On July 1, 1941 nine days after the start of the campaign, 180 German
soldiers belonging to Infantry Regiment 35, Infantry Regiment 119, and
artillerymen were captured in a sudden Russian counter-attack on the
Klewan Broniki road in Ukraine.
They belonged to two motorized infantry formations which blundered
into a superior Soviet force of one and a half divisions and were
overwhelmed.
The prisoners, most of whom were wounded, were herded into a clover
field alongside the road and ordered to undress.
to hand over all valuable objects, including everything we had in our
capture, in shock and concerned for their lives. The wounded soldiers
Kurz, struggling to undo his belt because of an injured hand. To his
removed their tunic jackets.
Another severely wounded soldier was kicked and clubbed around the
head with rifle butts. Totally cowed, the German prisoners were shoved
north of the road in groups of 12 to 15 men. Many were half-naked and
watches, money bags, uniform insignia, and then they took our jackets,
tied, like many others, behind his back. They were then forced them
down into thick green clover by the Russian soldiers. Heiss described
how:
point I turned over. I was then stabbed seven times in the back. I did
Beer. Bursts of automatic and machine gun fire swept through the
separated groups of tied-up and semi-naked German prisoners. Karl
among groups of officers and NCOs who had been singled out for special
treatment. They suffered appalling injuries.
The next morning soldiers and Panzers from the 25th Division combed
through the field: 153 half-naked bodies were found, their pale white
skins pathetically outlined against a background of lush green clover.
One group of 14 soldiers had their genitals hacked off. Among the
corpses was a severely wounded Hermann Heiss. He was comforted by
German soldiers. Glancing around the scene of total devastation, he
There were only 12 survivors.
Open trucks were driven up and stacked high with half-naked corpses.
They were a jumble of tangled limbs grotesquely stiffened into untidy
rigor mortis. Sunlight glinted from the hobnails of distended boots
spilling over the side flaps of the lorries which had been lowered to
church in Broniki. The effect on the soldiers of the 25th Division
obliged to tidy up the scene of the massacre can be imagined.
They quietly resolved to avenge their comrades.
War Without Garlands-Robert J. Kershaw
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