Operations Ginny I And II
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Operations Ginny I and II were two ill-fated
sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization (warfare), demoralization, destabilization, divide and rule, division, social disruption, disrupti ...
missions conducted by the U.S.
Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the first intelligence agency of the United States, formed during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines ...
(OSS) in 1944 during the Italian campaign of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Their aim was to blow up railway tunnels that would cut the
line of communication A line of communication (or communications) is the route that connects an operating military unit with its supply base. Supplies and reinforcements are transported along the line of communication. Therefore, a secure and open line of communicat ...
to German forces in
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. The first mission, ''Ginny I'', occurred on February 27/28, 1944, when fifteen U.S. soldiers attempted to land west of the small town of
Framura Framura ( ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of La Spezia in the Italian region Liguria, located about southeast of Genoa and about northwest of La Spezia. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 739 and an area of .All demo ...
. However, the OSS team had to abort after they landed on the wrong spot and could not find the tunnel. The second attempt, ''Ginny II'', occurred a month later on March 22 when the same team attempted to land on the same spot. However, they landed again in the wrong place and were captured two days later by the German Army. Although the OSS members were properly uniformed, they were
summarily executed In civil and military jurisprudence, summary execution is the putting to death of a person accused of a crime without the benefit of a free and fair trial. The term results from the legal concept of summary justice to punish a summary offense, a ...
on March 26 under
Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
's
Commando Order The Commando Order () was issued by the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, OKW, the high command of the Wehrmacht, German Armed Forces, on 18 October 1942. This order stated that all Allies of World War II, Allied commandos captured in Europe and Africa ...
of 1942 at the command of German General
Anton Dostler Anton Dostler (10 May 1891 – 1 December 1945) was a German army officer who fought in both World Wars. During World War II, he commanded several units as a General of the Infantry, primarily in Italy. After the Axis defeat, Dostler was executed ...
. After the war, Dostler was tried by a
military tribunal Military justice (or military law) is the body of laws and procedures governing members of the armed forces. Many nation-states have separate and distinct bodies of law that govern the conduct of members of their armed forces. Some states us ...
for the deaths of fifteen Americans, sentenced to death, and executed by a firing squad.


Background

The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was formed in June 1942 by
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William J. Donovan William Joseph "Wild Bill" Donovan (January 1, 1883 – February 8, 1959) was an American soldier, lawyer, intelligence officer and diplomat. He is best known for serving as the head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to ...
to collect and analyze strategic information required by the
Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, which advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and ...
and to conduct special operations not assigned to other agencies. In the early days of the OSS, it initially lacked experience, resources, and the respect of skeptical staff officers in the theater. However, the OSS proved its value by establishing contacts with Allied sympathizers and gathered intelligence vital to the invasion prior to
Operation Torch Operation Torch (8–16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa whil ...
and organized warrior tribesmen into a guerrilla force to guard against a possible Axis thrust through Spanish Morocco into the Allied rear with bilingual U.S. officers during the
North African Campaign The North African campaign of World War II took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943, fought between the Allies and the Axis Powers. It included campaigns in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts (Western Desert campaign, Desert Wa ...
. The OSS then established the Operational Group (OG) to recruit
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soldiers with language facility who, if organized in small groups and trained with
commando A commando is a combatant, or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations force, specially trained for carrying out raids and operating in small teams behind enemy lines. Originally, "a commando" was a type of combat unit, as oppo ...
capabilities, could be
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d into enemy occupied territory to harass the enemy and to encourage and support local resistance organizations. During the landings on the Italian mainland at Salerno in September 1943, an OSS detachment provided Lieutenant Colonel William O. Darby's
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with critical intelligence during their defense of the
Sorrento Peninsula The Sorrento Peninsula or Sorrentine Peninsula is a peninsula located in southern Italy which separates the Gulf of Naples to the north from the Gulf of Salerno to the south. Geography Overview The peninsula is named after its main town, Sor ...
. Three weeks after the Italian government surrendered to the Allies on September 8,
Allied Force Headquarters Allied Force Headquarters (AFHQ) was the headquarters that controlled all Allied operational forces in the Mediterranean theatre of World War II from August 1942 until the end of the war in Europe in May 1945. History AFHQ was established i ...
(AFHQ) issued a key directive, "OSS/ SOE Activities in Italy," that the OG's mandate was: to undertake the commando-type actions—for which Donovan had been pinning. In this document, the OSS and SOE were given four tasks: * Instigation of the Italian population to carry out acts of resistance to German forces. * Direct attack on communications and transport in that area of Italy now held by the enemy. Old raiding parties will make the attacks and remain to instruct and incite the local population to further and similar efforts. * Destruction of enemy aircraft on the ground. * Destruction of enemy supply drops. One of the OSS' most important tasks was to cut vital German supply lines that reinforced the
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and later the
Gothic Line The Gothic Line (; ) was a German and Italian defensive line of the Italian Campaign of World War II. It formed Field Marshal Albert Kesselring's last major line of defence along the summits of the northern part of the Apennine Mountains du ...
. After the
USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
bombing raids on mountainous terrain roads along the Italian coast during Operation Strangle failed in damaging the German supply lines, the OSS discussed the use of sabotage teams. On January 9, 1944, the OSS proposed the destruction of tunnels between Levanto and Bonassola, a segment in the Genoa-La Spezia rail line. The longest of these were the "La Francesca", 510 meters in length, at the northwestern end of the target sector; at the southeastern end, beginning 600 meters west of Levanto station, were two short tunnels, one 105 and the other 75 meters in length, separated by 25 meters of open track. The rocky walls of the tunnels were thought to consist chiefly of the serpentine type, making them less vulnerable to demolition. A captured Italian officer who had recently traveled over the line reported that there were few guards along the coast between Genoa and
La Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguria ...
. This gave the OSS an advantage and it was reported that " e tunnels are all single track: interruption of traffic would thus require blowing fewer tunnel entrances and permit achievement of greater results with the same weight of explosive." This meant that fewer teams and fewer explosives would have been required to sabotage and interrupt the rail traffic. The mission was given the code name ''Ginny''.


