Far from home. Soldiers' fate

ISBN-13: 9783384750594 / Angielski / Miękka / 656 str.

Wolfgang Meyer

Opis

The fifth expanded volume is dedicated to the topic of "Prisoners of War and Death in a Foreign Land"and spans 656 pages. It was triggered by a reference in the denazification file of the former NSDAPlocal group leader in Kirchweyhe. Among other things, it contained a photo of the funeral servicefor four "enemy fallen" English soldiers of the Royal Air Force at the Kirchweyhe cemetery.The serious wounding of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel during the invasion of Normandy in 1944 is documented in detail. Finally, the author's father was also seriously wounded on the same day and in the same place. This documentation examines the biographies of twelve Allied Air Force pilots who claimed to have taken Rommel out of action. During research on captured submarine commanders, evidence was found of "Feme murders" in POW camps on the American continent. The findings led directly to the cemetery of the United States Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.This historic site is the final resting place of fourteen German soldiers who were accused, convicted and executed by hanging. The "Feme murders" in the POW camps were the catalyst for the establishment of the "Home StudyDepartment," where German prisoners could study selected subjects at American universitiesand take the "Final Examination." Nineteen-year-old Private First Class Helmuth Höltken lost his life in the massacre during the battle for Convoy PQ 13 when the German destroyer Z 26 was sunk in the Arctic Ocean near Murmansk.