Volksturm, regularly shot by Russians as partisans???

[Vince]

While looking into the whether young Volksturm soldiers were sent to Russian POW camps I came across a disturbing finding.

According to James Lucas in his book "The Last Days of the Reich" the Volksturm in East Prussia were regularly shot as partisans when captured.

Since they were in fact wearing an identifiable military uniform this would seem to me to be a war crime. ...... But as we have all know and continue to see to this day, no victor can possibly be guilty of war crimes!!!

Has anyone heard of this practice of executing Volksturm? How common was it? Who did it the: front line troops and their political commisars or the marauding bands of second rate follow up soldiers?

Vince,

[sid guttridge]

Lucas is prolific but not necessarily always accurate. He has a tendency to absorb information from other published sources without checking. I had cause to write to him at length about major errors in one chapter of "The Last Year of the German Army" which could easily have been resolved by a little primary research at the Imperial War Museum.

That said, it does not make him necessarily wrong in this case. Follow up his source if he gives one. My guess is that a lot of uniformed Germans were shot by the Red Army and that the Volksturm were probably not particularly "favoured". What does Beevor say on the subject?

[JKS]

[quote="Vince"]While looking into the whether young Volksturm soldiers were sent to Russian POW camps I came across a disturbing finding.

Vince,
the situation in Silesia was a bloody as in any of the eastern provinces that were occupied by Russian combat units. I can not say that there was a specific pattern to these carnages, that took place behind their lines, for that matter if the officers of the red army were really in control of their troops. What I can tell you from my own experience and conversation with other survivors of the area east of Breslau. That would be January and February 1945, uniform or not, boy over 14 or old man, were murdered, shot mostly from behind through the head, with exit hole in the nose area. Some of the bodies were still laying around in June 1945. HJ was seldom taken prisoner. I think the Russians and Poles were afraid of the Werewolf (which was non existing). They also were more interested in able bodies man for slave labor. By April 1945 when the Oder front collapsed some of this murdering and rape stopped. A new wave of terror started by the Polish militia.
If you are really interested in facts, read Rolf O. Becker’s book “Die Besatzung Niederschlesiens 1945” Podzun Verlag, Bad Nauheim. It is a composite of facts that where taken from survivors by the West German Government and are kept at the Bundes Archives in Koblenz. All Reports had to be sworn too and witnessed. I don’t think that this information would ever be translated into English. Of the total population of Silesia, 1.5mil were cut off by the Russians, 1.6mil fled through Czechoslovakia to West Germany, 1.6mil into the Russian Zone. 874,000 were murdered or died from war action.
Jochen

[Commissar D, the Evil]

Hi, just to add to Jochen's post. I dont think that all Volsturm were uniformed. But, having said that, there are verifiable accounts of summary executions in Silesia of Volksturm and Heer soldiers. Georg Gunter's "Last Laurels", a book I greatly respect, details some of the atrocities. Best Regards, David

[Wurger]

It's been some time since I've read anything about this topic, but wasn't the standard Volksturm "uniform" limited only to an armband that read "Deutsches Volksturm" or something like that?

Would that be considered to be a "uniform" by most of the combatants during WWII?

I think I might have to root through a few books this afternoon . . .

Regards,

Wurger

[Craig]

There must have been a lot of Volksturm that in the last days didn't even get the armband. Also wouldn't it be safe to assume that any German civilian involved in partisan activity that was captured would surely plead "Nicht sheissen, Volksturm!" (pardon my crappy German).

[Wurger]

I'm not sure I'd be claiming to be Volksturm if I was just a civilian surrendering to the Red Army. In fact, I'm sure that a lot of the Volksturm guys would have taken a hint from the soldiers who were switching their uniforms for civilain cloths and tossed their armbands, if they had them (a good point by the way), before they surrendered in order to appear as harmless as possible.

Regards,

Wurger

[sid guttridge]

Hi All,

As a matter of interest, does anyone know what the Geneva Convention's definition of a "uniform" was or is?

The other thing is that it is my understanding that the USSR was not then a signatory of the Geneva Convention and may not have been under any obligation to abide by it.

This also to some degree accounts for the different approach the German Army took to its enemies in the West, who were parties to the Geneva Convention, compared with its principal enemy in the East, which was not.

Cheers,

Sid.

[karltrowitz]

I did read something somewhere about the russians executing almost all of the Volkssturm members that helped to defend Konigsburg in 1945 because they classed them as armed civilians,therefore partisans.

[LukeMiguez]

Many of these "partisan" actions were volkssturm attacking russian supply trucks behind the lines to simply feed themselves.