Commandos

The OSS recruited
Italian-American Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern ...
soldiers into the Operational Group (OG) for the ''Ginny'' mission because some of them could speak Italian and their knowledge of the country's language in which they were expected to operate was deemed very helpful to communicate with the local population. In ''Ginny 1'' the working party was headed by First Lt. Vincent Russo and members of his team were T/5 Salvatore Di Sclafani; T/5 John J. Leone; T/5 Angelo Sirico; T/5 John Lepore; T/5 Vittorio Amoruso; T/5 Thomas Savino; and T/5 Joseph Noia. The security team, headed by First Lt. Paul J. Traficante, consisted of T/Sgt. Livio Vieceli; Sgt. Carmine Armando; Sgt. Dominick Mauro; T/5 Joseph Libardi; and T/5 Rosario Squatrito. In ''Ginny II'', most members from the previous mission were the same except four members—Sgt. Carmine Armando, T/5 John Lepore, T/5 Vittorio Amoruso, and T/5 Thomas Savino—were replaced by T/5 Joseph M. Farrell, T/5 Liberty J. Tremonte, T/5 Santoro Calcara, and Sgt Alfred L. De Flumeri for this mission.


Ginny I

The first mission of ''Ginny I'' occurred on February 27/28, 1944. A fifteen-man OSS Operational Group (OG) was put aboard two
U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...
PT boat A PT boat (short for patrol torpedo boat) was a motor torpedo boat used by the United States Navy in World War II. It was small, fast, and inexpensive to build, and it was valued for its maneuverability and speed. However, PT boats were hampe ...
s and the boats were to depart from a harbor in
Bastia Bastia ( , , , ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest popu ...
at 1800 hrs for the mission. However, the departure was delayed by 45 minutes after the lead boat with the working party on board had to be replaced due to a faulty radar. At 1845 hrs, the two boats finally departed from the harbor and sailed northward across the
Ligurian Sea The Ligurian Sea is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea. It lies between the Italian Riviera ( Liguria) and the island of Corsica. The sea is thought to have been named after the ancient Ligures people. Geography The sea borders Italy as far as ...
toward Stazione de
Framura Framura ( ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of La Spezia in the Italian region Liguria, located about southeast of Genoa and about northwest of La Spezia. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 739 and an area of .All demo ...
but were further delayed several times to avoid suspicious enemy radar sightings: neither enemy vessels nor aircraft were spotted visually. The boats arrived at the disembarkation point at 0125 hrs and the sabotage team began using rubber boats and paddled northeastward. Both the working and security parties landed at what they thought was the right spot and were properly dressed in U.S. Army uniforms and had no civilian clothes with them. However, Russo noticed that something was wrong. He heard the train northeast of him and realized he and his team had landed south of the objective instead. At 0245 hrs, he reported that it would take him and his team at least an hour and a half to reach its target—0415 hrs at least—and requested permission to stay and be picked up the following night. The senior officer afloat rejected this suggestion because according to the plan, the team had to complete the sabotage mission and rendezvous back to the PT boats by 0330 hrs—0400 hrs at the latest—in order to distance themselves from the
Liguria Liguria (; ; , ) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is roughly coextensive with ...
n coast and to avoid German patrol before sunrise. Fearing that the team would not complete the mission on time, the senior officer ordered the team to return to the PT boats. The OSS team went back to the PT boats by 0315 hrs and returned to Bastia harbor at 0730 hrs.


