Published in „Siegrunen“ Magazine – Volume 6, Number 5, Whole Number 35,
July – September 1984
by Gustav Jürgens
In late summer 1944, the activities of the communist partisans behind the German front in Italy took on critical proportions. From June to August 1944 the Germans had lost about 5,000 dead and 30,000 wounded to the partisans and the strength of the front was being sapped by the lack of ammunition and other material that was no longer reaching the troops. The main supply routes were the Bologna-Florence road running through the Setta Valley and the Bologna-Pistoia road running through the Reno Valley. Even strongly guarded motorized columns were being attacked and very often wiped out with no prisoners being taken. These attacks, in which hundreds of „civilians” (at least people in civilian dress!) often took part, became more numerous from day to day.
The responsibility for successfully combatting these partisans was put on the individual troop commanders of the corps and divisions. Therefore, more and more combat soldiers who were needed at the front, found themselves defending supply columns in the rear against the communist terror squads.
At the front, the British 8th Army was advancing along the Adriatic coast, while in the Apennines, the U.S. 5th Army, with an unbelievable material superiority, was grinding its way towards Bologna. The Allied High Command had been pushing for a breakthrough since July, hoping to end the campaign during the summer of 1944. During these crucial weeks, partisan activity had reached unprecedented heights. The commanding general of I. Fallschirmjäger Corps finally had to pull badly needed units out of the line for an operation against the communist partisan „brigade” „Lunnense.” Among the forces to be used were mountain troops, paratroops and the SS Panzer Recce Detachment 16 of the 16th SS Pz.Gr.Div. „Reichsführer-SS.“ The commander of SS Recce Det. 16 was Sturmbannführer (Major) Walter Reder. In addition to his own unit, his battle group for the struggle against the terrorists also included a Russian volunteer battalion and some commandos from the Italian „Nera” Brigade.
On 24 August 1944, the German units began their attack. The communists tried to escape encirclement by retreating into the hills around Carrara-Vinca. Here the fighting became very fierce and the Germans took heavy losses, but the SS Panzergrenadiers threw back the partisans in hand-to-hand combat and broke up the brigade. When the „Lunnense“ headquarters town of Vinca was taken on the 25th by Stubaf. Reder’s men, the last resistance collapsed. With the destruction of „Lunnense,” a short period of calm settled on the hard-pressed front as supplies arrived in more abundance and more frequently.
By the second half of September, however, an even bigger terrorist-partisan band calling itself the „Stella Rose“ (Red Star) Brigade, was bringing about another critical situation due to its ambushing of supply columns and attacking of garrison units and patrols. On 24 September 1944 American troops finally took the bitterly contested Futa Pass, east of the Bologna- Florence rail line, and were attempting to reach the headwaters of the Po River. Thus they were only a few kilometers away from the operational area of the „Stella Rosa“ Brigade, which lay between the Reno and Setta Rivers. Realizing that a joint operation between the Americans and the 2,000 well-equipped and armed members of the „Stella Rosa” Brigade could cause the front to collapse, the German command was faced with launching an immediate and effective anti-partisan operation or inviting disaster.
The partisan operations zone lay in the security area of the 16th SS Div. „RF-SS” and the divisional commander, SS-Gruppenführer Max Simon, due to the situation facing him had no recourse but to call on Stubaf. Reder and his battle-weary SS Recce Det. 16. During the night of 26/27 September, Reder’s unit was transferred to the Setta River valley in the area of Rioveggio as a tactical reserve for the anti-partisan operation. The detachment had already made a reputation for itself in the area of 14th Army under Generaloberst Vietinghoff-Scheel, as a „fire brigade” to several different corps.
Although the Germans took every conceivable security precaution against the news of an offensive against the partisans getting out, the communist leader Mario Musolesi (also known as „II Lupo” – “The Wolf”), knew all about the German plan of attack. These plans were forwarded to the communists by no less than a priest, Father Don Fornasini. After all, who would expect a „man of the cloth“ to spy for the atheistic communists? Musolesi decided that the „Stella Rosa” would hold its ground, defending the Monte Sole area where his arsenal was, and await the arrival of American troops, whom he thought must surely be strong enough to break the thin German lines and link up with him.
Four battalions of four companies each dug in in well-prepared positions in the area between Monte Sole and Monte Salvaro. Villages and farms were built up into defensive positions. Fornasini had seen to it that the element of surprise that the Germans were counting on was gone. Many a young SS grenadier would have to pay dearly for his infamy.
In the gray dawn of 29 September, German soldiers, paratroopers and SS men attacked the „Red Star” Brigade in the area of Marzabotto, on Monte Capara and around Monte Sole. The veterans of the SS Pz. Recce Det. 16 were led into the thick of the battle by SS-Hauptsturmführer Max Saalfrank. Stubaf. Reder had been incapacitated by a painful leg injury and there- fore stayed in his headquarters at Rioveggio to supervise the overall command of the operation by radio.
