Distomo Massacre

[tomalbright]

Does anybody in this forum have info on the Waffen-SS company commander in SS-Pz-Gren.Regiment 7 of the 4. SS-Polizei-Pz.Gren.-Division who was responsible for this heinous massacre on 10 June 1944. 218 of Distomo's civilian population were killed in reprisal for a Greek partisan ambush near the town which resulted in the deaths of seven SS men. Unlike the far more famous massacre of Oradour-sur-Glane, which was carried out with some discipline and cold-blooded "decorum" (perhaps because the battalion commander Dieckmann was present and supervising?), the troops of "Polizei" allegedly went on a murderous orgy of rape and bestial murder. i.e bayonetting babies, cutting off of woman's breasts, etc. While the partisan ambush perhaps merited some sort of reprisal, these Waffen SS-troops obviously lost all discipline and control. I was just curious.. who was the officer in charge and what became of him? The regimental commander at this time was SS-Obersturmbannführer Hans Traupe.

regards

Tom

[Matt Gibbs]

Try these...

http://www.distomo.gr/history/massacre.htm

http://home.t-online.de/home/Dieter.Beg ... stoeng.htm

Also, court case still going on..???

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/713547.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/872532.stm

Also:-

Atrocities Larissa (?) following a partisan ambush of a German convoy at Klissura..*

June 1944:
June 10: Units from SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 7 on an antipartisan sweep, massacre circa 218-300 + Greek civilians in the village of Distomo. George Koch, a member of the Wehrmacht GFP (Geheime Feldpolizei), accompanied the SS troops during the sweep and submits report on the incident. Koch's report states that: the Polizei troops walked through the village without incident, but were later ambused by Greek guerrillas outside of it. The guerrillas escaped, and that the SS troops actually doubled back into the village and began a viscious "atonement action" which included rape and looting as well as shooting civilians. Koch's report directly contradicts the report SS-Hauptstrumführer Fritz Lautenbach, submitted to his battalion CO (SS-Standartenführer Schümers).

June 20: A Red Cross delegation visits Distomo to investigate the incident and find corpses swinging from the trees along the route. News of the massacre travels to the collaborationist Greek govenrment.

Concerned over the impact of the massacre on both the military and political situation in occupied Greece, the Wehrmacht opens up an investigation headed by Special Envoy Neubacher & charges SS-Hauptsturmführer Lautenbach with falsifying a military report. (of course the investigation team neither includes nor interviews Greek civilians) SS-Standartenführer Schümers responds to the charges that although his company is technically guilty of falsifying a report, his unit acted correctly under the circumstances. The inquiry is dropped as the massacre is judged a "military necessity" due to the supposed collaboration between the guerrillas and the Distomo villagers.**

See more info on the division here:-

http://www.wssob.com/004divpol.html

Regards

Matt Gibbs

[David Thompson]

There is an interesting account of the massacre in Mark Mazower's "Inside Hitler's Greece: The Experience of Occupation 1941-1944", Yale University Press, New Haven & London: 1993, pp. 180, 209, 212-215. Mazower names SS-Hauptsturmführer Fritz Lautenbach (c. 1918-?) as the company commander responsible, with his regimental commander being SS-Standartenführer Schümers (no first name given).

[tomalbright]

Info on Lautenbach..he evidently gave the orders to destroy Distomo or was at least responsible for his company's conduct that day, but was KIA in Oct 1944 and could not be called to account. Regimental Kdr Karl Schumers also was KIA while commanding the "Polizei" division in Aug 1944.



Lautenbach, Fritz Hstuf. Born: 10. 5.17 Birthplace: Hildesheim SS #: 341 996
Chef,2./Pz.GR.7 10.44 KIA: 16.10.44
Strm. 5./LSSAH 4.38

Regimental Kdr Schumers info;
Schümers, Karl Staf. Born: 17.10.05 Birthplace: Düsseldorf SS#: 422 550
Kdr.4.SS-Pol.Div. 8.44 KIA: †18. 8.44
Ostubaf.: Kdr.Pz.GR.7 5.43 b.Arta
Stubaf.:Kdr.II./Pol.Inf.Rgt.1 8.42
Hstuf.:Chef,3./Aufkl.Abt.4 8.41

[David Thompson]

Thanks for the additional info, tomalbright!

[Clemence]

May I ask what happened to him after WWII?

[Researcher]

Lautenbach was killed in action 16 October 1944
Schumers was killed in action 18 August 1944

source : tomalbright

Researcher