According to documents, in 1941-1943, traveling with guarded German military trains, the “mobile detachment” in which Feuerbach served brutally dealt with captured Soviet, Hungarian, Polish, Yugoslav partisans and civilians. During interrogations, it turned out that Feuerbach hanged 120 people, personally cut off the heads of 80 people, executed ten by cutting off limbs, and nailed two by the hands and feet.
Answering a question from Soviet counterintelligence officers about what he knew about Germany’s preparations for chemical warfare, Feuerbach said that while on vacation in Vienna in November 1943, he visited an assault detachment, where he became familiar with a top secret circular dated November 10, 1943 and signed by Hitler and the chief of staff of the assault troops Lutze.
The circular literally said the following: “As soon as the enemy crosses the borders of the German Empire proper, gas will be used. Airplanes will drop chemical bombs, artillery will begin shelling with chemical shells. Everything will be done to prevent the enemy from entering German territory.”
On the cover of the letter there was a red stamp: “keep strictly confidential.” The circular, according to Feuerbach, was read by Hauptsturmführer Karl Schmidt to the entire detachment personnel…
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Staff Corporal of the 213th Infantry Regiment of the 73rd Wehrmacht Infantry Division Martin Feuerbach was captured by the Soviets on March 20, 1944 during the battles for the liberation of Kerch. During the initial interrogation at the Intelligence Department of the headquarters of the Separate Maritime Army (OPARM), he tried to pass himself off as “a member of the Austrian Communist Party, repressed by the German authorities.” At the same time, he said that he “worked” in the German army as a shoemaker. However, fellow soldiers who were captured with him reported completely different information about Feuerbach’s past.
From the Intelligence Department of the OPARM, Feuerbach was taken to the Counterintelligence Department “Smersh” of the Separate Primorsky Army. During the investigation, the Smershevites established Feuerbach’s participation in the sinister crimes he committed on the territory of Austria, Poland, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union.
Feuerbach was born in 1915 in Würzburg, near Vienna, into the family of a carpenter. My father died in the First World War in France. After school, Feuerbach entered a vocational school and became a shoemaker. In August 1935, Feuerbach joined the 2nd Assault Detachment of the 69th Stormtrooper Regiment in Vienna. In the spring of 1937, Feuerbach was arrested and sentenced to seven years in prison for organizing an illegal meeting of Austrian Nazis in his shoe shop. In March 1938, after the Anschluss, Feuerbach was released from prison and continued to serve in the assault troops of the SA as an Obersturmführer, which at that time corresponded to the rank of “Oberleutnant” in the Wehrmacht. It was in the stormtroopers that he mastered the new “job” of a professional executioner.
“In April 1938, a raid was organized in Vienna on communists and other anti-fascist persons from the city’s population. SS men and assault detachments II/69 and II/70 took part in the raid. In total, up to 170 people were detained. By order of the head of the assault detachments of the city of Vienna, Obersturmbannführer Beck Richard, they should all be hanged. The execution also took place in Brader. at night. Personally, I hanged 6 people…
In total, in 1938, I executed 40 people, taking part in approximately 10 reprisals against communists and persons expressing dissatisfaction with the Hitler regime,” he said during interrogation.
Feuerbach then continued his testimony: “In total, in 1939, I participated in four cases of execution of the anti-fascist population of Vienna, personally executing more than 80 people.
At home I have a pocket calendar where I wrote down the number of people I executed. I used to re-read these notes every evening, whether in the company or at home. Thanks to this, I was able to remember most of the numbers. In 1939, the most typical cases were: the case that took place in July in Brader, where a total of up to 200 communists were executed, of which about 20 were not executed immediately, but first the right hand was cut off, then the left hand, the left leg, the right and, finally, the head… Personally, I cut off the limbs of seven communists.”
Already during the Second World War, Feuerbach and other Nazi executioners from the “mobile detachment” left their bloody trail in Warsaw, Lvov, Kyiv, Smolensk and Odessa.
Judging by the testimony of executioner Feuerbach, he was one of many stormtroopers and partisan hunters. During interrogations on April 1, 3, 4 and 5, 1944, he named more than 40 accomplices from the 69th regiment and 8 people from the “mobile team” of the 22nd company. According to Feuerbach, the “mobile detachments” that existed in each company were mainly members of the SA and SS. All of them also underwent special training, which included learning to run, overcome obstacles, quickly jump out of a train while moving, and shoot on the move.
“We were also shown how to properly hang convicts,” he said during interrogation on April 1, 1944. “But this, perhaps, was unnecessary. The personnel of the “mobile detachments” were familiar with all types of execution even before the army.”
For example, already in August 1941 he participated in the “cleansing” of Smolensk.
“The command of the 123rd PD, we were involved in clearing Smolensk from the “attic shooters”, as a result, 125-130 people were detained, 6 of them were nailed by the hands and feet to crosses, the rest were hanged and beheaded. I personally beheaded and hanged 30 people “I don’t know who they were. I didn’t take part in the nailing of the six mentioned above,” he testified. Feuerbach.
The next episode of cartel activity was November 1941 in Lvov.
“During our week-long stay in Lvov, the partisans fired at the railway commandant’s office where we were located. We, as usual, hanged the partisans we captured. There were about 20 of them, I hanged 8-10 people,” the executioner said during interrogation .
In addition, he indicated the places of mass graves at the Odessa Tovarnaya station in August 1943 and in the artillery barracks in Odessa in January 1944.
“Our team managed to detain 15 people. All of them were beheaded or hanged; that same night, on the railway tracks between the cars, I personally beheaded and hanged 7 people,” Feuerbach said about the partisan attack in August 1943.
At the end of January 1944, Feuerbach again ended up in Odessa, where he and his colleagues from the 516th march half-battalion staged a “hunt” for passers-by. Every third of the captured Odessa residents was subject to execution by order of the officers. Thus, they selected 170-190 people. Who were later executed in the basements of the artillery barracks.
During the period when, in the intervals between escorting trains to the Eastern Front, the “detachment” was in Vienna, punitive forces actively participated in brutal reprisals against Austrian anti-fascists.
During interrogation on April 3, 1944, Feuerbach testified: “In June 1942, on Maslenitsa, I don’t remember the exact date, soldiers of our company in Vienna detained a number of anti-fascist persons who were herded into the arsenal building near the East Station. In total, 100-150 people were to be executed . The head of the Vienna garrison, general by rank, I don’t know his last name. distributed – who should be executed in what way… There were approximately 4 types of execution: hanging, beheading, cutting off limbs and nailing. As far as I remember, this time I hanged and beheaded 19 people, cut off the limbs of three and nailed two to crosses… “.
And this is only a small part of his bloody atrocities, each of which he talked about casually and completely without remorse.
“…As an executioner, he is an example that goes beyond everything known to us so far in this area,” this is precisely the description given to Feuerbach by Smersh employees, who have seen quite a few Nazi atrocities in their lifetime, following his interrogation.
Source: rg.ru
