Biscari massacre

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Biscari massacre was a war crime committed by US troops during World War II as part of the Allied Operation Husky , the conquest of Sicily , in which 76 defenseless Italian and German prisoners of war (74 Italian and 2 German) at Biscari in July and August 1943 Sicily were killed. 36 Italian prisoners of war were shot dead by firing squad shortly after capture on the same day , on the orders of the commander of C Company, 1st Battalion, 180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division of the US Army , Captain John T. Compton Sergeant Horace B. West 35 Italian and two German prisoners of war

The war crime was supposed to be hushed up by those responsible, but the two American soldiers were still brought to a court martial . Compton was acquitted . He fell on the Italian mainland on November 8, 1943. West was demoted and sentenced to life in prison. In November 1944, the remaining sentence was waived, West fought in the rank of private and was honorably discharged from the army at the end of the war. Both defendants relied on orders from their superior , General George S. Patton . A dispute had arisen between General Omar Bradley and General Patton over how to deal with this crime. Patton later wrote in his diary:

“I told Bradley that it was probably an exaggeration, but in any case to tell the Officer to certify that the dead men were snipers or had attempted to escape or something, as it would make a stink in the press and also would make the civilians mad. Anyhow, they are dead, so nothing can be done about it. "

“I told Bradley that it was probably an exaggeration, but in any case the officer should be told to confirm that the dead men were snipers or tried to escape or something because the press could be in trouble and drive the civilians crazy with it. In any case, they would be dead now, and nothing more could be done about it anyway. "

literature

  • James Weingartner, "Massacre at Biscari: Patton and An American War Crime," The Historian LII, no. 1, (November 1989), pp. 24-39.
  • Gianfranco Ciriacono: Le stragi dimenticate - Gli eccidi americani di Biscari e Piano Stella . Ragusa, tipografia Cooperativa Cdb.
  • Giovanni Bartolone: Le altre stragi. Le stragi alleate e tedesche nella Sicilia del 1943–1944 . Bagheria, Tipografia Aiello & Provenzano, 2005.
  • Carlo D'Este: Lo sbarco in Sicilia . Milano, Mondadori, 1990
  • Ezio Costanzo: Sicilia 1943 . Le Nove Muse, 2003.
  • Gianfranco Ciriacono: Arrivano… . Vittoria, 2003.
  • Alfio Caruso: Arrivano i nostri . Longanesi, 2004.
  • Giuseppe Federico Ghergo: 14 luglio 1943: il massacro di Biscari , in: Storia Militare n ° 133, ottobre 2004 (pp. 4-7).
  • Atkinson, Rick: The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 (The Liberation Trilogy). New York: Henry Holt and Co. 2007. ISBN 0-8050-6289-0 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ US Department of the Army, Statements of the US soldiers: Marlow, Hair, Gazzetti and Blanks, Trial Proper, Compton Court-Martial, 27-34, 15-6, 35, 7-9.
  2. ^ Atkinson, Rick (2007). The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 (The Liberation Trilogy). New York: Henry Holt and Co. ISBN 0-8050-6289-0 , p. 50.
  3. ↑ Fred L. Borch: The Army Lawyer, March 2013, War Crimes in Sicily - Sergeant West, Captain Compton, and the murder of Prisoners of War in 1943 p. 5 (PDF).
  4. ^ Atkinson, Rick (2007). The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 (The Liberation Trilogy). New York: Henry Holt and Co. ISBN 0-8050-6289-0 , p. 119.