Dear Kentaurus!
Many thanks for your posts. My initial version was wrong. Indeed I made wrong suggestions because I was unaware about the article in Spigel. Now let's look at it closely.
Spigel's article wrote:Gerda Meczulat lived on the other side of the river. Her father Eduard, 71, had decided against fleeing. The Meczulats didn’t have a cart. Together with other villagers they procured shelter in a cellar.
What happened there has not been completely clarified until the present day. Gerda Meczulat later reported that the first Russians entered the cellar in the early afternoon. They searched the hand luggage, but were unexpectedly friendly. One even played with the children.
Nothing wrong with it. The search of the luggage was a standard lawfull procedure. And we see that Soviet soldiers were friendly.
Spigel's article wrote:But in the evening an officer appeared and in a harsh tone ordered the Germans outside.
Probably Soviet soldiers needed this improvised bunker for militiary puposes as German troops advanced and they ordered civilians to leave it for their own security.
Spigel's article wrote:“When we came out there were soldiers on both sides of the exit with rifles ready to fire."
Armed soldiers in war time, during German offensive? Nothing special. And rifles are
always ready to fire. So the civilians were between two rows of Soviet soldiers. It is would be too dangerous for Soviet soldiers to fire toward the civilians in this situation.
Spigel's article wrote:"I fell down because I have polio, was dragged up and felt nothing more in all the confusion. When I recovered my senses I heard children scream and rifle shots. Then it was quiet.”
So she
heard the shots and hadn't seen the process of shooting. Probabaly advancing German troops fired at Soviet Soldiers and accedentally killed also some civilians.
Spigel's article wrote:Gerda Meczulat survived heavily wounded, because the soldier who wanted to shoot hear aimed inaccurately. She was the only survivor.
So he was not an officer but a soldier (Soldat)? But you previously wrote that
Kentaurus wrote:Gerda Meczulat clearly identified her attacker as a Soviet officer
You yourself translated it
ZDF wrote:"I was the last person out, I stumbled and then fell. In that moment the [Soviet] officer shot at me from behind."
So she was unable to identify a person that shot in her direction or even a weapon that was used (rifle or pistol).
Spigel's article wrote:When the Wehrmacht took back the community of 637 souls on the next day...
It is a mistake (probably not the only mistake). It is well known that the village was recaptured by German troops later.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemmersdorf
wikipedia wrote:In the morning 21st October Soviet tanks of the 2-nd battalion of the 25 armoured brigade started to roll from Gumbinnen. At 7.30 o'clock of this day the massacre was over already. On the 23rd October regiments of the German 5 armoured division recapture the place.
Spigel's article wrote:...they found at least two dozen corpses of women, children and elder men. Red Army soldiers had shot them or bashed in their heads.
As we know the claim that many women were raped was false. So these "evidences" by Göbbels appointed investigators are unreliable. By the way there were "French POWs" among the killed. Frau Gerda Meczulat hadn't mentioned them and probably they were killed by Germans to expose "Soviet atrocities".
So now we see that:
Soviet troops captured Nemmersdorf 21 October morning.
Some German civilians were ordered to leave their shelter.
Soviet troops had been fired and some civilians could be killed, one woman wounded.
There were 2 days of fierce battles in the area. German troops used heavy gun-fire, tanks, aviation.
Many cililians could be killed during these attacks (some could escape).
German troops captured the village 23 October.