Ginny II

For ''Ginny II'', the mission objective and planning remain unchanged from the previous mission. Four OSS members who previously took part in ''Ginny I'' were replaced by others ( see above) for ''Ginny II'' and T/5 Joseph Noia was placed in the security party instead. First Lt. Russo still commanded the shore party and First Lt. Paul J. Traficante for the security party. A
contingency plan A contingency plan, or alternate plan, also known colloquially as Plan B, is a plan devised for an outcome other than in the usual (expected) plan. It is often used for risk management for an exceptional risk that, though unlikely, would have cata ...
was developed i.e. if the team were unable to complete the mission in time, they would return to the shore to be picked up by PT boats. If the PT boats were gone, the team would find a
safehouse A safe house (also spelled safehouse) is a dwelling place or building whose unassuming appearance makes it an inconspicuous location where one can hide out, take shelter, or conduct clandestine activities. Historical usage It may also refer to ...
, hide out there and wait for the PT boats to pick them up the next night. On March 22, the OSS Operational Group (OG) team boarded the two U.S. Navy PT boats and the boats left Bastia harbor at 1800 hrs. The boats arrived at the disembarkation point in 2245 hrs, 300 yards southwest of the pinpoint, and the OSS team departed northward in three rubber boats at 2255 hrs (2245 hrs according to the PT's boat report) to west of Stazione di Framura and landed what they believe was the exact spot. Like ''Ginny I'', the OSS members were properly dressed in U.S. Army uniforms and had no civilian clothes on them. Calcura, Tremonte, and Farrell wore paratrooper boots with the others wearing regulation
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shoes with canvas leggings. They also wore knit stocking caps and had their jackets inside-out. They wore no distinctive markings that indicated the branch of OSS so the only insignia the OSS men had were U.S. Army ranks patched on either their sleeves of shirts or their field jackets. The men all were armed with Colt.45 automatic pistols and Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knives with six of the team carrying 9-mm Marlin submachine guns. At approximately 2345 hrs, a convoy of German
torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...
s was sighted returning from a mine-laying mission. One U.S. PT boat took diversionary action and got into a firefight, while the other idled along the coast on one engine and tried to keep in contact with the shore party. The radiomen on the U.S. boats kept trying to reach the shore party, but all was silent. At 0200 hrs, the two U.S. PT boats rendezvoused five miles out to sea because their radar indicated numerous targets along the shore, and they had to lie quietly until 0300 hrs. At that time, the U.S. boats moved in close to the rocky cliffs in an attempt to raise the mission party on the radio. One U.S. PT boat reported its main steering mechanism had malfunctioned, and it was 0400 hrs before it was repaired. No transmissions were heard from the mission party, and the two U.S. boats returned to base.


