Other Losses: An Investigation into the Mass Deaths of German Prisoners at the Hands of the French and Americans after World War II

In the waning days of World War II in Europe millions of Wehrmacht soldiers were fleeing westward in order to surrender to the Americans and British whom they assumed would give them better treatment than the vindictive Russians closing in from the east. Little did they know that they were walking into a trap that would seal the fate of many of them. In this excellently documented and reasoned book Canadian historian James Bacque takes a look at those fateful days and the inevitable tragedy that resulted in the needless deaths of upwards of one million German prisoners. He takes us behind the scenes to the planning and policy making occurring in the American high command and demonstrates convincingly that what happened was no fluke, but rather deliberate mass murder. If Bacque is right, and I believe he is, then this is the single greatest war crime committed by American soldiers in American history. And they almost got away with it too. For more than forty years this war crime sat hidden in U.S. Army records obscured by bureaucratic euphemisms such as Other Losses which forms the title of this book. Even today the Pentagon is still covering up the facts by claiming that Other Losses means transfers of prisoners to other commands. And some of the world's most renowned World War II historians such as Stephen Ambrose have participated in this cover-up. Bacque takes us into the prison camps themselves using eyewitness testimony by some of the German prisoners who survived their ordeal and also eyewitness testimony by their American camp guards. Germans were herded by the thousands into open pens surrounded by barbed wire and prison towers. Only a few tents were provided. Most prisoners sat on the ground which turned to mud when the rains of spring came to Germany. There was inadequate food, inadequate water, inadequate shelter, and virtually no medical supplies. The prisoners soon started dying of dysentery, pneumonia, malnutrition, and other causes brought on by their exposure to the elements and lack of proper care. And all of this was the result of deliberate policy set forth by none other than General Dwight Eisenhower, the highest ranking American general in the European theater. But this war crime went even above Eisenhower straight to President Roosevelt and his Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau who devised the infamous Morgenthau plan which intended to de-industrialize Germany and thereby kill off several tens of millions of Germans. Bacque shows us secret orders such as the one issued by Eisenhower on March 10, 1945 which created the new classification of DEF (Disarmed Enemy Forces). Unlike the POW (Prisoner Of War) classification Germans prisoners classified as DEFs would have no protection under the Geneva convention. The German government would be responsible for feeding German prisoners with the DEF classification even though Eisenhower knew full well that after May 8, 1945 there would be no German government. But the orders went even further. German civilians were forbidden to bring food or clothing to the camp inmates on pain of being shot and Bacque provides us the exact public notice which was posted for this. Not only did Eisenhower and some of his subordinates (Hughes, etc.) carry out this atrocity but they made sure that it stayed secret for more than forty years. By using bland, euphemistic terms such as Other Losses in official Army reports they could cover up their war crimes. Very few people ever challenged them on it. Journalists were for the most part happy to go along with the party line and so the greatest war crime in American history lay undisturbed for James Bacque to find in the 1980's, more than 40 years later. Reading these accounts is all so horrible. To think that we have been looking up to and honoring people like Eisenhower, Roosevelt, and Marshall all these years who now turn out to be war criminals just turns my stomach. And just like Uncle Joe Stalin, they all got away with these crimes. Not a single one of them was ever punished for what they did. What I cannot understand is why there was not an out-and-out revolt by the lower ranking American officers and enlisted men to protest this mass murder. This is certainly not the greatest generation of Americans, not if they participated in mass murder like this. Bacque's book should puncture any illusion you may have about World War II being the "Good War". All wars are nasty and total wars are even more nasty than usual. Our war "leaders" don't think twice about lying to us and misleading us in order to build up their own egos. I highly recommend this book. This is a MUST READ for anyone interested in World War II.

