Far from home. Soldiers' fate

Wolfgang Meyer

• 02 december 2025
• 9783384750617

Samenvatting:

The fifth expanded volume is dedicated to the topic of "Prisoners of War and Death in a Foreign Land" and spans 656 pages. It was triggered by a reference in the denazification file of the former NSDAP local group leader in Kirchweyhe. Among other things, it contained a photo of the funeral service for four “enemy fallen” English soldiers of the Royal Air Force at the Kirchweyhe cemetery. The serious wounding of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel during the invasion of Normandy in 1944 is documented in detail. Finally, the author's father was also seriously wounded on the same day and in the same place. This documentation examines the biographies of twelve Allied Air Force pilots who claimed to have taken Rommel out of action. During research on captured submarine commanders, evidence was found of “Feme murders” in POW camps on the American continent. The findings led directly to the cemetery of the United States Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. This historic site is the final resting place of fourteen German soldiers who were accused, convicted and executed by hanging. The “Feme murders” in the POW camps were the catalyst for the establishment of the “Home Study Department,” where German prisoners could study selected subjects at American universities and take the “Final Examination.” Nineteen-year-old Private First Class Helmuth Höltken lost his life in the massacre during the battle for Convoy PQ 13 when the German destroyer Z 26 was sunk in the Arctic Ocean near Murmansk.