| Original caption: “German War Crimes Trials. Nuremberg and Dachau. German General Anton Dostler’s body slumps toward the ground after being executed by a firing squad at Aversa, Italy. The general was convicted and sentenced to death by an American Military Tribunal.” General der Infanterie Anton Dostler (May 10, 1891 – December 1, 1945), Kommandant, LXXIII.Armeekorps was executed by firing squad. Dostler was 1 of 2 Wehrmacht officers shot instead of hanged after World War II. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) mounted 2 clandestine operations in the Province of La Spezia in February and March 1944. An Operational Group (OG) platoon from D Company, 2677th Special Reconnaissance Regiment, under the code name Operation Ginny, landed near Framura on February 27-28, 1944. The team realized they landed south of the objective, a railroad tunnel, and would not be able to hike there and back before the Patrol Torpedo Boats were exposed to daylight attack. Russo was ordered to withdraw. Later, a storm delayed the 2nd attempt. Operation Ginny II, on March 22-23, attempted to blow the same railroad tunnel. The OG for Ginny II consisted of many of the same men as Ginny I: Technician 5th Class Santoro Calcara (March 4, 1920 – March 26, 1944), of Detroit, Michigan; Sergeant Alfred L. De Flumeri (May 26, 1911 – March 26, 1944), of Natick, Massachusetts; Technician 5th Class Salvatore DiSclafani (January 6, 1916 – March 26, 1944), of Brooklyn, New York; Technician 5th Class Joseph M. Farrell (April 17, 1922 – March 26, 1944), of Southport, Connecticut; Technician 5th Class John J. Leone (June 23, 1922 – March 26, 1944), of Poughkeepsie, New York; Technician 5th Class Joseph A. Libardi (September 21, 1921 – March 26, 1944), of Stockbridge, Massachusetts; Sergeant Dominick C. Mauro (January 27, 1917 – March 26, 1944), of New York, New York; Technician 5th Class Joseph Noia (September 20, 1919 – March 26, 1944), of New York, New York; 1st Lieutenant Vincent J. Russo (July 25, 1916 – March 26, 1944), of Montclair, New Jersey; Technician 5th Class Thomas N. Savino (August` 6, 1915 – March 26, 1944), of Brooklyn, New York; Technician 5th Class Angelo Sirico (March 21, 1921 – March 26, 1944), of Brooklyn, New York; Technician 5th Class Rosario F. Squatrito (January 31, 1922 – March 26, 1944), of Staten Island, New York; 1st Lieutenant Paul J. Traficante (September 28, 1918 – March 26, 1944), of New York, New York; Technician 5th Class Liberty J. Tremonte (February 16, 1920 – March 26, 1944), of Westport, Connecticut; and Technical Sergeant Livio Vieceli (May 13, 1916 – March 26, 1944), of Manor, Pennsylvania. Commanded by Lieutenant Traficante, Calcara, Noia, Squatrito, and Vieceli would provide security and neutralize the Fascist observation post, while Lieutenant Russo commanded De Flumeri, DiSclafani, Farrell, Leone, Libardi, Mauro, Savino, Sirico, and Tremonte would work in placing explosives in the tunnel. Ginny II was ordered at a time when the Nazi Germans were practicing increased vigilance along the Ligurian coast. Raids by American and French commandos, sometimes using Italian patrol boats that had joined the Allied cause, had alerted LXXIII.Armeekorps to the possibility of more raids. Once again, the OG landed too far south. After spending a night in hiding, the team attempted to contact the patrol boats, but neither of their radios worked. They didn’t know that the patrol boats had broken off their attempt to recover the team, due to radar intercepts of fascist warships offshore. The OG hid in what they thought was an abandoned barn and received food and directions from local civilians. But on March 23, 1944, a Fascist fisherman discovered their bright orange rubber boats, filled with explosives, on shore. They had hidden them well, but did not anticipate someone so close to the surf. The fisherman alerted the local Italian Fascist Headquarters, who alerted the Nazi Germans. The Italian civilians attempted to warn the OG that German and Italian soldiers were coming, but after a brief firefight, the Americans knew they couldn’t run away and surrendered. The Prisoners of War were taken to Carozzo. At the interrogation, the Nazi Germans learned of the operation’s plans and reported to LXXIII.Armeekorps, that some American saboteurs had been captured. They wanted to continue interrogating the Prisoners of War. At 0900 Hours on March 25, Dostler telegrammed Carozzo and ordered, “The captured Americans are to be shot immediately.” Rittmeister (“Cavalry Captain”) Alexander zu Dohna-Schlobitten (December 11, 1899 – October 29, 1997), an aide to Dostler, was unaware of the secret Kommandobefehl (“Commando Order”) of October 18, 1942. He refused to sign the execution papers. Kriegsmarine (“Nazi German Navy”) Korvettenkapitän Friedrich Klaps (???? – ????) begged Dostler for more time to interrogate the Prisoners of War. Dostler was adamant; the Kommandobefehl must be adhered to; there was a provision for prosecuting officers who did not follow it. Klaps repeatedly telephoned Dostler to try to get him to delay or stop the execution, but he was unmoved. Other Nazi Germans also attempted to delay the execution, but on the morning of March 26, 1944, the Americans were loaded into trucks and told they were on the way to a Prisoner of War camp. But Nazi German guards had told them what was happening, and Traficante and others attempted to escape. They were quickly overcome by the guards, stripped and searched, and put onto the trucks. The OG team “died bravely” when they were shot at Ameglia. The Nazi Germans, lacking resources, took their boots, a fact that later enraged the American press. The mass grave was covered over, and the documents related to the execution were destroyed. Luftwaffe Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring (November 30, 1885 – July 16, 1960), who had pressed Dostler to proceed with the executions, later claimed he was away from his command and so many reports crossed his desk he couldn’t be involved in every decision. Kesselring was never tried for his involvement in the killings. Over a year later, the Nazi German war machine in Italy capitulated. Dostler was taken prisoner, and an effort to find out the fate of the Ginny OG team recovered the bodies. Dostler was indicted on May 8, 1945, the day the war ended in Europe, and his trial began in October. The prosecution tore into Dostler’s “only following orders” defense and declared the Kommandobefehl to be in violation of the Geneva Convention of 1929. Under the 1907 Hague Convention on Land Warfare, it was legal to execute spies and saboteurs disguised in civilian clothes or enemy uniforms, but not those captured in uniforms of their own army. Because the 15 American soldiers were properly dressed in United States Army uniforms behind enemy lines, and not disguised in civilian clothes or enemy uniforms, they should not have been treated as spies but as Prisoners of War, a principle which Dostler had violated in enforcing the order for execution. The trial found Dostler guilty of war crimes, rejecting the “superior orders” defense. He was sentenced to death and executed in Aversa by a 12-man firing squad at 0800 Hours on December 1, 1945. The execution was photographed on black and white still and movie cameras. Immediately after the execution, Dostler’s body was lifted onto a stretcher, shrouded inside a white cotton mattress cover, and driven away in an army truck. His body was buried in Grave 93/95 of Section H at Pomezia German War Cemetery. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0962.jpg |
| Image Size | 739.79 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2904 x 2348 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Army Signal Corps |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | December 1, 1945 |
| Location | |
| City | Aversa |
| State or Province | Campania |
| Country | Italy |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | NRE-338-FTL(EF)-3161(8) |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
Author of the World War II Multimedia Database