Destruction of Friesoythe (1945)

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Canadian soldiers with the Hitler Youth flag in Friesoythe on April 16, 1945

The destruction of Friesoythe took place on April 14, 1945 during the Western Allied invasion of Germany towards the end of World War II . At the beginning of April, the 4th Canadian (armored) division, which was advancing into northwestern Germany, attacked the German city of Friesoythe. The Canadian infantry regiment The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada captured the city. During the fight, the commander of a battalion of the regiment was killed by a German soldier. However, the Canadian side wrongly assumed that he had been killed by a German civilian.

Under this mistaken belief, the division's commander, Major General Christopher Vokes , ordered the city to be essentially destroyed in retaliation. The debris was to be used to fill craters in local streets to make them passable for the division's tanks and heavy vehicles. A few days earlier, the division had destroyed the center of the village of Sögel in a similar repression and also used this rubble to make the streets passable.

The incident was barely noticed in public. However, it is dealt with in the regimental histories of the units involved and in several reports on the campaign. Forty years later, Vokes wrote in his autobiography that he had "no great regret for getting rid of Friesoythe." The Canadian authorities had not investigated the incident.

background

Allied tactics

By September 1944 the Western Allies had reached the German western border and by the end of October had conquered Aachen , the first large German city. In the following six months they overran a large part of western Germany. In November, the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF) publicly stated that the Western Allied forces would strictly adhere to international law regarding the treatment of civilians . In the manual of SHAEF Combatting the guerrilla (German about: to combat guerrilla ) was found, however, that there were circumstances in which were commanders "strict measures" taken against civilians in order to respond quickly to guerrilla attacks, although this against violated the Hague Land Warfare Regulations .

The frequency and type of retaliation differed between national contingents within the Western Allied forces. According to SHAEF policy, members of the United States Armed Forces destroyed German buildings, sometimes entire villages, and took other measures against German civilians. French troops took a similar, often stricter approach than the Americans. British commanders disapproved of retaliation against civilians and British forces carried out little reprisals.

The 1st Canadian Army served in the predominantly British 21st Army Group and retaliated against German civilians more often than the British. The commander of the 4th Canadian (Armored) Division, Major General Christopher Vokes , believed that the destruction of their private property was the most appropriate way to respond to resistance from German civilians. The division therefore retaliated against German property more frequently than any other Canadian formation.

Attitude of the Allies

Frustration and anger over the continued resistance of the Germans in a clearly hopeless situation and the perceived unnecessary sacrifice this caused were widespread among Allied forces. It was therefore seen as justified that German soldiers and civilians should be treated strictly and even ruthlessly. On April 15, the British and Canadians reached the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp , where there had been cases of cannibalism among inmates due to the conditions of the camp. Historian Rick Atkinson wrote that "these April revelations ... sparked continued outrage."

This was the case at all levels. One American officer wrote: "The attitude of the high command seemed to be that these people ... should feel the full meaning of the war and what their troops had done to other people." US General George S. Patton wrote in his diary: "In hundreds of villages ... most of the houses are piles of stones ... I did most of them." When a sniper shot one of his officers, he ordered several German houses to be burned down. When the commander of the 3rd US Armored Division , Maurice Rose , was killed near Paderborn on March 30, several villages were destroyed by his angry troops, wounded Germans captured were shot on the spot and at least 45 Germans were executed for their surrender. An artillery officer wrote home in April: “We should fire about a thousand rounds into every [German] town. Would do them good. ”[12] At least one British battalion refused to take prisoners of the Waffen SS and shot those who surrendered. An officer of the battalion justified this with the “cruelty” of the SS. A British battalion commander summed up the risk-averse attitude within his unit: “At this stage of the war nobody was very interested in earning medals” and a British pilot wrote: “It seemed like a stupid time to die. ”A British sergeant spoke for many when he wrote,“ Why don't the stupid bastards give up? ”Some divisions had suffered their last death in mid-April. Historian Max Hastings wrote: "The final Anglo-American advance through Germany was ... many stupid little battles that wasted men's lives."

