Anton Dostler (10 May 1891 – 1 December 1945) was a German army officer who fought in both World Wars. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, he commanded several units as a
General of the Infantry, primarily in Italy. After the Axis defeat, Dostler was executed for
war crimes—specifically, ordering the execution of fifteen American prisoners of war in March 1944 during the
Italian Campaign.
Dostler was tried during the first
Allied war crimes trials to be held after the
end of the war in Europe; at
Nuremberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
, he mounted a defense on the grounds that he had ordered the executions only because he himself was obeying
superior orders
Superior orders, also known as the Nuremberg defense or just following orders, is a plea in a court of law that a person, whether a member of the military, law enforcement, a firefighting force, or the civilian population, should not be conside ...
, and that as such only his superiors could be held responsible. The Nuremberg judges rejected Dostler's defense, ruling, in an important precedent (later codified in
Principle IV of the
Nuremberg Principles and the 1948
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt ...
), that citing superior orders did not relieve soldiers or officers of responsibility for carrying out war crimes. After being found guilty, Dostler was sentenced to death and executed by a
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...
firing squad
Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are ...
.
Military career
Dostler joined the German army in 1910 and served as a junior officer during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
. From the start of World War II to 1940, he served as chief of staff of the
7th Army. Subsequently he commanded the
57th Infantry Division (1941–42), the
163rd Infantry Division (1942) and, after some temporary stand-ins at corps, was appointed commander of 75th Army Corps (Jan-July 1944) in Italy and then commander of the Venetian Coast (Sept–Nov 1944), when its name was reassigned to 73rd Army Corps, where he finished the war.
Execution of U.S. soldiers
On 22 March 1944, 15 soldiers of the
U.S. Army, including two officers, landed on the Italian coast about 15 kilometers north of
La Spezia
La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy.
La Spezia is the second largest cit ...
, 400 km (250 miles) behind the then established front, as part of
Operation Ginny II. They were all properly dressed in the
field uniform of the U.S. Army and carried no civilian clothes.
Their objective was to demolish a tunnel at
Framura on the important railway line between La Spezia and
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...
. Two days later the group was captured by a combined party of
Italian Fascist soldiers and troops from the
German Army. They were taken to
La Spezia
La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy.
La Spezia is the second largest cit ...
, where they were confined near the headquarters of the 135th (Fortress) Brigade, which was under the command of German Col. Almers. His immediate superior was the commander of the 75th Army Corps, Dostler.
The captured American party was interrogated by Wehrmacht intelligence officers, and an officer revealed the mission. The information, including that it was a
commando raid, was then sent to Dostler at the 75th Army Corps H.Q. The following day he informed his superior, Field Marshal
Albert Kesselring, commanding general of all German forces in Italy, about the captured U.S. commandos and asked what to do with them. According to Dostler's adjutant, Kesselring responded by ordering the execution. Later that day Dostler sent a telegram to the 135th (Fortress) Brigade passing on the order that the captured commando party was to be executed, in line with the
Commando Order of 1942 issued by
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...
, which ordered the immediate execution without trial of all enemy commandos and
saboteurs
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...
taken prisoner by the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
in the field.
Colonel Almers at the 135th (Fortress) Brigade was uneasy with the execution order, and approached Dostler again to delay the execution command. In response Dostler dispatched another telegram ordering Almers to carry out the execution as previously ordered. Two last attempts were made by Colonel Almers to stop the execution, including some by telephone, as he knew that executing uniformed
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...
was in violation of the
1929 Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War. His appeals were unsuccessful, and the 15 Americans of the commando raid were executed on the morning of 26 March 1944, at Punta Bianca, south of La Spezia, in the municipality of
Ameglia
Ameglia ( lij, Ameggia, locally ) is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of La Spezia in the Italian region of Liguria, located about southeast of Genoa and about southeast of La Spezia.
Ameglia borders the municipalities of Lerici and ...
