Operation Loyton
| date | August 12–9. October 1944 |
|---|---|
| place | Vosges |
| output | German victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
Standard leader Gustav Mertsch |
Lieutenant Colonel Brian Franks |
| Troop strength | |
| Parts of the 17th SS Panzer Grenadier Division "Götz von Berlichingen" | 91 men Special Air Service Section of the GHQ Liaison Regiment Unknown number of the French Resistance 1 man Royal Canadian Air Force |
| losses | |
|
Special Air Service killed 14 |
|
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Operation Loyton was the code name of a failed Special Air Service (SAS) commando company behind enemy lines in the Vosges department during World War II , which ran from August 12 to October 9, 1944.
procedure
The command jumped parachute over the Vosges . At this time, the Wehrmacht increased its troops in the region to counter US General George Patton and the 3rd US Army . Therefore, the Germans quickly learned of the presence of a commando and pursued it.
Under this pressure of persecution and in view of the running out of supplies, the SAS was ordered to return to the front in small groups. During the fighting and breakout operations, 31 men were captured and later executed by the Germans on the basis of the command .
consequences
After the war, Lieutenant Colonel Brian Franks began to investigate the fate of his comrades. All he knew for sure was that three men with Lieutenant Johnson had been killed. Ten men were buried in the Moussey cemetery. The 2nd SAS War Crimes Investigation Team (2 SAS WCIT) investigated the events around Loyton . 2nd SAS Intelligence Officer Major Eric 'Bill' Barkworth had heard of the command in 1944. In July 1945 Franks was informed by the French that the bodies of SAS men had been found near Gaggenau in the French-occupied zone. Franks ordered the 2nd SAS WCIT, under the command of Major Barkworth, to travel to this area. The bodies of 30 SAS men (out of 31 men) were found. These 30 had been murdered by the security service (SD). Some had been brought to Natzweiler-Struthof , a concentration camp in the Vosges. A soldier's fate was never clarified.
In 2003 a memorial for the murdered was erected near Moussey. A memorial stone also exists at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.
Tracking those responsible
- Erich Isselhorst was executed for the murder of the prisoners in 1946, among other things.
- Lieutenant Heinrich "Stuka" Neuschwanger was executed by shooting for the murder of the prisoners in Werl.
- Hans-Dietrich Ernst was in Soviet custody, was sentenced to death in absentia in France, but lived unmolested in Germany. He died of old age in 1991 before he could be charged.
literature
- Pete Schorley, Frederick Forsyth : Who Dares Wins: Special Forces Heroes of the SAS . Osprey Publishing, 2008, ISBN 1-84603-311-X .
- Laurie Charlesworth: The Journal of Intelligence History . Volume 6, No. 2 . LIT Verlag Münster, 2006, ISSN 1616-1262 .
Web links
- BBC: WW2 Peoples War Operation Loyton ( memento from April 20, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) on bbc.co.uk
Individual evidence
- ^ Charlesworth, p. 17
- ^ Charlesworth, p. 18
- ^ Charlesworth, p. 24
- ^ Charlesworth, p. 25
- ↑ Schorley & Forsyth, p. 50
- ↑ Obituary: Len Owens . In: The Daily Telegraph , July 2, 2013. Retrieved November 22, 2015.