Battle for Sögel

Major General Christopher Vokes in conversation with Brigadier Robert Moncel in a street in Sögel on April 10, 1945
Major General Christopher Vokes (right) with Brigadier Robert Moncel in Sögel on April 10, 1945.
Photo: A. Stirton - Library and Archives Canada

At the beginning of April 1945 the 4th (armored) Canadian Division advanced as part of the II. Canadian Corps after the Allied Rhine crossing in the course of Operation Plunder from the eastern Netherlands . On April 4, the Canadian Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, an infantry regiment belonging to the 10th Infantry Brigade of the Canadian 4th Division, crossed the River Ems and captured the city of Meppen with only one casualty. The German prisoners of war included several 17-year-old youths with less than eight weeks of military experience.

The division then advanced another 25 kilometers to the town of Sögel, which the Lake Superior Regiment (engine) captured on April 9th. The following day, the unit, along with tanks from the Lincoln and Welland Regiment, repulsed several German counter-attacks before the city was declared evacuated. Some German civilians had joined the fighting and were believed to be responsible for the deaths of several Canadian soldiers. Vokes, believing the civilian population had to be taught a lesson, ordered the destruction of the city center with several truckloads of dynamite. Soldiers of the division therefore referred to Vokes as "The Sod of Sögel" (German for example: "The Scheißkerl von Sögel").

An additional investigation confirmed that German civilians participated in the fighting and were responsible for the loss of Canadian lives. As a reprisal and warning, a number of houses in the center of Sögel were destroyed by pioneers .

Battle for Friesoythe

The Canadian advance continued across the Westphalian lowlands and on April 13th reached a strategic crossroads on the outskirts of Friesoythe. At the beginning of spring the ground was wet and heavy vehicles could not drive off the main roads. This made Friesoythe, 32 km west of Oldenburg an der Soeste , a potential bottleneck. If the Germans held it, most of the Canadians would not be able to continue their advance. Most of the 4,000 residents were evacuated to the country on April 11th and 12th. Several hundred paratroopers from the Raabe Battalion of the 7th Paratrooper Division and a number of anti-tank guns defended the city. The paratroopers repelled the Lake Superior Regiment's first attack , which left a number of dead and wounded. German victims are not known.

Vokes ordered the attack to be resumed by the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Lieutenant Colonel Frederick E. Wigle). The Argylls carried out a flanking night march and launched a morning attack on April 14th. The attack met with sporadic resistance from the disorderly crew and the Argylls secured the city at 10:30 a.m. During the attack, around 8:30 am, about 50 German soldiers surprised Wigle's command post . A firefight broke out that resulted in the deaths of Wigle and several other soldiers. It was rumored that a local civilian shot Wigle.

Destruction of Friesoythe

Vokes was furious when he learned of Wigle's death. In his autobiography , he wrote: “A first-class officer of mine, for whom I felt special appreciation and affection and in whom I had a special professional interest because of his leadership qualities, was not only killed but, I was told, was ambushed in shot in the back ”. Vokes continued, “I called my GSO1 ... 'Mac,' I yelled at him, 'I'm going to destroy this goddamn city. Tell them we're going to level the damn place. Get the hell the people out of their homes first. ”“ Vokes' staff officer, Lt. Col. Mackenzie Robinson, convinced him not to issue this order in writing or to make a proclamation to the local civilians.

The Argylls had spontaneously started setting Friesoythe on fire in retaliation for the death of their commander. After Vokes gave his order, the town was systematically set on fire with flamethrowers mounted on Wasp Carriers . Other soldiers spread out on side streets and threw phosphorus grenades or improvised Molotov cocktails from gasoline containers into buildings. The attack lasted over eight hours and Friesoythe was almost completely destroyed. As the commanding officer of the Algonquin regiment later wrote, "the angry highlands evacuated the rest of this city like no other city has been evacuated in centuries". The war diary of the 4th Canadian Tank Brigade records: "As darkness fell, Friesoythe reminded of Dante's inferno ".