Hiding

Russo realized that he and his team were again in the wrong spot. He discovered that they had landed near the village of Carpineggio, about halfway between Bonassola and Stazione di Framura. The group had landed two miles from its intended initial point and about one mile from the target. Unable to contact the U.S. PT boats which had returned to base, Russo and his men then went to the contingency plan. They were to hide during the day, establish contact with their PT boats the following night, and then accomplish the mission. The team would not blow the tunnel until contact had been made. They hid their rubber boats and explosives and demolition equipment under the trees as best they could and began moving up slope. They eventually found an empty barn on the edge of the locality of Carpeneggio and settled in. On the morning of March 23, two team members, 1st Lt. Russo and Sgt. Mauro, went out to get food and information at the nearest farm. An Italian farmer named Franco Lagaxo saw Russo and Mauro approaching his cottage who identified themselves as U.S. soldiers and was asked if he could buy food for them. He agreed to do so and later in the day guided them on reconnaissance which succeeded in locating access to the Genoa-La Spezia rail tunnel. On the evening of March 23, the U.S. PT boats were launched to accomplish the pickup per the contingency plan in order to make prearranged radio contact with the OSS team. However, they again ran into trouble as one had a mechanical breakdown on the trip from Corsica and had to return to base. The second spotted a radar trace which indicated enemy activity approaching the coast, and was also forced to turn back. As a result, the OSS team was forced into another day of hiding.


Capture

An Italian fisherman noticed the rubber boats pulled up along the shore, and mentioned them to authorities at nearby Bonassola. Two
Fascist Italian Italian fascism (), also called classical fascism and Fascism, is the original fascist ideology, which Giovanni Gentile and Benito Mussolini developed in Italy. The ideology of Italian fascism is associated with a series of political parties le ...
militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...
men went with the fisherman to investigate and found the boats and explosive material. They alerted the local German command, formed a search party, and started sweeping the area. Lagaxo then discovered that the Italians and Germans had found the rubber boats and rushed in to warn the Americans. His warning came too late. All fifteen U.S. soldiers who were staying in the barn were captured after minor clashes with Italian Fascist and German soldiers. The captured OSS members were taken to the German headquarters of the 135th Fortress Brigade in La Spezia for interrogation. One of the U.S. officers revealed to the Germans that it was a commando raid to blow up tunnels critical to German supply routes.


Execution

On the next morning of March 25, the information about the capture of U.S. soldiers and the purpose of the mission was then sent to
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Anton Dostler Anton Dostler (10 May 1891 – 1 December 1945) was a German army officer who fought in both World Wars. During World War II, he commanded several units as a General of the Infantry, primarily in Italy. After the Axis defeat, Dostler was executed ...
at the 75th German Army Corps headquarters. Dostler at first informed his superior,
Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...
Albert Kesselring Albert Kesselring (30 November 1885 – 16 July 1960) was a German military officer and convicted war crime, war criminal who served in the ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II. In a career which spanned both world wars, Kesselring reached the ra ...
, commanding general of all German forces in Italy, about the captured U.S. commandos and what to do with them. According to Dostler's
adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an Officer (armed forces), officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of “human resources” in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed ...
officer, Kesselring responded by ordering the execution and Dostler signed an order that all fifteen American prisoners of war were to be executed the next morning. The order was the implementation of the 1942
Commando Order The Commando Order () was issued by the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, OKW, the high command of the Wehrmacht, German Armed Forces, on 18 October 1942. This order stated that all Allies of World War II, Allied commandos captured in Europe and Africa ...
issued by Hitler which stipulated the execution without trial of all captured Allied commandos, even those in proper uniforms, behind German lines. Alexander zu Dohna-Schlobitten, an aide to General Dostler, and unaware of the secret order, refused to sign the execution order because he knew that executing properly uniformed
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was a direct violation of the Geneva Convention (1929). He was later dismissed from the
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
for
insubordination Insubordination is the act of willfully disobeying a lawful order of one's superior. It is generally a punishable offense in hierarchical organizations such as the armed forces, which depend on people lower in the chain of command obeying orde ...
. German officers at the 135th Fortress Brigade contacted Dostler in an attempt to achieve a stay of execution. However, General Dostler rejected their request and ordered the execution of American prisoners to be carried out the next morning. Two last attempts were made by officers at the 135th to stop the execution, including some by telephone, but these efforts were unsuccessful. On the morning of March 26, fifteen U.S. soldiers—still in U.S. Army uniforms—were marched and lined up by the German Army in Punta Bianca, above the sea on the rocky tip of
Ameglia Ameglia (; , locally ) is a (municipality) in the Province of La Spezia in the Italian region of Liguria, located about southeast of Genoa and about southeast of La Spezia. Ameglia borders the municipalities of Lerici and Sarzana. History Am ...
's peninsula. All were executed on the spot and buried in a mass grave that was then
camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...
d. None of the executed U.S. soldiers were given a previous
trial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, w ...
.


