The Jungholzhausen massacre was a war crime committed by the 63rd Infantry Division of the

US 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, cla ...

on 15 April 1945 during the

Western Allied invasion of Germany The Western Allied invasion of Germany was coordinated by the Allies of World War II, Western Allies during the final months of hostilities in the European theatre of World War II, European theatre of World War II. In preparation for the Allied ...

. Between 13 and 30

Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...

and

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 previous ...

prisoners of war were executed by the division's 254th Infantry Regiment after heavy fighting near the village of Jungholzhausen.

Massacre

In April 1945, the 254th Infantry Regiment suffered heavy casualties during the battle for the

Hohenlohe The House of Hohenlohe () is a German princely dynasty. It ruled an immediate territory within the Holy Roman Empire which was divided between several branches. The Hohenlohes became imperial counts in 1450. The county was divided numerous time ...

district. Wehrmacht combat engineers and mostly 17-year old Waffen-SS soldiers from

Leoben Leoben () is a Styrian city in central Austria, located on the Mur river. With a population of about 25,000 it is a local industrial centre and hosts the University of Leoben, which specialises in mining. The Peace of Leoben, an armistice betwee ...

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...

engaged the regiment in combat near the village of Jungholzhausen. After the battle, the villagers counted the bodies of 63 German soldiers, out of whom at least 13 and possibly up to 20 or 30 had been killed after surrendering. An eyewitness observed the US execution with

submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an autom ...

s of four Waffen-SS troops during the night. U.S. massacres of German prisoners of war were commonplace in the district of Hohenlohe.

Legacy and 1996 US investigation

According to German historian Klaus-Dietmar Henke, the war crimes committed by the US in Germany in 1945 were largely shrouded in silence until the 1990s, when German local newspapers began reporting on them. In 1996, the

United States Army Criminal Investigation Command The United States Army Criminal Investigation Division (USACID), previously known as the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command (USACIDC) is the primary federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of the Army. Its p ...

investigated the massacre of 15 April 1945 in Braunsbach-Jungholzhausen but could not identify the perpetrators of the massacre.

Citations

References

* * {{coord missing, Germany 1945 in Germany Massacres in 1945 World War II prisoner of war massacres by the United States April 1945 events in Europe Massacres in Germany 1945 murders in Germany