45th infantry division war crimes
[8] Id. *This article appeared in Army Lawyer, Issue 5, 2020.In February 1945, United Press International (UPI) war correspondent Robert Vermillion visited the positions of the 100th Infantry Division in Alsace—near Bitché, France. According to Tyson, West was already with L Company and actively engaged in sniping when the replacement arrived in late January 1945, and in Tyson’s opinion, the replacement’s death was likely attributable to it. In the Dachau camp itself, an international committee composed of representatives of the various nationalities imprisoned there was established to organize resistance. That Soldier, Sergeant Horace Theodore West, was a thirty-five year-old Oklahoma native with thinning gray hair and skin “tanned the color of smoked ham.” During the interview, West told Vermillion (the UPI reporter) that his beloved Springfield rifle, equipped with a telescopic sight, was named after his wife Mabel. Military historian Earl Zi… The 45th Infantry was one of the first units into Dachau, where they helped liberate tens of thousands of prisoners. Main telephone: 202.488.0400 Fourteen soldiers were killed in fighting while … Nonetheless, West quickly made a name for himself in his new unit as a sniper. According to Tyson, when the replacement’s body was searched he was found not to be wearing any dog tags and ultimately was identified through a process of elimination by regimental staff. A rumor.” Id. The Biscari Massacre: Biscari consists of two instances of mass murder, where US troops of the 45th Infantry Division killed roughly 75 prisoners of war, most of which were Italian. West, however, sat in an Army prison in North Africa. Approximately 32,000 prisoners were liberated; 300 SS camp guards were quickly neutralized." [53] Interview with Roy Sees (May 8, 2015). of the Staff Judge Advoc., Headquarters, 45th Infantry Div., Proceedings of Board of Med. These prisoners had apparently crawled out of the cars and had died on the ground. Scene from Netflix TV show "The Liberator" depicting 45th Infantry Division soldier battling German ... [+] troops in the Vosges mountains in January 1945. Find topics of interest and explore encyclopedia content related to those topics, Find articles, photos, maps, films, and more listed alphabetically, Recommended resources and topics if you have limited time to teach about the Holocaust, Explore the ID Cards to learn more about personal experiences during the Holocaust. [11] The same day, West’s company commander, Captain John T. Compton, had also been involved in the killing of thirty-six POWs near Biscari. His intent was to interview a sniper—from Wagoner, Oklahoma, in L Company, 399th Infantry Regiment—who was credited with killing more than 130 German troops. Who we are Want to volunteer Schedule of events Venturing Crew. [52] Id. Both feared the impact on U.S. public opinion and the possibility of reprisals should the details of the incidents become common knowledge.”[19] With Compton dead, the chance that his involvement would be revealed was removed. Operation Teardrop: Eight of the surviving, captured crewmen from the sunk German submarine U … In March 1945, the "Thunderbird" division crossed the Rhine River and headed southward. [56] There is no indication that he received any official reprimand, or otherwise ran afoul of the military justice system, after his parole in November 1944. The 45th entered the war in Italy, during the June 1943 assault on the Italian island of Sicily. After advancing up the Italian peninsula, the 45th landed at Anzio in February 1944, where it withstood repeated German assaults against its positions. The retired officer, who lived in Washington, was 93 years old. He grew to his full adult height of 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) tall while serving in the Army during World War II. Growing up in A Foxhole (New Edition): A Foot Soldier Looks Back.Memoirs of a World War II Vet of the 45th Infantry Division by Stan Richardson and George Garin | Nov 21, 2014 4.7 out of 5 stars 6 He survived the war, escaped serious punishment, and wrought havoc upon the enemy after his early release. [34] Id. 1, 1945), https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39339365/the-record-democrat/. STAR, Feb. 27, 1945, at 1. Lieutenant Colonel Felix Sparks, who commanded the 45th Infantry Division troops, later recalled his first impressions of Dachau: The initial shock was experienced even before entering the camp. Dante's Inferno seemed pale compared to the real hell of Dachau. Both incidents deeply troubled Bradley, who reported them to Seventh Army Commander Lieutenant General George S. . But that was close fighting. When the three units arrived at Dachau, they discovered more than 30,000 prisoners in the overcrowded camp. History main page Organization Campaigns and battles Medal of Honor Citations. Id. [28] Id. [43] FRANKLIN GURLEY, 399TH IN ACTION: WITH THE 100TH INFANTRY DIVISION (1945). In the town of Dachau, German opponents of the regime, including a few escaped concentration camp prisoners, took over the town hall, but the local SS put down the small rebellion and executed those among the insurgents whom they caught. [37] Id. . Div., 2–3 Sept. 1943), at 90; Off. Cutting across the country, the unit was sent to southern France in August 1944. Id. [42] CENTURY SENTINEL, supra note 6. [33] CENTURY SENTINEL, supra note 6 at 4. [32] CENTURY SENTINEL, supra note 6, at 1, 4. Just days before, about 2,000 inmates evacuated on a death march from the Flossenbürg concentration camp had arrived at Dachau and the SS guards had forced almost 7,000 Dachau inmates to move southward. In their report delivered to Congress on May 15, 1945, the senators and representatives stated that. [12] Id. Despite its verdict, West’s case is not simple. It had left Buchenwald four weeks earlier on April 7 filled with more than 5,000 prisoners. The division was formed and federally recognized as a National Guard unit on 3 August 1923 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. . Immediately after Dachau's liberation, US Army authorities and other Allied representatives began treating the sick prisoners, implementing health and sanitary measures to curb the typhus epidemic, and bringing in tons of food to feed the starving prisoners. The 180th Infantry Regiment (redesignated to Cavalry in 2008) saw action during World War I as the 142nd Infantry Regiment of the 36th Infantry Division (Texas and Oklahoma) and World War II and the Korean War as part of the 45th Infantry Division and again in Afghanistan and Iraq as part of the 45th Infantry Brigade. For example, John Khoury in his book, Love Company, approximates the death of the replacement as late February–not January. [51] Id. West’s story after his parole is not one of redemption. As Allied troops moved across Europe in a series of offensives against Nazi Germany, they found tens of thousands of concentration camp prisoners in deplorable conditions.e Malnutrition and disease were rampant, and corpses lay unburied. D; CENTURY SENTINEL,supra note 6, at 1. [9] Id. In addition to burying the dead, the Allied forces attempted to help and comfort the survivors with food, clothing and medical assistance. [17] Id. He wanted to fight in Germany, so African authorities gave him a Springfield sniper rifle and shipped him off to the [European Theater of Operations].”