FYI folks - the incident is mentioned on p. 133 & 273 of George Stein's The Waffen-SS and cites Gerald Reitlinger's The SS: Alibi of a Nation 1922-45 as the source. I think there might be references to this particular "take no prisoners" order in Master's of Death and Destruction of the European Jews as well, but would need to confirm.Also, in http://www.wssob.com/atrocities.html, there is this statement:Quote:
LSSAH, Oct. 1941, Taganrog, Soviet Union. Sepp Dietrich orders all surrendering Soviet troops shot for a 3-day period in reprisal for the capture, torture and murder of 6 SS solders.
Reitlinger quotes as former LAH officer (sorry, don't know which one) as estimating that 4,000 Red Army men attempting to surrender or having surrendered were killed by Dietrich's troops during the 3 day period in question in March 1942.
Charles Messenger's book Hitler's Gladiator mentions the bodies being found, citing Rudolf Lehmann's Leibstandarte III book, on p 108. Messenger does not mention the execution order, which is not unusual given his "kid-glove" treatment of his biographical subject.
I don't know much about the specific circumstances, but I doubt that Dietrich was "forced" to carry out a "take no prisoners" order. It sounds like it was a spontaneous command issued in the heat of the moment when the SS bodies were found in the GPU building (the SS men were former members of 3rd Company, I Battalion of the LAH). It certainly was well in the spirit of the "Commissar Order" and the general ideological nature of the Eastern Front.
When the LAH killed the estimated 4,000 Red Army PWs in revenge for 6 of their guys in 1942, the SS troops probably never dreamed that they end up on the losing side of WWII. Unfortunately for them, those who are unwilling to show mercy should expect little in return.