James Bacque does an excellent job of documenting his claim that the Allies, led by the United States of America, intentionally starved to death approximately one million German prisoners of war. Not only does Bacque quote from German survivors of the camps, but he quotes a large number of American guards and officers who witnessed the German POW deaths. These Americans include Martin Brech, Daniel McConnell, Major-General Richard Steinbach, Lieutenant Colonel Henry W. Allard, Colonel Philip Lauben, Colonels James B. Mason and Charles H. Beasley, Captain Ben H. Jackson, General Mark Clark, Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Pollack, Sergeant Merrill W. Campbell, Captain Frederick Siegfriedt, Lieutenant Arthur W. von Fange, and a couple of American officers who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals. The Red Cross was prevented from providing food and shelter to the German POWs even though these were readily available. The German POWs were not provided tents or housing, and many died from exposure to the elements. Most of the German POWs were intentionally given inadequate food, and many died from slow starvation. Since Eisenhower and his associates at SHAEF controlled the media, pictures and stories from these camps were not allowed to reach the media. Eisenhower showed the piles of dead bodies at Buchenwald, Bergen-Belsen and other German camps at the end of the war, but the pictures of dead bodies at the American-run German POW camps were not allowed to reach the public. James Bacque ends his outstanding book with an appeal for tolerance and understanding. Bacque states: "Surely it is time for the guesswork and the lying to stop. Surely it is time to take seriously what the eye-witnesses on both sides are trying to tell us about our history. All over the Western world, savage atrocities against the Armenians, the Ukrainians and the Jews are known. Only the atrocities against the Germans are denied. Are Germans not people in our eyes?"

Mr. Bacque is to be congratulated for publishing this book which describes the fate German soldiers who had surrendered to General Eisenhower's forces at the end of WWII. They had expected to be treated according to the Geneva convention governing the conduct of armies in regard to captured enemy personnel. This was not to be the case. As Mr. Bacque points out an entire new category of "Disarmed Enemy Forces", DEF, was created. Its only purpose was to avoid having to feed and house these millions of ex-soldiers and thereby bypass the Geneva convention to which America was a signatory. One may argue about the precise numbers of ex-soldiers who died in these "temporary enclosures" but the fact that inhuman treatment did exist cannot be denied. Neither can the fact that a considerable percentage of them was subsequently given to the French for what is called today "slave labor," albeit this term refers nowadays only to non-German nationals. Readers who may feel negatively about Bacque's revelations should be aware that this treatment of former members of the German army was not just happenstance but the execution of the Morgenthau plan to render Germany harmless forever. The plan was not directed against the German leadership or Nazis, but the German people at large. Mr. Baque makes frequent reference to this unfortunate document but readers, who cannot conceive that U.S. personnel may also carry out atrocities should look at the Document section of Warren F. Kimball's "Swords or Ploughshares? The Morgenthau plan for Defeated Nazi Germany."The book clearly shows that Roosevelt had endorsed a policy of "being hard on Germany" and Eisenhower was in full accord. That you cannot be "hard" on a country but only on its people and that this policy is bound to involve cruelties was not a consideration. The conditions changed only after Eisenhower's return to the U.S. and the appointment of Lucius D. Clay as High Commissioner. He clearly saw that the existing situation, even for the civilian population, made neither military nor political sense. It would merely turn the population to communism because even the Russians fed the people in their zone better than the Americans did. It is also to President Truman's credit that he quietly dropped the Morgenthau plan soon after the Potsdam meeting. As a former member of the Wehrmacht I had become aware of the Morgenthau plan in the winter of 1944-1945 but had regarded it as Nazi propaganda. I had always had high admiration for the principles America stood for and the Morgenthau plan seemed to be in total contradiction to those ideals. As mentioned in my book War and Mayhem I had intended to surrender to the U.S. forces towards the end of the war, but changed my mind on VE day and through the grace of God managed to avoid American as well as Soviet captivity. Having read Mr. Bacque's book I am even more grateful for the good fortune which kept me out of DEF status and instead allowed me to go to medical school within about six weeks after Germany's capitulation. I had no idea about the conditions German ex-soldiers were exposed to in those days, just as I had no idea about what really went on in the Nazi concentration camps until after the war. There are things people just didn't talk about. To "let it all hang out" became popular only in the late sixties and thereafter. But for the sake of historical accuracy both sides need to be heard and Mr. Bacque has done us this service for which he deserves our gratitude.