Aftermath

After
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signed its instrument of surrender that effectively ended the war in Europe on May 8, 1945, Kesselring surrendered to the Americans at
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and was placed in
confinement Confinement may refer to: * With respect to humans: ** An old-fashioned or archaic synonym for childbirth ** Postpartum confinement (or postnatal confinement), a system of recovery after childbirth, involving rest and special foods ** Civil confi ...
. On October 6, 1945, he was interviewed in connection with the deaths of fifteen Americans. He stated that he did not recall receiving any information regarding the fifteen OSS members. He contended that he received many reports and that he was frequently away from his headquarters in
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
. Kesselring was also questioned about Hitler's Commando Order which was clearly unlawful. He replied that the order was not binding on him and that it could be interpreted in many different ways. Due to falsification and destruction of his records to hide this affair, he was not prosecuted for this crime. General Dostler was captured by U.S. forces on May 8, 1945, and brought to trial before an American
military tribunal Military justice (or military law) is the body of laws and procedures governing members of the armed forces. Many nation-states have separate and distinct bodies of law that govern the conduct of members of their armed forces. Some states us ...
at the seat of the
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, the Royal Palace in Caserta on October 8, 1945. In the first Allied war trial, Dostler was accused of carrying out an illegal order. In his defense, he maintained that he had revoked his first order to shoot the men but he had eventually re-issued it on higher order and that the execution of the OSS team was a lawful
reprisal A reprisal is a limited and deliberate violation of international law to punish another sovereign state that has already broken them. Since the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions (AP 1), reprisals in the laws of war are extremel ...
. Dostler also bluntly lied that the captured OSS men were dressed in civilian clothes. Then, when questioned why they were found in U.S. uniforms, he said that they wore no distinctive markings that distinguished themselves as Americans and therefore received no protection under the
rules of war The law of war is a component of international law that regulates the conditions for initiating war (''jus ad bellum'') and the conduct of hostilities (''jus in bello''). Laws of war define sovereignty and nationhood, states and territories, ...
(which was rebuffed since the dead OSS men had insignia of their U.S. Army ranks). Dostler's plea of
superior orders Superior orders, also known as just following orders or the Nuremberg defense, is a plea in a court of law that a person, whether civilian, military or police, should not be considered guilty of committing crimes ordered by a Officer (armed forces ...
failed because, by ordering the execution he had acted on his own outside the Fuhrer's order. The military commission also rejected his plea, declaring that Dostler's execution of U.S. soldiers was in violation of Article 2 of the 1929 Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War, which prohibited acts of reprisals against prisoners of war. The commission stated that " soldier, and still less a
Commanding General The commanding officer (CO) or commander, or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually give ...
, can be heard to say that he considered the summary shooting of prisoners of war legitimate even as a reprisal." Four days later, the trial unanimously found General Dostler guilty of
war crimes A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hos ...
, rejecting his defense of superior orders. He was sentenced to death and executed by a firing squad on December 1, 1945, in
Aversa Aversa () is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Caserta in Campania, southern Italy, about 24 km north of Naples. It is the centre of an agricultural district, the ''Agro Aversano'', producing wine and cheese (famous for the typical dome ...
, about 15 kilometres north of
Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
. The Dostler case became a precedent for the principle, used in the
Nuremberg Trials #REDIRECT Nuremberg trials {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from move ...
of German generals, officials, and Nazi leaders beginning in November 1945, that using superior orders as a defense does not relieve officers from responsibility of carrying out illegal orders and their liability to be punished in court. This principle was codified in Principle IV of the Nuremberg Principles, and similar principles were found in sections of the
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.


Memorial

There is a memorial for the 15 executed American soldiers in Piazza della Liberta, Ameglia. To commemorate the 60th anniversary of the mission in 2004, the American OSS Society and the Comune of Ameglia placed a commemorative plaque at Punta Bianca and erected a formal monument at Bocca di Magra.


References


External links


OSS Operation Ginny met with a tragic end during the Italian Campaign.













Behind Enemy the Lines
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ginny I and II Italian campaign (World War II) Battles involving the United States Conflicts in 1944 Military operations of World War II involving Germany Military history of Italy during World War II Military history of the United States during World War II Massacres in 1944 Massacres in Italy