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Dachau Massacre

Dachau Massacre

This is a war crime no matter how you look at it. The odd thing about this is that is was reported to command. Supposedly General Patton himself was informed of the massacre and did nothing.
Considering what allied soldiers encountered in the camps, shooting the SS guards on sight would be understandable or even acceptable, but the Wehrmacht and the Waffen SS were frontline soldiers who had no part in or knowledge of the events that took place at the camp. Furthermore, cleaning out the hospital is a clear violation of not only the Geneva Convention, but the US Army code of conduct.
During WWII the Germans largely adhered to the Geneva Convention with regards to the allies, the massacre at Dachau was an event that never should have happened and the soldiers you committed the act should have been brought before a military tribunal.

Message Edited... Persephone: Learn how to use the Quote Tags. See our Constructive Posting Policy.

Massacre Dachau

I fully understand your point and I do think it was wrong what they did, nevertheless, I think it was the result of extreme anger after reaching the concentration camp and realizing what has been going on there. Now, I am NOT justifying the deaths but mainly giving a reason of why they may have reacted in the way they did.

Actually, they were brought before a military court but they were not punished.

Dachau Massacre History & Civil Business Politics

They never face a military tribunal. The matter was dropped before they faced formal charges.

Edited: Dextral on 28th Dec, 2006 - 1:31pm

Massacre Dachau

That's incorrect according to the same link you provided:

Massacre Dachau

The papers were draw up by their direct commanding officer, but the soldiers involved never went to trail. Patton prevented the motion from going further.

Edited: Dextral on 28th Dec, 2006 - 2:14pm

Dachau Massacre

Name: Kipper
Country:

Comments: Sure they were angry, angry because the had little or no guards to shoot as most of the Totenkopfverbände SS prison guards had fled the day before.
Yes the US forces did know the difference between the Waffen SS and the Totenkopfverbände SS, under the command of the Allgemeine SS.
One US soldier "cut" himself a soveineer from one of the dead who were heaped in a pile. He liked his ring and so cut of his finger to obtain it.
Is it really so hard to believe that parts of the armed forces of ANY country could commit war crimes? Parts of All armed forces in ALL countries do it but the chances are ALL but ONE nation's armed forces are punished for it.

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Didn't really want to start a separate topic on this as they are kind of linked... I don't really know what to say here about what liberated prisoners were permitted to do...
About 3 weeks before the Dachau Massacre..

On April 11, 1945, soldiers in General George S. Patton's Third Army discovered the Buchenwald concentration camp near the city of Weimar, and were astounded when they were shown lamp shades allegedly made from human skin. What the newspapers didn't report was that the liberated prisoners were given guns by the Americans and allowed to ride in American Jeeps to Weimar where they terrorized the population, raping, pillaging and killing civilians at random.