Jungholzhausen massacre

Jungholzhausen massacre
Location	Braunsbach and Ilshofen, Württemberg, Germany
Date	14–15 April 1945
Attack type	Massacre
Deaths	13–48 Waffen-SS and Wehrmacht prisoners of war
Perpetrators	254th Infantry Regiment, 63rd Infantry Division (US Army)

The Jungholzhausen massacre was a war crime committed by the 63rd Infantry Division of the US Army on 15 April 1945 during the Western Allied invasion of Germany. Between 13 and 30 Waffen-SS and Wehrmacht prisoners of war were executed by the division's 254th Infantry Regiment after heavy fighting near the village of Jungholzhausen. ^{[1] [2]}

Massacre

In April 1945, the 254th Infantry Regiment suffered heavy casualties during the battle for the Hohenlohe district. ^[1] Wehrmacht combat engineers and mostly 17-year old Waffen-SS soldiers from Leoben in Styria engaged the regiment in combat near the village of Jungholzhausen. ^[1] After the battle, the villagers counted the bodies of 63 German soldiers, out of whom at least 13 and possibly up to 48 ^[3] had been killed after surrendering. ^{[1] [2]} An eyewitness observed the US execution with submachine guns of four Waffen-SS troops during the night. ^[1] U.S. massacres of German prisoners of war were commonplace in the district of Hohenlohe. ^[1]

Legacy and 1996 US investigation

According to German historian Klaus-Dietmar Henke,  ^{[ de ]} the war crimes committed by the US in Germany in 1945 were largely shrouded in silence until the 1990s, when German local newspapers began reporting on them. ^[1] In 1996, the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command investigated the massacre of 15 April 1945 in Braunsbach-Jungholzhausen but could not identify the perpetrators of the massacre. ^[1]

References

1. Zigan 2015.
2. Henke 1996, p. 926.
3. Seidler 2013, p. 69.

Sources

• Henke, Klaus-Dietmar (1996). Die amerikanische Besetzung Deutschlands[The American occupation of Germany] (in German). Munich: R. Oldenbourg Verlag. ISBN   3-486-56175-8.
• Seidler, Franz W. (2013). Deutsche Opfer, Allierte Täter 1945[German Victims, Allied Perpetrators 1945] (in German). Selent: Pour le Mérite. ISBN   978-3-932381-66-9. OCLC   878493591.
• Zigan, Harald (16 April 2015). "Kriegsende 1945 (Teil 10): US-Soldaten nehmen blutige Rache in Jungholzhausen und Ilshofen" [End of war 1945 (Part 10): US soldiers take bloody revenge in Jungholzhausen and Ilshofen]. Südwest Presse (in German). Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2022. Soldaten der Wehrmacht werden im April 1945 gefangen genommen. In mehreren hohenlohischen Dörfern erschießen US-Einheiten vor allem Angehörige der Waffen-SS, obwohl sie sich bereits ergeben haben. (transl. Soldiers of the Wehrmacht are captured in April 1945. In several Hohenloh villages, US units shoot mainly members of the Waffen-SS, despite having already surrendered.)