World War II Odyssey

Epilogue

Who Killed Four Crew Memebers in November 1944

By Bill Frankhouser, Navigator, 603rd Squadron

Since I had been a part of the original Newman crew (Chapter XI), the question about the deaths of five crew members who were shot down on November 2, 1944 (Chapter XVIII), and who did not become POWs nagged me for years. I also had learned in 1945 about difficulties that families of those missing persons had in getting information about the fates of their loved ones from military authorities, including the Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Office. For example, some life insurance payments were not made promptly because crew members were reported only as missing in action (MIA).

During my first contact with the 398th BGMA in 1988, I asked George Hilliard, membership coordinator, how to obtain information on downed crews. He gave me several suggestions, and I made an inquiry to the National Archives (NA). A prompt reply indicated that the Newman crew was the subject of Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) #1057. A copy of that report and supplemental information from a file of the War Crimes Branch of the JAG Office were made available.

Unfortunately, information in these files did not extend beyond December 31, 1947, because all investigations of European Theater crimes were terminated as of that date. Also, the files obviously were grossly incomplete and, at best, sketchy in respect to many specific details. In addition, the Russians now occupied this part of Germany.

The 398th BG had lost three planes on that mission in attacking the oil refineries at Merseberg. These were the Campbell crew from the 601st Squadron and the Newman and Reed crews from the 603rd Squadron. Six crew members were reported subsequently as killed in action (KIA), including the pilots Campbell and Newman and four others from the Newman crew. All other crew members became POWs. Campbell initially was buried at an isolated grave in Mulcheln, near Merseburg. When his body was disinterred in 1948, the autopsy report indicated that almost all major bones had been fractured.

MACR #1057 confirmed my suspicions that these missing crew members may not have been KIA. In addition, I had read a story about a downed B-24 crew from the 8th AF that had been attacked and killed by German civilians.

Beyond that, a co-worker of mine during the 1960s, Jay Suldan, told me a relevant story. He had been a navigator in the 8th AF and was shot down over Germany during 1944. He was captured by some farmers who spoke no English and was taken to a large tree where a rope was put around his neck. He feared the worst. Next, down the road came an elderly lady. An argument ensued between her and his captors. The rope was removed from his neck and the lady stayed until soldiers came and took Jay off to an interrogation center. One of these soldiers spoke English and Jay asked him about the prior argument. The soldier said that the old lady reminded her neighbor farmers that her son was a POW in England. She did not want him to be killed and thus the Germans should not kill this American.

After Germany was reunited in the late 1980s, I wondered whether that government would provide details on the deaths of the Newman crew who may have been murdered. With the help of the office of Senator John Warner of Virginia, a contact was made with the JAG’s Office and they suggested that I make a direct inquiry to the German Justice Ministry.

Now, after several letters back and forth between Germany and myself over a period of four years, I have at least a fragmented understanding of what happened to these crew members on November 2, 1944. The summary that follows is based both on my prior review of MACR #1057 and other records in the NA and on the subsequent German investigations that were conducted during the period 1991 through 1994. Most of the German information was provided by the center for investigating Nazi (NSDAP) crimes, which is located in Ludwigsburg, and by the local justice department in Magdeburg/Halle, that made on-site investigations.

On the mission of November 2, 1944, the Newman crew was flying as lead of the tail-end Charlie element in the 603rd (low) Squadron. Crew members for the mission were:

1. Herbert Newman, 1st Lt., pilot: missing
2. Paul Deininger, 2nd Lt., co-pilot: POW
3. W. Dean Whitaker, 2nd Lt., navigator/bombardier: POW
4. Arnold Money, S Sgt., toggelier: POW (recently deceased)
5. Cornelius Harrington, S Sgt., flight engineer (since deceased): POW
6. Melvin Cohn, T Sgt., radio operator: missing
7. Anthony Perry, S Sgt., ball turret: missing
8. Leroy Kucharski, S Sgt., waist gunner: missing
9. William Jones, Sgt., tail turret: missing

As the group formation turned from the target, the Newman plane was hit by 20-mm. shells from German fighters. The tail section and several other areas of the plane were seriously damaged, and a wing was set on fire. Reports from other planes in the group indicate that Jones, in the tail turret, probably was killed during this attack. The crew eventually was ordered to bail out and survivors assumed that everyone was able to do so except for Jones.

Parts of the plane fell into Polleben, a small town hear Eisleben (the home area of Martin Luther), which is northwest of Merseburg. At least some of these crew members landed in fields between Polleben and Schwittersdorf. These landings were observed by Polleben residents, including the NSDAP Ortsgruppenleiter (local leader) Seifert. The four missing crew members were killed either during descent or later by civilians, with involvement of at least four NSDAP members. One of these (Zimmerman) was also Chief of Police in Polleben. Reports vary in detail, but probably the deaths resulted from shootings and/or severe beatings.

When the U.S. 7th Army arrived at Polleben in 1945, a German civilian (Flassfeder, now deceased) and/or Polish forced laborers reported the 1944 murders. During the subsequent investigation, the Ortsgruppenleiter confessed and was executed by the Americans. The U.S. records indicate that he was shot by a firing squad. The German investigators report that he may have been stabbed to death and then hauled through town on the hood of a Jeep “to serve as an example.” The U.S. Army investigation of further civilian involvement was incomplete when Russian occupation troops moved into the area. Some of the involved persons (Heipe, Kaulman, and Korf) may have been moved to West Germany to stand trial, according to the German investigation, as shown on the following pages. However, no reports of subsequent trials were reported in the NA file.

In January 1949, at least two of these accused NSDAP members (Zimmerman and Heuke) were brought to trial by the Russian military. Zimmerman was sentenced to seven years in prison and died at age sixty-eight while serving that term. Heuke was acquitted because witnesses said that “he shot only past the victims.”

The German investigator from Magdeburg, in my judgment, was sincere and persistent in trying to determine everything that happened at Polleben. Over fifty years, memories fade and witnesses die or move away.

Some of my friends from the 398th BGMA questioned why I pursued this inquiry. My response was that I remember the German POWs at Fort Dix being treated humanely and I remember Jay Suldan’s story about a German son who was safe in England. Furthermore, these Nazis who killed my friends undoubtedly must have known about wanton German bombing in Poland, Western Europe, England, etc. Should they not be made to pay the penalty for murder? I think so. Apparently one paid that penalty with his life, one died in prison, and the fate of the others accused is not known.

One positive note in the midst of this morbidity is the experience of Dean Whitaker of the Newman crew, who had become a POW. Dean was being fired upon by people not in uniform as he descended in his parachute. Along came a German soldier who made the shooters halt their firing. Dean described him as the soldier with a smile and a limp who saved his life. In fact, this soldier served him a cup of tea and cookies while they were waiting for transportation to Dean’s interrogation.

Dean recounted this story just this year in a newspaper in Las Vegas, Nevada, and it was picked up and followed through by a newspaperman in Germany. Dean’s soldier with a limp and a smile was identified as Hermann Bohn. Unfortunately, he had died in 1992. The headline in the German newspaper that recorded this bit of history was: “Human Gesture When Hate Was Raging.”

See A Guard With A Limp And Warm Smile by W. Dean Whitaker, Bombardier/Navigator, 603rd Squadron.

 

From World War II Odyssey by Bill Frankhouser, pages 183-188. Published by Hamilton's, Bedford, VA, 1997, ISBN 1-883912-03-2. WWII Odyssey is available in the 398th PX.