. Their bodies were buried in a mass grave that was camouflaged afterwards.
Alexander zu Dohna-Schlobitten, a member of Dostler's staff who, unaware of the existence of Hitler's "Commando Order", had refused to sign the execution order for the American commandos, was dismissed from the Wehrmacht for insubordination.
Trial and execution
Dostler was taken prisoner of war by the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...
and, after it discovered the fate of the commando raiding team, was put on trial for war crimes on 8 May 1945. A
military tribunal was held at the seat of the
Supreme Allied Commander
Supreme Allied Commander is the title held by the most senior commander within certain multinational military alliances. It originated as a term used by the Allies during World War I, and is currently used only within NATO for Supreme Allied Com ...
, the
Royal Palace in Caserta, on 8 October 1945. In the first
Allied war crimes trial, he was accused of carrying out an illegal order. In his defense he maintained that he had not issued the order but had only passed it to Colonel Almers from Field Marshal Kesselring, and that the execution of the OSS men was a lawful order. Dostler's plea of
superior orders
Superior orders, also known as the Nuremberg defense or just following orders, is a plea in a court of law that a person, whether a member of the military, law enforcement, a firefighting force, or the civilian population, should not be conside ...
failed before the tribunal, which found that in ordering the mass execution he had acted on his own outside the Führer's orders. The Military Commission also rejected his plea for clemency, declaring that the mass execution of the commando party was in violation of Article 2 of the 1929 Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War, which prohibited acts of reprisals against prisoners of war. In its judgment the Commission stated that "no soldier, and still less a
Commanding General, can be heard to say that he considered the
summary shooting of prisoners of war legitimate, even as a reprisal."
Under the
1907 Hague Convention on Land Warfare, it was legal to execute
spies and saboteurs disguised in civilian clothes or enemy uniforms, but not those captured in uniforms of their own army.
Because the 15 U.S. soldiers were properly dressed in U.S. uniforms behind enemy lines, and not disguised in civilian clothes or enemy uniforms, they should not have been treated as spies but as prisoners of war, a principle which Dostler had violated in enforcing the order for execution.
The trial found General Dostler guilty of war crimes, rejecting the "superior orders" defense. He was sentenced to death, and executed in
Aversa
Aversa () is a city and '' comune'' in the Province of Caserta in Campania, southern Italy, about 24 km north of Naples. It is the centre of an agricultural district, the ''Agro Aversano'', producing wine and cheese (famous for the typical ...
by a 12-man
firing squad
Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are ...
at 0800 hours on 1 December 1945. The execution was photographed on
black and white still and movie cameras.
Immediately after the execution Dostler's body was lifted onto a stretcher, shrouded inside a white cotton mattress cover, and driven away in an army truck. His body was buried in Grave 93/95 of Section H at
Pomezia German War Cemetery.
Of the Nazi war criminals to be executed by the U.S. military, Dostler was one of only two who were shot instead of hanged. The other exception was
Curt Bruns
Curt Bruns (March 12, 1915 – June 14, 1945) was a Wehrmacht captain and war criminal. He was the first war criminal to be executed by the United States Army for war crimes after World War II. Bruns was shot for having ordered the executions of ...
.
References
External links
The Ginny II MissionExplained by Kent Emery, Jr., son of one of Dostler's defense attorneys.
*
Anton Dostler
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dostler, Anton
1891 births
1945 deaths
German mass murderers
German Army personnel of World War I
Nazis executed by the United States military by firing squad
Executed military leaders
German Army generals of World War II
Generals of Infantry (Wehrmacht)
Military personnel from Munich
People from the Kingdom of Bavaria
Filmed executions
Executed people from Bavaria
Reichswehr personnel
Recipients of the clasp to the Iron Cross, 1st class
Germans convicted of war crimes committed in Italy during World War II
Massacres in 1944
Massacres in Italy
Perpetrators of World War II prisoner of war massacres
Executed mass murderers