The American manufacturer image of Eisenhower is that of an honest mid-Westerner who courageously let are Army in WW2 TO victory and treated Germany with magnanimity in their defeat. Very wrong. The book provides ample and thorough documented proof of callous and deadly treatment of German POW’s after the war. He professed to the media that he was following the Geneva Convention in its treatment of the POW’S but he actually issued orders to shoot anyone bringing food to them. It begs the question as to what other lies and distortions have been propagated about our involvement in the War? The Rise and Fall of tgecThird Reich by Shirer mostly used the transcripts of the Nuremberg Trials as its source. However, the confessions and narratives often were were forced confessions by prisoners who were threatened with death if they did not adhere to an anti-Nazi narrative. And the Holocaust? The absurdity of the enforcement of Holocaust denial laws gives one pause. Why make it a crime to question the Holocaust? If it is true and accurate, it should stand on its own merits, the victor surely does write its own History.

I had read this historical account from Author Bacque back during the late 1990's, I certainly was familiar with much of this story, because I lived it during World War II, and especially remember the four years after the War, because I was only eleven years old at the end of this War, living in the City of Kassel, State of Hessen (Hessia), American Zone at that time. Yes, the food rations were ordered by the American Military Authorities as described by the Author. We all felt the hunger pains, crying ourselves to sleep with our tears running along our cheeks and cramps in the stomach. The biggest shame of all is, that even today these accounts are hushed up by our US Government and are not to be aired or recorded in Literature, schoolbooks, or any historical writings for the American public. It proves the point, that the American government has lied before this War ever started, during its duration, and, especially after this War had ended on May 08, 1945. The Jews keep it up talking about the terrible Germans, but Americans, the public that is, will never find out about the US genocide of ,roundly speaking, fifteen to sixteen million German Citizens, or even the Jewish operated Concentration Camps in the Soviet Union during the years of late 1920's and all through the 1930's, when close to forty million people died in Russia. Anyway, keep it up in Washington, with all the lying and secret dealings even today, which will probably never end in years to come either, Media, Newspapers, Television as well as Hollywood and just about all American Publishers are still controlled by Jewish interest here, and abroad. No one ever talks about how Hitler was financed By interests from Wall-Street and the British Bourse to get him into power and the to control him, Just like they did with the Shah of Iran, whom they controlled for about forty years, till the Aiatola returned from exile in France and ousted him. Enough said. I could tell you things for the next week, or longer.

This is what really happened to German civilians at the end of WWII, most horribly to women. It is a meticulously documented report on what the allied occupiers, notably American Soldiers, did to innocent German civilians from June 1945 through the rest of the decade. It surprises and sickens, and shames our country and its Armed Forces, including foot soldiers, Genarals and civilian leaders as mass murderers and unfettered mass rapists. Unfortunately, all of this is documented and I refuted. For every candy bar, hell was unleashed. It must be understood that nothing in this book hints or suggests that the German Leaders and capos, etc. we're anything less than monsters of evil, misery, pain and death, genocide, and the war was nothing but their own making, but this book must be read and understood regarding the postwar Allied/American evil actions of grotesque proportions. It will make you shocked, angry and very sad.

