Dead & Dying SS Troops (Prague?)

[pantothenic]

I came across an extremely troubling video. The caption relates that the video was shot (in color) in 1945. The video depicts dead and dying SS Troops killed by Czecks The dead appear bludgeoned and the dying are close to death. I am sure someone or many here have seen this video. Who were these men and what happened?

Here is the link:

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=C ... 0&start=10

[Marc Rikmenspoel]

All I could find following your link was a clip that was clearly described as being a reenactment, filmed in 2005. The actualy Waffen-SS troops in Prague in May 1945 were mostly from SS-Panzergrenadier Reg. 4 "Der Führer." This unit had been picking up large numbers of stragglers during the last weeks of the war, and was at almost full strength by the beginning of May. It was detached from the main body of Das Reich, and sent to Prague to escort the various staffs of the German occupation authorities (and their families) to safety, since it was feared that Czech partisans would kill any Germans they could get their hands on.

[pantothenic]

Hi Marc,

Thank you for your response. I don't know if the setting for this horrible video was in Prague or not. The caption from the Google video link is,

“Czechoslovakia 1945 – Color Scenes of column of German POWs, German SS prisoners killed by Czechs; some are wounded, German female prisoner with bruised eye, and smiling Czech civilians

U.S. Army Footage filmed on May 8 1945

Link with commentary is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE4wY-NniQQ

"All I could find following your link was a clip that was clearly described as being a reenactment, filmed in 2005."

Where did you see that this was a "reenactment?" Frankly, I don't know. However, it certainly doesn’t appear to be a re-enactment to me. I can't see anywhere on the You Tube page or from much commentary left that this is "fake". There are 40 plus comments on the You Tube link and all comments seam empathetic and deal with the horrible nature of these images.

The initial footage is obviously authentic. It is impossible to "reenact thousands of retreating or advancing troops with all their gear, horses etc.

These are the worst war images I have seen. If you can prove they are fake, then that will certainly give me piece of mind. If they aren't fake, I am interested in knowing what unit is this and how the soldiers died. It appears they surrendered under the "rules of war” were then taken to a field and bludgeoned.

Further clarification of your comment would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

[stoveb]

Hi,

There is a very harrowing report of this period of the conflict in a book by Hans Bayer "A Dog's Life", a member of the LSSAH and a Sudeten German who happened to end up in Prague at the end of the war while trying to reach his unit, and missed the last train out of town before the city closed down.

He mentions being captured by the Russians and the US Army filming the procession, being handed over to the Czech Partisans, and the summary executions, based mainly on uniforms (Panzer crew shot for death's head symbols on their uniforms, assuming they were SS) and the search for the blood-type tattoo under the armpit. Bayer had missed having had this tattoo done twice before while being in the LAH and this saved his life in Prague. His group was lead to a school yard in Prague and 'sorted' through, almost all were eventually shot, but the survivors were saved by regular Russian forces.

The SS were not a popular outfit with the former subjects of the German Reich, especially in Prague considering at the very least the Heydrich assination reprisals. The anger was understandable, if the expression of it is appalling to our eyes today.

Cheers
Steve

[Marc Rikmenspoel]

The link I meant is as follows, as I could not get the originally posted link to work 9the repost worked fine). http://youtube.com/watch?v=hcLM_zBO2_w

The clip from the immediate postwar was indeed disturbing, but probably not more so than other authentic, unedited footage from the war (or from other wars). War was, and is, an ugly business, and looking at photos of "cool" tanks sometimes makes me forget the more horrifying aspects of warfare, such as mangled bodies.

Thanks for sharing the link to this footage, there's a variety of units included, some are Waffen-SS indeed, but at one point, a column looked to me to be Russian, from the Vlassov Army, with "ROA" sleeve shields. I'm not certain that's what I saw, but Vlassov's troops were in Prague at the end of the war.