Official Canadian historiography states that Friesoythe "was set on fire for erroneous retaliation". The rubble was used to reinforce the local roads for the division's tanks, which had been unable to advance due to the many craters in the streets outside the city.

Several attempts were made to find passable roads for the vehicles, but the main road between Cloppenburg and Friesoythe was badly cratered near the latter town and the small roads could not withstand the heavy traffic.

Civilian casualties and damage

During the fighting for Friesoythe and afterwards ten civilians from the city and another ten from the surrounding villages were killed. There were reports of civilians lying dead on the street. According to a German estimate, 85 to 90 percent of the city was destroyed during the reprisals. The Brockhaus encyclopedia estimated the destruction at up to 90 percent. The city's website reports that of 381 houses in the city, 231 were destroyed and another 30 were badly damaged. A few days later a Canadian nurse wrote home that the monastery on the outskirts of town was the only building left. In the Altenoythe suburb , 120 houses and 110 other buildings were destroyed. In 2010 the author Mark Zuehlke wrote: "Not all of Friesoythe was burned, but its center was destroyed."

aftermath

The regiment's war diary made no mention of the destruction of the site and merely incidentally stated that "many fires raged". There is no record of deliberate destruction at the division, corps or army level. The war diary of the Division's 8th Anti-Aircraft Regiment reports that “the Argylls were attacked in this city yesterday by German forces with the support of the civilian population, and today the entire city is being systematically destroyed. A severe atonement ... ”The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders received, as did the Lake Superior Regiment (motor) and the Lincoln and Welland Regiment , the“ Battle Honors ”“ Friesoythe ”. The Canadian authorities have not investigated the damage or the civilian casualties.

On April 16, the handle- Lincoln and Welland Regiment the place Garrel on, 16 km southwest of Friesoythe. After a German act of perfidy - the mayor surrendered the city, but the first tank that entered was destroyed by a bazooka - the battalion commander, Wigle's brother-in-law, ordered "any building that did not show a white flag to open fire" . Before the order was carried out, however, it was revoked and the village spared. In another case, a Canadian force was authorized to burn down the village of Mittelsten in what the historian Perry Briddiscombe called "an unnamed transgression". However, they were stopped by a Canadian engineering department because the middle class civilians were doing vital work with an army sawmill.

Later in the campaign, Canadian troops destroyed the homes of three men who were suspected of setting a booby trap near Wilhelmshaven that wounded a Canadian soldier.

After the end of the war

In early 1946, Vokes, now commander of the Canadian occupation forces in Europe, heard an appeal hearing against the death sentence of Kurt Meyer , a convicted German war criminal who gave orders to kill prisoners of war during Operation Overlord , which also resulted in the murder of 187 Canadian soldiers. In relation to this, Vokes told the Canadian High Commissioner in London: "I told them about Sögel and Friesoythe, as well as about the prisoners and civilians my troops had killed in Italy and north-western Europe." On Voke's orders, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Vokes said: “There is no general or colonel on the Allied side who I know did not say, Well, we don't want prisoners this time. "

Canadian Army historian Colonel Charles Stacey visited Friesoythe on April 15 and wrote in his Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War :

“… As a result, the town of Friesoythe, or a great part of it, was set on fire in a mistaken reprisal. There is no record of how this came about. "

“As a result, the city of Friesoythe, or a large part of it, was set on fire in an erroneous reprisal. There is no record of how this came about. "

- Charles Stacey

Referring to this, historian Mark Zuehlke wrote that there were records of events in the war diaries of several units, but that he did not believe that Stacey's vagueness was an active cover-up attempt. In his 1982 memoir, Stacey expanded the official story, noting that the only time he saw what could be considered a war crimes committed by Canadian soldiers was when ...