RECOMIENDO AMPLIAMENTE ESTE LIBRO, FUE ESCRITO POR EL HISTORIADOR CANADIENSE JAMES BACQUE QUIEN DESMISTIFICA LA HISTORIA ROSA DE LA SEGUNDA GUERRA MUNDIAL DE " LOS BUENOS" CONTRA "LOS MALOS" LA CUAL HA SIDO PROPAGADA POR HOLLYWOOD. DESPUÉS DE LA RENDICIÓN DE ALEMANIA EN MAYO DE 1945 UN MILLÓN DE ALEMANES PERECIERON EN CAMPOS DE CONCENTRACIÓN NORTEAMERICANOS POR HAMBRE Y ENFERMEDADES PROVOCADOS POR LA FALTA DE COMIDA, MEDICINAS Y AGUA POTABLE, EL RESPONSABLE DE ESTAS POLÍTICAS FUE EL GENERAL DWIGHT EISENHOWER. OTROS FUERON TRANSFERIDOS A FRANCIA PARA REALIZAR TRABAJOS DE ESCLAVO, TODO ESTO FUE DELIBERADAMENTE PLANEADO EN 1944 POR EISENHOWER SIGUIENDO LOS LINEAMIENTOS DEL INFAME PLAN MORGHENTAU QUE CONSISTIA EN DESTRUIR LA BASE INDUSTRIAL DE ALEMANIA Y REDUCIRLA A UN ESTADO PASTORAL. SON BIEN CONOCIDAS LAS TERRIBLES ATROCIDADES QUE COMETIERON LOS NAZIS Y LOS COMUNISTAS, ES HORA DE QUE SE SEPAN LAS QUE HAN COMETIDO LAS DEMOCRACIAS OCCIDENTALES ESPECIALMENTE CONTRA LOS ALEMANES, EN UNA FORMA VENGATIVA Y DELIBERADA DESPUÉS DE QUE SE ACABÓ LA GUERRA. EL LIBRO SE LO RECOMIENDO A MUCHOS HISPANOAMERICANOS QUE TODAVÍA HOY DIA CLAMAN POR INTERVENCIONES MILITARES, YO ME PREGUNTO, QUÉ PARTE NO HAN ENTENDIDO?

A painful read. Proves much hypocrisy in the post WW2 media. This is about one of the real holocausts. Others have also occurred in Russia and China, but the controlled media doesn't play those up as much and others. Per Revelation 21:8 "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." and Matthew 11: 23,24 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you." So on Judgment Day when all the wicked are destroyed, it will be more bearable for some than others. The degrees of punishment, either in length or intensity will be more for some. But eventually, it will destroy all the wicked. We have to believe the suffering of Satan will be for ages according to the Bible, but eventually, he too will be destroyed. Demons and people like Stalin, and Mao will be the next longest sufferers. And it appears Eisenhower won’t be far from them.

Un libro que debes tener si te interesa la verdad en la historia europea.

This book blew me away. When I was growing up in the mid sixties many of my friends were of German and eastern European stock. Most of their fathers had fought for the Reich and strangely enough at that time they were not apologetic for their actions. One man in particular alluded to what the Allies did to hundreds of thousands if not millions of his brothers in arms. He was quite adamant that they were murdered in Eisenhower's camps after the war. At the time I let it pass as some form of an ancient hatred, though his sincerity had always bothered me. It sort of rattled my soul. so to speak. After reading Mr. Bacque's 'Other Losses', it all came flooding back and now I have a source which can corroborate this man's statements. Unfortunately he is no longer with us. Mr. Bacque has bravely given us an account of Allied history which was supposed to have been swept under the rug of historical lies and political correctness.

