16-193 Garand Picture of the Day

[Mark in Rochester]

SS officer Ernst Fick (left) and driver

On April 29, 1945, during the Murnau Oflag (Offizierslager) VII-A assembly, a plane with Polish insignia had appeared in the sky, circled above the assembly square, tried to signal something and went away. Soon on the road to the camp appeared American tanks. At the same time from the other side of Murnau, two German cars approached. They stopped upon noticing the tanks. Germans had been taken by surprise. SS officer in the first car opened fire from the machine gun, at the same time his companion jumped out of the vehicle. Both men were killed on a spot by the Americans (SS-Hauptsturmführer der Reserve Max Teichmann and SS-officer Widmann). The same fate met the passangers of the second car. Among the dead Germans was SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Ernst Fick (in the above picture lies at left, while at right is his driver with the rank SS-Untersturmführer) who rides in the second car. His briefcase contained the letter signed by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler. It was an order to kill all 5,000 Polish POW officers encamped in Murnau! To execute this task Fick had had at his disposal an SS group in 40 armoured vehicles that started from Münich. Most likely the SS-man intended to assemble the POWs and killed them with the machine guns fire from guard's towers. After finishing off the Germans, one of the Americans' tank smashed the entrance gate and entered the assembly square. The representative of POWs welcomed American soldiers. He had addressed them in English. The commander of the tank shook his head and answered in Polish: " My name is Szewczyk, we came to liberate you". He was from Kalisz, Poland!

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.