Following the Second World War, there were many different war trials which were conducted
to bring perpetrators of war crimes to justice.
Following these, a number of executions took place.
Many were executed in public in certain countries to show the world the evils that people had
committed.
The Stutthof Guards for example who worked in the concentration camp were all executed
in public on huge gallows in front of thousands of witnesses.
One man who was sentenced to death for crimes committed in the conflict was Anton Dostler,
but after his trial his execution shown in the media around the world, with him being
tied to a post and facing a firing squad.
So join us today as we look at the Vengeful Execution of Anton Dostler, remember to support
our channel please make sure to subscribe.
Anton Dostler was born on the 10th May 1891 in Munich in Germany.
It’s assumed that he had a rather normal upbringing, but he did sign up to the German
military.
He joined the Army in 1910, and then served his country as a junior officer during the
First World War.
Little is known about his conduct during World War 1, and he returned to life in Germany
after the war had come to an end.
He remained in the military following the Treaty of Versailles, which stopped Germany
having an army of more than 100,000 soldiers.
Dostler was part of the Reichsheer and he must have been highly thought of by Adolf
Hitler also as he was given a senior position inside of the military.
From the beginning of the Second World War and the invasion of Poland he served as the
Chief of Staff of the 7th Army.
The 7th Army saw service defending the French border region at the beginning of the war,
and Dostler was in charge of ensuring that Germany was not invaded by any the French
or any allied armies.
Following this role, Dostler was given a commanders position and he oversaw the 57th Infantry
Division between 1941 and 1942.
This division saw service inside of Poland but then was transferred to take part in Operation
Barbarossa and the subsequent invasion of the Soviet Union.
Dostler acted as the commander of this unit during the early stages of Barbarossa when
the German Army were storming through the Soviet Union and taking large amounts of land.
He then transferred yet again to commanding the 163rd infantry division in 1942, who were
also fighting in the Soviet Union.
However this group saw service in the toughest parts of the union, fighting close to the
artic circle.
Anton Dostler then became the commander of the 7th Army Corp and he was transferred from
the Eastern Front to serve inside of Italy, and in particular as the commander of the
Venetian Coast.
It was clear he was a competent general and military leader, but it was whilst in Italy
that he committed the war crime he would pay for with his life.
On the 22nd March 1944, 15 American soldiers which included two officers landed on the
Italian Coast.
They landed around 15 kilometres north of La Spezia, which was around 400 kilometres
behind the front lines.
It was part of Operation Ginny II, a sabotage mission that was conducted during the Italian
campaign.
The aim was to blow up railway tunnels that would stop communications between the Germans
in central Italy.
The first attempt failed as the team could not find the tunnels, but a second attempt
saw the 15 men landing in thew wrong place.
The men had dressed in proper Us Army uniforms and did not have civilian clothing.
Three of them wore paratrooper boots, and they also had their jackets inside out.
They had no markings that indicated they were a branch of the Office of Strategic Services,
and they were armed with Cold 45 pistols, fighting knives and 6 of them had Marlin submachine
guns.
The objective was to destroy a tunnel at Framura between La Spezia and Genoa.
It was quickly realised that yet again the team were in the wrong position, and the mission
then came one where they would try and hide out.
They were to hide during the day, and then establish contact with their PT boats in the
night and then try to carry out the mission.
The team hid their rubber boats and explosives to blow the bridge as best as the could, and
they found an empty barn on the edge of Carpeneggio.
On the 23rd March, two men went to get food, and they approached a farmer who helped them
out.
However an Italian fisherman noticed that there were rubber boats on the shore, and
he mentioned this to the police.
Two Fascists went to investigate and they also found the explosives.
They told the local German command detachment, and a search party was assembled that swept
the area.
Despite an attempt to war the Americans, all of the 15 soldiers who were inside the barn
were captured following a brief skirmish, and then they were taken to the German Headquarters
of the 135th Fortress Brigade inside La Spezia to be interrogated. 14 of the men did not
give up any information, but its believed under torture that one US officer gave over
key information that said the commandos were planning to blow up tunnels to disrupt German
supplies.
The information about the raid was sent to Anton Dostler at the Headquarters of the 75th
Army Corp, and he then told his superior Field Marshal Albert Kesselring about it, and asked
what to do with the American men.
Kesselring stated that the men should be executed, and Dostler signed the order for the men to
be executed.
This was after the Commando Order had been decreed by Hitler stating that any allied
commando should be executed without proper trial.
One of Dostler’s aides refused to sign the order as he knew that executing those in proper
uniform was violating the Geneva convention and that the decision to sign the order would
come back to bite.
This was a smart decision as it would come back to haunt Dostler.
Colonel Almers of the 135th Fortress Brigade was not happy with the execution order and
he asked Dostler to delay, however in response Dostler ordered that the execution should
be carried out.
There were attempts made to stop the execution, however ultimately all 15 Americans of the
commando raid were executed in the morning of the 26th March 1944 at Punta Bianca.
The men were lined up by the German Army on a rocky tip and were then shot dead, and buried
in a mass grave that was covered over.
This event would be what sentenced Anton Dostler himself to death.
After the invasion of Italy, he was captured and was then taken as a prisoner of war by
the United States Army.
They found out what had happened to the commando team, and for this Dostler was implicated
in being responsible for their deaths.
He was placed on trial on the 8th May 1945 and was charged with war crimes.
His military tribunal was held at the seat of the Supreme Allied Commander in the Royal
Palace in Caserta on the and this served as the first Allied war crimes trial of World
War 2.
Dostler was accused with carrying out an illegal order that violated the Geneva convention
and resulted in the murders of allied soldiers.
He stated that he had not issued the order and had only passed it along, being a middleman
between the colonel carrying out the order and his superior Kesselring.
He said that the execution of the soldiers was a lawful order, however his ‘I was only
following orders given from a superior,’ defence was not accepted.
He also appealed for clemency, and it was said that the executions was in direct violation
of article 2 of the 1939 Geneva convention on Prisoners of War.
It was said that, ‘no soldier and still less a commanding general can be heard to
say that he considered the summary shooting of prisoners of war as legitimate, even as
a reprisal.’
With this Dostler was deemed to have been a war criminal.
It was said that it was legal to execute spies and saboteurs disguised in civilian clothing
or enemy uniforms, but not their own uniforms of their own army.
As the 15 Americans were dressed in proper US army uniforms, then they should have not
been treated as spies but as POWs, and with this their lives would have been spared.
Because of this Anton Doslter was found guilty of war crimes and was sentenced to death.
His execution was carried out in the Italian city of Aversa, and he was to die as a soldier
and face a firing squad.
A 12 man group was assembled for this job, and just before 8am on the 1st December 1945,
Dostler was brought out from his cell to the firing range.
At the bottom of it stood a stake that he was secured to.
His arms were bound behind his back and his legs were fastened to the stake.
A black hood was placed over his head, and then the order to take aim was given.
The firing squad readied themselves and the fired straight into Anton Dostler killing
him instantly.
After his execution, his body was placed onto a stretcher and shrouded in a white cotton
mattress cover, before he was buried inside a local German war cemetery nearby.
So Anton Dostler was a senior member of the German military who was well respected during
the Second World War.
However what came back to sign his death warrant was the fact his signature was on the piece
of paper that sentenced the American men to death.
Dostler’s order was deemed to have been criminal, and for this he was sentenced to
death.
He met his end at the same way that those 15 American men did, at the firing range being
stared down by the rifles of those who were there to take his life.
Once again thanks for watching.
To support our channel, please make sure to subscribe.
Once again thanks for watching.