• Source: Massacre of Feodosia

The Massacre of Feodosia was a war crime by the Red Army against 160 wounded Wehrmacht POWs between December 29, 1941 and January 1, 1942. The massacre was notable for the relatively high number of victims and the "needless cruelty demonstrated" by the perpetrators, who froze victims into ice alive.




Background


On November 3, the city was captured by elements of the German 46th and 170th Infantry Divisions. On December 29, Soviet marine troops and regular infantry landed on the beach of Feodosia and captured the city. According to Alfred-Maurice de Zayas, who relied solely on materials produced by the Wehrmacht High Command, "[A]n order was issued to kill every single German in Feodosia, whether wounded or not."




Discovery


On January 18, 1942, the Germans were able to reconquer Feodosia. De Zayas states,

They found that around 150 wounded German military personnel had been murdered. Wounded soldiers had been thrown out of the windows of the hospital to make room for Soviet wounded, then water was poured on the heavily wounded soldiers who were then left to freeze. On the beach in front of the field hospital, piles of bodies were found where they were thrown from a wall several metres high, after being beaten and mutilated, and left in the surf so that the sea water froze and covered them with a sheet of ice. Some of the dead bodies showed severe signs of mutilation.
On 21 March 1983, the West German Radio (WDR) broadcast a documentary which was based on de Zayas' investigation and also showed propaganda footage of the troops of the Wehrmacht on the Massacre of Broniki; witnesses to the massacre talked to journalists in the documentary.
The special representative of Stavka in Crimea, Lev Mekhlis, personally encouraged the killing of German prisoners of war.




See also


Battle of the Kerch Peninsula
Massacre of Broniki
Massacre of Grischino




References



Bibliography

de Zayas, Alfred-Maurice (December 2000) [November 1979]. "Feodosia". The Wehrmacht War Crimes Bureau, 1939–1945. Rockport: Picton Press. pp. 180–186. ISBN 0-89725-421-X.




Literature


Alfred de Zayas, Wehrmacht-Untersuchungsstelle
Franz W. Seidler, Verbrechen an der Wehrmacht

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Massacre of Feodosia
• Soviet atrocities committed against prisoners of war during World War II
• Feodosia
• Soviet war crimes
• Massacre of Grischino
• Massacre of Broniki
• Allied war crimes during World War II
• List of massacres in the Soviet Union
• Timeline of the Russian invasion of Ukraine (1 August 2024 – present)
• Lev Mekhlis