After the successful encirclement of the partisans, the „RF-SS“ Divisional Escort Co. along with parts of SS-Flak Det. 16 and SS-Artillery Rgt. 16 in conjunction with the SS-Recce Det. 16, began encountering heavy fire from rifles, machine guns and mortars that were in the hands of the communists and some of their supporters, which included some „Allied“ soldiers and a company of deserters from the 163rd Turkestan Div. in full German uniform. They forcibly obtained the support of the civilian population and dug in in every house, farm, and even on every hillock in the area, which they defended bitterly.
Again and again these bandits would emerge from the bushes and hedges to shoot the SS men in the back. Land mines also took their toll and made the advance slow. Without any thought of the elderly people and the women and children that they had dragged into the battle by occupying their homes and villages, the brigands of the „Red Star“ band waged a ruthless battle. Anyone who did not help them was shot out of hand.
The German losses began to climb, especially in the SS-Pz. Recce Det. 16. Reder’s men had indeed attacked the main defensive positions of „II Lupo’s“ Red cutthroats. The German assault ground to a halt in front of the bunkers and fortified houses and heavy weapons had to be brought up to smash the well-built positions. The villages of San Martino and Cadotto in particular were heavily defended and could only be taken after artillery bombardment. And so it went; position after position, house after house, village after village, taken in close combat.
In the course of the day the „fighters” of the „Red Star” band were driven back and then fell back on prepared mountain positions on Monte Sole where they came under the personal command of Mario Musolesi. They fought frantically, in some places to the last man. „II Lupo” fell not far from his headquarters, weapon in hand. The awaited American soldiers had failed to materialize. When the action ended, approximately 800 communist partisans lay dead on the battlefield. The main body of the terrorist force had been destroyed and the 30th of September was spent mopping up the remnants of the „Red Star” Brigade and its allies.
SS-Pz. Recce Det. 16, although having lost 24 killed, 40 wounded and 6 missing on the previous day, was rushed back to the front on 30 September and was just in time to seal off and drive back an American breakthrough near Lagaro. Although the unit was never used against partisans again, it remained in uninterrupted combat for the remainder of the war. The detachment fought along both sides of Sassa Marconi, defending the Reno and Setta Valleys to the west of Bologna. From the middle of December it fought against the British between Imola and Lake Comachio.
Walter Reder took charge of the SS-Panzergrenadier Rgt. 36 of the „RF-SS“ Div. in January 1945 and soon led it in action against the Soviets in Hungary. Late in the war he received serious leg wounds and was sent to the military hospital in Bad Gleichenberg, Steiermark (Austria). Despite his leg still being stiff, Reder left the hospital on 4 May 1945, determined to get back in action. He was unable to rejoin his old division and was sent instead to the Army’s 23rd Panzer Div. and ac- companied this formation into American captivity.
Walter Reder was released by the U.S. 3rd Inf. Div. on 15 May 1945, mainly due to his poor physical condition. He had his left arm missing below the elbow (due to wounds in 1943), a lame right wrist and hand, and stiff legs due to numerous wounds. But fate was to play a cruel trick on him. He would be arrested by U.S. authorities in September 1945 in Salzburg, because his name had found its way onto a list of „war criminals.’ ‘This amazing feat came about in typical „Allied” fashion.
Among the replacements sent to the 16th SS Div. „RF-SS“ in the late summer of 1944 was a man from Alsace by the name of Julien Legoli. His first and only taste of combat was against the „Stella Rossa” Brigade. Immediately afterwards he deserted and ran over to the Americans. To the Americans, Legoli was still a Frenchman, so they handed him over to the „Deuxieme Bureau” in Rome. The French accused Legoli of being a traitor in German employ. During his interrogation he said that he had taken part in the „Stella Rossa“ campaign.
That was the key phrase. The „Allied” interrogators and authorities then threatened Legoli with everything, including execution, unless he made a charge against one of his SS officers who had participated in the action. To save his own hide Legoli stated that prior to the fighting, Stubaf. Reder had ordered his men to retaliate immediately if they were attacked. That was good enough for the interrogators. The „Duexieme Bureau” passed on this „protocol” to the Badoglio government in Italy which was only too eager to enter the names of Gruf. Max Simon (the divisional CO) and Stubaf. Walter Reder onto its list of ‘ ‘war criminals. ‘ ‘
Upon hearing of this, the communists saw that here was a basis for concocting an atrocity story which they could use to cover up and/or justify the horrible atrocities that they themselves had and were committing. After the total „Allied“ victory, the communists had no trouble catching the „war criminals” in their net! Suddenly the leftist and communist press began screaming about the „Tragedy of Marzabotto” and the women and children (estimates from witnesses ranged from 200 to 2,000) burned or shot to death for no reason. These gruesome stories were always mentioned in connection with such great figures as Field Marshall Kesselring and Gruppenführer Max Simon.