“… At Friesoythe, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada of this division lost their popular commanding officer… as a result a great part of the town of Friesoythe was set on fire in a mistaken reprisal. This unfortunate episode only came to my notice and thus got into the pages of history because I was in Friesoythe at the time and saw people being turned out of their houses and the houses burned. How painfully easy it is for the business of 'reprisals' to get out of hand! "

“… The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada in Friesoythe lost their beloved commander… As a result, a large part of the city of Friesoythe was set on fire by mistaken reprisal. This unfortunate episode caught my eye and made it into the history books because I was in Friesoythe at the time and saw people being evicted from their homes and their homes being burned down. How painfully easy can 'reprisals' get out of hand! "

- Charles Stacey

Vokes commented in his autobiography, written forty years after the event, that he “did not feel much remorseful about the removal of Friesoythe. Whatever. "

literature

  • Perry Briddiscombe: Werewolf! : The History of the National Socialist Guerrilla Movement, 1944-1946. University of Toronto Press. Toronto. 1998. ISBN 978-0-8020-0862-6 .
  • GL Cassidy: Warpath; the Story of the Algonquin Regiment, 1939-1945. Ryerson Press. Toronto. 1948. OCLC 937425850.
  • Ferdinand Cloppenburg: The city of Friesoythe in the twentieth century. Schepers. Friesoythe. 2003. ISBN 978-3-00-012759-5 .
  • Tony Foster: Meeting of Generals. iUniverse. San Jose, New York. 2000. ISBN 978-0-595-13750-3 .
  • Robert L. Fraser: Black Yesterdays; the Argylls' War. Argyll Regimental Foundation. Hamilton. 1996. ISBN 978-0-9681380-0-7 .
  • Joyce Hibbert: Fragments of War: Stories from Survivors of World War II. Dundurn Press. Toronto. 1985. ISBN 978-0-919670-95-2 .
  • Desmond Morton: Keyword: "Christopher Vokes". Published in: The Canadian Encyclopedia. Edition 2016. Accessed January 24, 2018.
  • RL Rogers: History of The Lincoln and Welland Regiment. Private printing. Ottawa. 1989. OCLC 13090416.
  • E. Sirluck: Intelligence Report, War Diary, General Staff, 4th Canadian Armored Division, April 1, 1945 to April 30, 1945. Appendix 38, April 14, 1945.
  • Charles Perry Stacey: The Victory Campaign: The Operations in North-west Europe 1944-45 (PDF). Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War. Volume III. Queen's Printer. Ottawa. 1960. OCLC 317352926.
  • Charles Perry Stacey: A Date With History. Deneau. Ottawa. 1982. ISBN 978-0-88879-086-6 .
  • Christopher Vokes: Vokes: My Story. Gallery Books. Ottowa. 1985. ISBN 978-0-9692109-0-0 .
  • Jeffery Williams: The Long Left Flank: the Hard Fought Way to the Reich, 1944-1945. Stoddart. Toronto. 1988. ISBN 978-0-7737-2194-4 . OCLC 25747884.
  • Lincoln and Welland Regiment War Diary, April 1945. Library and Archives Canada. RG24.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stephen E. Ambrose: Citizen Soldiers: The US Army From the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany. Simon & Schuster. New York. 1997. ISBN 0-684-815257 . Page 117.
  2. ^ Max Hastings: Armageddon: the Battle for Germany 1944-45. Macmillan Publishers. London. 2004. ISBN 0-333-90836-8 . Pages 106-107.