[43], The UPI story describes how West had “been shooting Germans, running, sitting, and standing since his old division, the 45th, landed in Sicily [on] July 10, 1943,” but missed combat in Italy because “he was assigned to the 100th division as a rifle company headquarters handyman.”[44] But, the 100th Infantry Division had not even arrived in the European Theater of Operations until 20 October 1944; and, West’s assignment to the division did not occur until late January 1945. [40] A report of West’s exploits also appeared in the London edition of The Stars and Stripes.[41]. [7] On 14 July 1943, several days after the initial landings, West’s company was engaged near the airport at Biscari. The proximity of the US Army gave hope to the prisoners in the camp and to anti-Nazis outside it. commander serving in the 180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division, ordered his men to execute thirty-six prisoners of war (POWs). Eagles, a decorated infantry commander who led the 45th Infantry Division in the battle for the Anzio beachhead in Italy, died Friday on 22-2-1988 at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Md. 2013), and an intellectual property attorney practicing in Philadelphia, PA. A number of Army documents and memoirs written by infantrymen in the European Theater of Operations shed light on what combat troops carried in their pockets, War Criminal Paroled: Horace T. West and the Final Chapter of the Biscari Massacre, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39339365/the-record-democrat/, "A soldier in action drinks a lot of coffee" : The Popularity of the Breakfast K Ration, Etched in Purple: Separating Fact from Fiction. [30] Vermillion, supra note 6, at 2. [58] 100TH DIVISION ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER, supra note 54. From there, he was assigned to the 18th Infantry Regiment of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division. [42] The 399th Infantry’s regimental history offers what is, at best, an oversimplification: “West had fought in Sicily with the 45th. [20], In February 1944, the War Department recommended that West be granted clemency, but that no publicity be given to his case because “to do so would give aid and comfort to the enemy, and would arouse a segment of our own citizens who are so distant from combat that they would not understand the savagery that is war.”[21] On 23 November 1944, after serving fourteen months of his life sentence, West was paroled and restored to active duty at the rank of Private. [2] Id. This new research[60] adds a new dimension to the narrative of the Biscari Massacre and how its legacy must be interpreted. News of Dachau's liberation spread swiftly. [25] ATKINSON, supra note 24. As we visited Dachau we saw on a railroad sidetrack paralleling the main highway, and close to the gates of the prison camp, a train of cars which had been used to bring additional civilian prisoners to this camp. After marching the POWs a mile, West halted the group and selected eight or nine to report to the regimental intelligence officer. Washington, DC 20024-2126 A graduate of Drexel University (B.S. The battles took place between June 26th, 1952 and March 26th, 1953 on and around Hill 266 in Western Korea near the North-South border. [31] Id. TTY: 202.488.0406, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, Holocaust Survivors and Victims Resource Center. In each of them the floor of the car was covered with dead, emaciated bodies. The engagements’ location would alternatively come to be known as “Old Baldy Hill” and “Suicide Hill” by others. “It don’t sound right to me, but he was a braggart,” Sees said. 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW [36] Id. Casualty figures for the 45th Infantry Division, European theater of operations: The 45th Infantry Division gained its nickname, "Thunderbird" division, from the gold thunderbird. Id. [50] GURLEY, supra note 43. The 45th Infantry Division was reassigned to VI Corps on New Year's day. [29] Id. History of the 45th Infantry Division: Home page Table of contents. [35] Id. [61] Borch, supra note 7, at 5. New scholarship [5] shows that a convicted war criminal sentenced to life, paroled, and returned to combat, continued to kill; and, in the process, he became a minor celebrity in his new unit. Quickly he ordered Private First Class Phullip Meyers, right, Williamsport, PA, to make a hive. [22] West’s court-martial records were kept under lock and key at the Pentagon until the 1950s. [18], James J. Weingartner, the historian who first examined the incidents, argued that the Biscari Massacre “made the U.S. Army and the War Department acutely uncomfortable. Brain tissue was splattered on the ground from one victim found nearby … [27] As the story goes, West took The Kid under his wing, shared what he learned from his earlier combat experiences, and “warned him not to move aroun’ too much” on the frontlines, “particularly when you figure there might be a sniper around”[28] Unfortunately, The Kid became the victim of a German sniper almost immediately. 250833 (45th Inf. [26] Official records, postwar memoirs, and histories of the company give no indication that anyone there knew about his involvement with the Biscari Massacre, or his imprisonment; this is hardly surprising given the secrecy surrounding both events. [1] In his story, West described the prayer he shared with Mabel and his two children before he shipped out: he asked God to “take care of all the boys on the battlefields.”[2] On the subject of killing, West meekly posited, “[a] man shouldn’t be too proud of killing another man.”[3] But, he added, “the Germans started it.”[4].
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