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| Keywords: Political prisoners of the Nazis who met their deaths at the hands of SS troops who set the barn afire. This group... - NARA - 531268.tif On Friday April 13 1945 in preparation of their imminent surrender to U S troops; German SS troops under the orders of a local Nazi official slaughtered over 1 000 religious political and military prisoners of war in an attempt to hide their existence The prisoners were led into a large masonery shed in which gasoline soaked straw had been placed on the floor Using phosphorus grenades the straw was set ablaze Prisoners who tried to escape the burning barn were shot the rest died in the fire The German troops attempted to hide the bodies in a mass grave but had managed to bury only 700 bodies before the area was taken over by U S forces What the U S troops found was horrific Over 300 bodies were discovered in the barn One of the U S soldiers Corporal Charles Overstreet was the photographer and radioman for the Headquarters Radio Unit of the 252nd Field Artillery Battalion during World War II and used his camera to record the evil deed He was also there to hear the tale told by one of the handful of survivors This man fell down while trying to escape and was covered by the bodies of his fellow prisoners as they were gunned down He stayed where he was and played dead even when the Germans returned and asked if anyone needed help Those survivors that moved or responded were shot He was still under the pile of corpses when U S soldiers arrived http //www idaillinois org/cdm/ref/collection/fpl/id/319 Gardelegen Germany Still Picture Records Section Special Media Archives Services Division NWCS-S National Archives at College Park 8601 Adelphi Road College Park MD 20740-6001 1945-04-16 Record group Record Group 111 Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer 1860 - 1985 Record group ARC 440 Signal Corps Photographs of American Military Activity compiled 1754 - 1954 Series ARC 530707 File unit File unit ARC Variant control numbers NAIL Control Number NWDNS-111-SC-203771 yes Other versions File Gardelegen massacre bodies at barn door Warning Graphic Content 4120672844 jpg NARA-cooperation PD-USGov Victims of war Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Isenschnibber Feldscheune Gardelegen massacre | ||||