MASS MURDER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 May 1944, Page 4

MASS MURDER

OF BRITISH AIRMEN IN NAZI PRISON CAMP EVIDENCE OF COLD-BLOODED CRIME. GERMAN ATTEMPTS TO HIDE SHOCKING TRUTH. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 1.25 p.m.) LONDON, May 22. Statements made in Stockholm by British war prisoners who escaped from the German prison camp Stalag Luft 3'reveal that the massacre of 47 British prisoners by German guards did not occur in a clash between the prisoners and guards, but was carried out by a group of guards who lost their heads and shot the prisoners in the barracks, courtyards and workshops, says the “Daily Express” Stockholm correspondent. Neither inquiry nor a trial of any sort preceded the mass murder, the correspondent says.. The escapees emphatically refute the German allegation that the prisoners were shot when rushing the gates. An official report, based > on statements which are expected in a few days, is believed to be one of the most shocking stories of the war. The shooting lasted for several days., Most of the prisoners were shot on March 22 and 23, but the executions continued td March 24. The shootings apparently resulted from a breakdown of German discipline and morale. The escapees said that the guards at Stalag Luft 3 for months past had behaved like lunatics. They were exasperated by frequent attempts to escape and decided, as a deterrent example, to shoot all suspected of planning to escape. The “Daily Express,” in a leading article, says preliminary reports of the massacre will strike a chill of cold hate through Britain. “Here,” it says, ‘is the ultimate vileness of Nazidom made plain as the nation is poised to attack and destroy it.”