  3. ↑ a b Perry Briddiscombe: Werewolf! : The History of the National Socialist Guerrilla Movement, 1944-1946. University of Toronto Press. Toronto. 1998. ISBN 978-0-8020-0862-6 . Page 256
  4. ↑ a b Perry Briddiscombe: Werewolf! : The History of the National Socialist Guerrilla Movement, 1944-1946. University of Toronto Press. Toronto. 1998. ISBN 978-0-8020-0862-6 . Pages 258-259
  5. ↑ a b Perry Briddiscombe: Werewolf! : The History of the National Socialist Guerrilla Movement, 1944-1946. University of Toronto Press. Toronto. 1998. ISBN 978-0-8020-0862-6 . Page 257
  6. ↑ a b Rick Atkinson: The Guns at Last Light. Abacus. Great Britain. 2015. ISBN 978-0-349-14048-3 . Page 597.
  7. ↑ Rick Atkinson: The Guns at Last Light. Abacus. Great Britain. 2015. ISBN 978-0-349-14048-3 . Page 599.
  8. ↑ Rick Atkinson: The Guns at Last Light. Abacus. Great Britain. 2015. ISBN 978-0-349-14048-3 . Page 604.
  9. ^ Max Hastings: Armageddon: the Battle for Germany 1944-45. Macmillan Publishers. London. 2004. ISBN 0-333-90836-8 . Pages 493-494.
  10. ↑ Rick Atkinson: The Guns at Last Light. Abacus. Great Britain. 2015. ISBN 978-0-349-14048-3 . Page 568.
  11. ↑ Rick Atkinson: The Guns at Last Light. Abacus. Great Britain. 2015. ISBN 978-0-349-14048-3 . Pages 581-582.
  12. ↑ Rick Atkinson: The Guns at Last Light. Abacus. Great Britain. 2015. ISBN 978-0-349-14048-3 . Page 598.
  13. ^ Max Hastings: Armageddon: the Battle for Germany 1944-45. Macmillan Publishers. London. 2004. ISBN 0-333-90836-8 . Pages 499.
  14. ^ Max Hastings: Armageddon: the Battle for Germany 1944-45. Macmillan Publishers. London. 2004. ISBN 0-333-90836-8 . Page 492.
  15. ^ Max Hastings: Armageddon: the Battle for Germany 1944-45. Macmillan Publishers. London. 2004. ISBN 0-333-90836-8 . Page 500.
  16. ^ Max Hastings: Armageddon: the Battle for Germany 1944-45. Macmillan Publishers. London. 2004. ISBN 0-333-90836-8 . Page 491.
  17. ^ Charles Perry Stacey: The Victory Campaign: The Operations in North-west Europe 1944-45. Published in Volume III of the Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War. Queen's Printer. Ottawa, 1960. p. 557. ( online )
  18. ^ Tony Foster: Meeting of Generals. iUniverse. San Jose, New York. 2000. ISBN 978-0-595-13750-3 . Page 437.
  19. ^ A b c Charles Perry Stacey: The Victory Campaign: The Operations in North-west Europe 1944-45. Published in Volume III of the Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War. Queen's Printer. Ottawa, 1960. p. 558. ( online )
  20. ^ A b c d Mark Zuehlke: On To Victory: The Canadian Liberation of the Netherlands. Greystone Books. Vancouver. 2010. ISBN 978-1-55365-430-8 . Page 309.
  21. ↑ The Encyclopedia, 20th edition, V. 7. Leipzig: Brockhaus. 1996.
  22. ↑ Perry Briddiscombe: Werewolf! : The History of the National Socialist Guerrilla Movement, 1944-1946. University of Toronto Press. Toronto. 1998. ISBN 978-0-8020-0862-6 . P. 258.
  23. ^ Lieb: Conventional War or Weltanschauung War , p. 160.
  24. ↑ Patrick Brode: Casual Slaughters and Accidental Judgments: Canadian War Crimes Prosecutions, 1944-1948. For Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History by University of Toronto Press. Toronto, Buffalo. 1997. ISBN 08020-4204-X . Page 105.
  25. ↑ The Insignia and Linages of the Canadian Forces. Volume 3, Part 2: Infantry Regiments A Canadian Forces Heritage Publication ( cmp-cpm.forces.gc.ca PDF).