Thanks for your insights 'JWS' - I confess that I'm still baffled as to why Hansmann has been considered the only suspect in relation to the 'Officer in Black' as I am still unable to find an allegation against him from someone in his Btln. If you state that many Officers in the Recon Btln would have worn black, it has to be conceivable that it could have been someone else . The further one digs, the more it raises questions instead of answering them. But perhaps there is evidence against him not yet found. I did check 'Conduct Unbecoming' but Margolian just tells it as if it was him without providing any new evidence.
The very basics of this incident are that the eye witnesses in the Château that day noted 3 Officers. Two were in camo and one in Black. They had no idea who these men where, it was up to the investigating team to give their best educated guesses. The subsequent interrogation of Karl Walter Becker gave them some new information. As per the first posting on this thread, he had in his possession a photo of Hansmann. This was possibly the first indication to the investigating team that some of the Recon Btln wore Black, but it cannot be plausible that they just decided that he was the 'Officer in Black' on this basis.
I have been sent the documents from the London files that accompanied that photo (with sincere thanks to the forum member who supplied it). Unfortunately, it does not add to the evidence against Hansmann in relation to the Château Audrieu case, nor does the interrogation of Becker that I already had from TS26/856 - but there is other good evidence in that one concerning Bremer and von Reitzenstein.
This is the only information I have found so far in relation to him being suspected as the 'Officer in Black' that day, this document is from 1946:
- WO309/2219-49
As you will note, there is no explanation given as to why he was suspected. If anyone can tell me if it is plausible that it could have been him and no one else due to his commanding of his unit, I'd be interested to hear it.
To clarify the 'car' testimony, the Officer seen alighting from the civilian car was in a Black Uniform, this information led the investigation team to suspect that he was the same 'Black Uniformed' Officer who was seen by witnesses at the Command post earlier in the day, he may however, have been another Officer who also wore a Black Uniform...... but none of the other witnesses mentioned a second one in their testimonies, they said all the other troops wore camo which should indicate that it was the same man. The reason I posted it was because the car was noted as having non standard camo paint and he endeavoured to place it in the Château's garage which led me to suspect, he may have been keeping it in his personal care which seemed to corroborate other stories about Hansmann, but as I admitted, it was a very tenuous link and I would never stand over it as it had probably just muddied the waters further.
The civilian eye witnesses in the main were considered quite reliable by the investigating team, their testimonies generally corroborated each other although I did find one or two small but very possibly significant inconsistencies in some of the details. The atmosphere in the Château portrayed by the witnesses on the stand was not as fraught as one would imagine, there was no feeling that the occupants felt that they were under threat from the Germans. In fact they seemed to be treated in quite a solicitous manner, one stating that the troops were concerned for their welfare and were incredulous that they had not left already. Some advised them how best to secure their porcelain collection and what measures to take when the fighting got closer to ensure their safety. They were also allowed the freedom to walk in and out of the grounds and the gardener was allowed to approach the bodies of some of the executed prisoners in order to retrieve some loose pigs without being threatened by the soldiers standing nearby.
However, there did appear to be more danger for them than they aware of at the time as Becker reported that after the wounding of Bremer, it was decided that the accurate shelling on the vicinity of the Command post could only have been possible due to informants giving away their positions to the Allies and therefore it was decided to murder civilians in reprisal - luckily for the occupants of the Château, this was never carried out.