Excelente costo

Here is clear confirmation that the lies, spin and propaganda were (and are) by no means confined to Joseph Goebbels and those nasty Nazis. It was generally believed by most of the public amongst the ultimately "victorious" Allied forces that the Third Reich, Hitler and the Nazis had the monopoly on evil. They were the Black Hats - the Allies were the White Hats, and that, to this day, is the most widely believed narrative. The Allied propaganda sold well, in that respect, to its own supporters. It was therefore very easy for the various Allied sectors that received surrendering German military and civilians to the camps in Berlin at the end of WWII to mete out to them if they chose, treatment certainly not in accordance with the Geneva Convention, behaviour they had roundly condemned in the Germans during the war. And the Americans, under Dwight D Eisenhower, were the worst. Allied propaganda had evidently been so effective, not only amongst the Allies themselves, but believed also, greatly to their detriment by the surrendering Germans at the time, that as many as could manage it chose to surrender to the Americans, confident that they would at least be decently fed, clothed and housed, and receive the best available treatment from them, compared to the Russians, the British or the French. The Americans may well have topped the list for ill treatment of prisoners, but there were also breaches of the Geneva Convention and ill-treatment of prisoners by the British and the French - even the Russians, who were not noted for compassionate treatment, were occasionally moved to marvel at the starvation rations the American prisoners received, when it was very clear that this was not due to food shortage. The American forces were the best fed of all the Allied troops and the stockpile of foodstuffs they held were far more than required to feed their troops. Their prisoners, military and civilian, were often confined within a grassy area defined by a wire fence and offering no shelter from the elements and no toilet facilities other than the earth on which they stood. The weather was appalling, it deluged with rain, and it was not long before the prisoners were suffering from infections, chest problems, pneumonia, TB, all made far worse by their lack of shelter. Some burrowed into the sodden ground in an effort to find some respite from the elements, only to perish from disease often arising from lack of provision of toilet facilities. But the factor that made the diseases so much worse and their contraction almost inevitable was the lack of proper nutrition. Some of the young American GIs who were helping to guard the prisoners were so appalled by the below-subsistence rations they risked bringing the matter to the attention of their senior officers, pointing out that there were FAR more food supplies available than were needed by US Army personnel, only to be firmly rebuked and told it was none of their business. One or two were actually given official warnings and reprimands for daring to question the policy. No less a figure than General George Patton objected loudly to the treating of surrendered German troops in so cavalier a manner. He made it very clear that when he returned to the US, in a week or so's time, he would be ensuring that the American public were told of the shameful and cruel manner their government was treating a defeated and surrendered enemy. Are we to suppose it was "pure coincidence" that Patton met with an accident only a day or so before he was due to fly back to the US? that he spent his final days in a German hospital where he remained until he died, not long after it appeared that he was recovered from what seemed to be comparatively minor injuries?....another dodgy narrative, I would suggest. His removal was, at any rate, singularly convenient for those in the US Government whose policies had led to such ill treatment of German people, and there is no doubt that whilst there was little love lost between the US authorities and Patton by that time, he was a very popular figure amongst the American public, and he would certainly have been listened to with great interest had he been available to organise the public speaking tour he had had in mind on his return to the US. Bacque is a Canadian historian, who at the time he wrote this book, held a position at one of Canada's universities. So great was the fear of the Establishments in all the former Allied nations that he was vilified and criticised for having written it, found it initially difficult to get a publisher who would take it, and was eventually hounded out of his job at the university, on the grounds that he was a thoroughly discredited historian. It's what's always done, when the powers that be need to dispense with someone exposing the truth about their agenda. Either make the critic both unemployed and unemployable henceforth, or call him all the names under the sun, because mud sticks, and some of the names will be forever associated with that person. Or both. James Bacque did a great deal of research documenting the facts, many of which he gives in this book. Most of us don't bother much, when the attack isn't directed at us - but it's a tried and tested method, so perhaps we all ought to mind rather more than we do - these tactics can be used on anyone at all who departs from the "official" line, and it's a great way to ensure complete loss of anything that could be called free speech, if we continue to ignore it when it's turned on others. Cassandra

James Bacque is an investigative journalist. He came accidentally across the facts that he describves here: the inhumane treatment of German prisoners of war by the allied victors after WWII - primarily by the Americans and French, to a somewhat lesser extent by the Russians and least by the English victors. He describes how General Dwight D. Eisenhower reclassified the imprisoned troops as "Disarmed Enemy Forces" and then treated them in blatant contravention of the Geneva conventions. Based on meticulously researched sources, Bacque describes how troops fenced by barbed wire and guarded by machine gun towers were left exposed to the elements without shelter, food or even water - which was sometimes flowing in the rivers 200m from the encampment. I grew up in the American Occupation zone in Germany in the fourties, I was taught by teachers who had survived Amercan and French POW camps. I am glad that this dark chapter of allied war history is exposed to scrutiny.