War Crimes
During the Invasion of Poland, soldiers from the division assisted in the round-up of Jewish civilians from Przemyśl for forced labour. This event was documented in the divisional photographic album. Picture captions demonstrate strong anti-semitism by the authors. Photos 7 and 8 themselves.
On 25 July 1943, soldiers from the division attacked the village of Mousiotitsa in Greece following the discovery of a cache of weapons nearby, killing 153 civilians. On 16 August 1943, the village of Kommeno was attacked at the order of Oberstleutnant Josef Salminger, the commander of GebirgsJäger Regiment 98, a total of 317 civilians were killed. Elements from the division took part in the murder of thousands of Italians from the 33 Acqui Infantry Division in September 1943 on the Greek island of Cefalonia following the Italian surrender. Soldiers from the division took part in the murder of 32 officers and an estimated 100 soldiers from the Italian 151st Perugia Infantry Division in Albania after the Italian surrender.
Following the killing of Oberstleutnant Josef Salminger by Greek partisans, the commander of XXII Gebirgs-Armeekorps General der Gebirgstruppe Hubert Lanz issued an order of the day on 1 October 1943 calling for a “ruthless retaliatory action” in a 20 km area around the place were Salminger had been attacked. In the village of Lingiades 87 civilians were killed, a total of at least 200 civilians died.
The Division's war crimes are described in H. F. Meyer's book Bloodstained Edelweiss: The 1st Mountain Division in the Second World War.
Read more about this topic: 1st Mountain Division (Wehrmacht)
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