LSSAH War Crimes 1939-1945

[Peter H]

Charles Messenger author of Hitler's Gladiator deems the Taganrog massacre a falsehood.

What he calls "the origin of this lie" was the book written by Erich Kern in 1948,Der Grosse Rausch.The Viennese journalist Kern had served with the 4th Battalion of the Leibstandarte and for whatever reason sensationalised things.

This supposed slur on the name of the Leibstandarte was taken up by Rudolf Lehmann when writing its definitive history.Having scoured the records held in the Bundesarvhiv-Militararchiv at Freiburg im Breisgau and found no evidence of any such order having been given,he then went to the length of placing the matter before the State Justice Adminstrative Department(Landesjustizverwaltungen) in Ludwigsburg and obtained the reply from them that no such execution had taken place between 16-18 August 1941,the dates which relate to Kern's description.He describes Der Grosse Rausch as a "commentary",a free representation by the author(and with no documentation).

[chalutzim]

Just noted TAGANROG (...)

Thank you, Iltis.

[tonyh]

The Taganrog Order, issued on 17 October 1941 by SS-Gruppenfuehrer Josef Dietrich, and which cost the Red Army soldiers more than 4.000 dead

Can anyone show any proof or logical reasoning behind this claim? I've heard it many times, with varying numbers, but have never seen anything substantial provided.

And before any of the moral majority start jumping, I am not saying it didn't happen. I am saying I have not seen anything but the allegation.

Tony

[c.g.]

No, unfortunately the name of the German POW isn't mentioned. I guess it only contains the name of the British officer who forwarded the report.
C.G.