✅ This post was reviewed and corrected as part of the 2025 Historical Accuracy Update.Reviewed by Doc Snafu on July 30, 2025. Document Source: Interview with SS-Obersturmbannführer (Lt Col) Otto Skorzeny, Commanding Officer for Operation Greif. August 12, 1945. Interrogator: Lt R. E. Merriam; Interpreter: Capt Samuel J. McCune; USFET Interrogation Center, Oberursel (Germany); Inasmuch as Lt Col Skorzeny’s remarks were given largely in narrative form, and questioning was only to amplify on his account as he progressed this report is presented as a narrative paraphrasing his remarks. Planning for the Attack About the end of October 1944, Hitler called me to...

Document Source: Allied Intelligence Agencies and the Holocaust: Information Acquired from German Prisoners of War, Stephen Tyas, Saint Albans, England. (Final check on August 17, 2022, Doc Snafu) In the early days of World War II, British intelligence agencies began secretly recording conversations between German prisoners of war in the hope of acquiring information on technical advances. The information gathered was to be used in the war effort against Germany. Transcripts of these conversations, now declassified, represent a previously unknown or overlooked source of information about the Holocaust, providing evidence of individual German officers’ participation in and knowledge of war...

(Source Document): Headquarters United States Forces Austria, OSS Austria, APO 777, US Army, SCI/Unit A – September 15, 1945, Salzburg, Austria LSX-54. SS-Obersturmführer Walter Girg – SS-Jagdverband MITTE (Landfried) Subject: SS-Obersturmführer Walter Girg, Commander of the VI-s Mission ‘Landfried’ in Romania and member of the SS-Jagdverband MITTE. (1) SS-Obersturmführer Walter Girg was arrested by the CIC (Counter Intelligence Corps), in Salzburg, Austria. (2) Walter Girg was one of the first members of the SS. His valor as an enlisted man and officer during the Russian Campaign earned him the Knight’s Cross with oak leaves. (3) Walter Girg’s extreme patriotism made him volunteer for dangerous and...

(Document Source): Raw Data File 30-ID, Prisoner of War Interrogation Report, #17, Billing, Schmidt, Pernass. Unteroffizier Manfred Pernass, Oberfähnrich Günther Billing, and Gefreiter Wilhelm Schmidt, were captured on December 18, 1944, on December 18, 1944, at Aywaille, Belgium, after they failed to give the correct password at an US checkpoint. After a military trial in Eupen, Belgium, on December 21, they were sentenced to death and executed by a firing squad on December 23, in Henri-Chapelle, Belgium. Prisoners of War Captured & Interogated Officer Candidate Oberfaehnrich N.N. Naval Signal Service Günther Joachim Billing Born April 9, 1923, Naumburg, Saale, Germany, 21 years; Gefreiter Wilhelm...

(Document Source) Are official translations of briefs of the war experiences of (ex) SS-Oberstgruppenführer Josef Sepp Dietrich, wartime CG of the 6.Panzer-Army, and (ex) SS-Obersturmbannführer Joachim Peiper, wartime CO of the Kampfgruppe Peiper, 1.SS-Panzer-Regiment, 1.SS-Panzer-Division LSSAH), 1.SS Panzer-Corps, written by then for Col Burton F. Ellis, trial judge advocate, while they were awaiting trial for the Malmédy Massacre. Schwäbisch Hall Highly esteemed Colonel Ellis, According to your wishes, I have tried to make up a report about the war years 1939-1945, as I have joined, participated in and seen them. I cannot pass judgment on the outer or inner economic and political...

Source Document: IPW Team N° 46, Headquarters 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division, Interrogation Report N° 107. December 27, 1944 (1) Total of Prisoners of War processed in period: 2 (PWs #3824 & #3825) (2) Units identified: 1 PW of 4.Company, 11.Panzer-Regiment, 8.Panzer-Division; 1 PW of Hq I Battalion, 293.Volksgrenadier-Regiment, 18.Volksgrenadier-Division. (3) Source of Information: 1 PW captured by Charlie Co, 99th Infantry Battalion (S) in vicinity Hédomont (792020) at approximately 1400, Dec 27. PW belonged to Hq I Battalion, 293.Volksgrenadier-Regiment, 18.Volksgrenadier-Division.. (4) Unit History: The 18.Volksgrenadier-Division was activated in Danemark about 4 months ago. I Battalion, 293.Volkgrenadier-Regiment came from Bleialf (Schnee Eifel). The...

