolivia who writes the blog MABB who, oddly enough lived for a time some 30 Kilometers from Gardelegen. The Crosses and Stars of David almost all bear the inscription "Unknown" (but to God). Their time on earth was troubled, their rest is in the arms of God.