Document Source: Battle of the Ardennes, Interview with Lieutenant Colonel Otto Skorzeny, Commanding Officer Operation Greif. The German SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Johann Anton Skorzeny (Jun 12, 1908 – Jul 5, 1975) was an Austrian-born officer in the Waffen-SS during WW-II. During the war, he was involved in a number of operations, including the removal from power of Hungarian Regent Miklós Horthy and the Gran Sasso Raid which rescued Benito Mussolini from captivity. Skorzeny led Operation Greif in which German soldiers infiltrated Allied lines by using their opponents' uniforms, equipment, language and customs. In 1947, he was charged at the Dachau Military...

(Document Source): Annex #2 G-2 Periodical Report #199. Secret, (Auth) CG Third Army, (Date) December 27, 1944. 1. Uncommitted Fallschirmjaeger (Para) and Infantry Units The withdrawal from contact of the 6.Fallschirmjaeger-Division on the 21st Army Group front focuses attention on the enemy's available Infantry reserve, particularly the four Fallschirmjaeger Divisions (2.Falschirmjaeger-Division, 6.Falschirmjaeger-Division, 7.Falschirmjaeger-Division, 8.Falschirmjaeger-Division) that are now out of the line. If the enemy is to hold his present penetration against the mounting pressure of the US Third Army, then he must commit more of his remaining Infantry reserves, for all of his Infantry Divisions on the Southern flank have...

Document Source: Interrogation Report on 8 Prisoners of War captured by Baker Co, 1/26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division. 1/Lt William Boehme, QMC, Interrogator Headquarters 26th Infantry Regiment A.P.O 1, US Army December 20, 1944 Subject: Interrogation Report on 8 Prisoners of War captured by Baker Co, 1/26th Infantry Regiment To: Capt C. A. Lafley, Assistant S-3, 26th Infantry Regiment (1) Todays Prisoners were from the following units: Company 4, Regiment 8, 3rd Fallschirmjaeger Division - 1 Company 12, Regiment 8, 3rd Fallschirmjaeger Division - 3 Company 14, Regiment 8, 3rd Fallschirmjaeger Division - 3 AT Section 3, 1st Fallschirmjaeger Regiment - 1 (2) The Prisoners of War from Regiment...

Source Document: IPW Team N° 43, Headquarters 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division, Interrogation Report N° 104. December 22, 1944, 1100 (1) General information from PW was captured by Baker Co, 526th Armored Infantry Battalion; PW was brought into this battalion headquarters late evening December 21. PW was a member of the 3rd Combat Team of the 150 Panzerbrigade. The Combat Team was committed to taking Malmédy but failed in the mission. PW walked onto the Command Post of Baker Company 526th Battalion to give himself up. (2) Unit History: In November, volunteers were called for in Germany under the motto Einzats...

Source Document: Extract G-2 Report #176, HQ 2nd Infantry Division, December 18, 1944. Prisoner of War Interrogation Report N°88 (1) A total of 33 Prisoners of War were processed through the Division Cage during the period. 25.SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment, 12.SS-Panzer-Division 2nd Company - 1 - (Captured by the 9th Infantry Regiment) 2nd Company - 1 - (Captured by the 38th Infantry Regiment) 6th Company - 1 - (Captured by the 38th Infantry Regiment) 989.Infantry-Regiment, 277.Infantry Division 1st Company - 2 - (Captured by the 38th Infantry Regiment) 2nd Company - 2 - (Captured by the 38th Infantry Regiment) 3rd Company - 6 - (Captured by the 38th Infantry Regiment) 4th Company...