As these stories gained momentum another figure in them grew in stature. He was described as a member of the „SS criminal organization,“ a beast, a devil in human form. He was pictured as an ogre in black SS uniform (not worn in the wartime Waffen-SS!), who strode down the streets of Marzabotto killing helpless people with his bare hands and sawing off the heads of babies with a bayonet! This inhuman fiend was supposed to be Walter Reder. The propaganda myth of Marzabotto was solidified in 1948 when the Italian government placed a „gold medal for bravery” on a mausoleum built in the town to commemorate the hoax.
It is somewhat difficult to figure out why Marzabotto was chosen to be the center point of this propaganda lie. During the entire operation against the „Stella Rossa“ band between 29 and 30 September 1944, the town of Marzabotto lay outside the combat zone on the opposite side of the Reno River. The German troops and Italian militia units stationed there found no reason to move against the civilians and the only losses suffered by the people of Marzabotto at this time were the men who fell in battle in the Setta Valley as partisan combatants. Death and destruction came only later as the front moved closer and Marzabotto became the target of „Allied” bombers and American artillery.
Neither Walter Reder or any other soldier from the SS-Pz. Recce Det. 16 ever set foot in Marzabotto. At no time did German Army or SS troops ever take revenge on the people of the town. The entire story of families burnt to death in their homes and churches by flamethrowers and/or machine gunned down in graveyards and other locations, was simply pure fabrication! Even the self-glorifying account written by the communist partisans themselves in 1945 never mentioned any kind of war crimes or massacres ever having taken place in Marzabotto.
The bravery, discipline and chivalry demonstrated by Sturmbannführer Walter Reder and his Waffen-SS soldiers is well documented and attested to as exemplary. In their area of conflict they fought with the idea of doing as little damage as possible to the villages and treated wounded civilians (including partisans) as they treated their own wounded. Partisans who were captured during and immediately after the battle were handled as prisoners of war and sent to POW camps. They were not harmed even after the discovery of some mutilated corpses of Waffen-SS troopers. Through his own personal intervention, Walter Reder prevented the deportation of 2,000 Italian men to the „east” as a reprisal by the arrival at the last minute of an officer bearing his orders. Reder also prevented other military units from burning the village of Monzone to the ground. Despite all of this he was castigated as a „war criminal“!
Following his arrest in September 1945, Walter Reder was transferred to a POW camp in Hallein and then later to Camp Marcus W. Orr in Hallein. Two years passed before the Americans even saw fit to begin investigating the charges against him. In the end, they found the case uninteresting but still kept him prisoner. In the summer of 1947, the British went to the Allied Extradition Board, presenting a petition for „Italian interests” for the custody of Reder. Twice the petition was denied on the grounds of „insufficient evidence,” but the British persisted and the Americans gave in on the third time. Walter Reder was handed over to them on 29 September 1947.
The British then went and investigated the charges made by the communists against Reder. The investigation was over by November 1947. After having sifted through the entire gamut of false evidence, forced affidavits, lies and perjured „witnesses,” the British reached the obvious conclusion that Walter Reder was totally innocent of the charges made against him. But such a conclusion was unacceptable to the politicians! The British were in a dilemma; they could either release Reder (which the political authorities would never approve of) or they could hand this innocent man over to the Italian government and let it do as it saw fit.
In the end they decided to take the coward’s way out. They would give Reder a chance to escape. With this in mind the British sent him home for a five-day „Christmas holiday,” without guard. Certainly that would be the last they would ever see of him! But Walter Reder, being a man of integrity and innocent as well of the terrible and malicious accusations that had been made, embarrassed the British authorities by actually returning! That meant that the underhanded political game now had to be played out.
On 13 March 1948 the British set Reder „free” but at the same time extradited him to the Italians. They did, in effect, act like Pontius Pilot by washing their hands of an innocent man and delivering him to his enemies. He arrived in Tarvisio with the status of “prisoner of war”.
The sham trial of Walter Reder lasted from 1948 to 1951. He was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment in the fortress of Gaeta. He is still there today, to the everlasting shame of the „free” world. The Lie of Marzabotto and the power of the communists had triumphed again.
Afterword
It is worth mentioning that Italian military tribunals have several times ordered the release or parole of Walter Reder, but on each occasion have been overruled by civilian courts and political authorities. In 1980 an actual release date was set but then reneged upon when the communists, politicians, world press, assorted „Nazi Hunters“ and the Israelis (what possible interest they have in this cannot be determined), went into hysterics. The result was a barrage of the foulest and most ludicrous lies imaginable filling the international news media and as a result the Italians added extra conditions before any possible release of Walter Reder can take place.
Walter Reder is a man of the highest possible integrity, courage and fortitude. He has held up well after nearly 40 years of confinement and he has never given up his hope of getting out of prison.
That he is completely innocent of any wrong doing there is no doubt. He was a brave and compassionate soldier who was decorated with the highest military decoration of his country. But due to the corrupt and degenerate state of political affairs in the „free” world today he remains hostage to „state terrorism” at its worst.
Major Reder reads English and would appreciate hearing from anyone who feels he was done an injustice. He receives over 3,000 letters annually and usually answers them all, typing with one finger on his crippled right hand. He also relies on donations to help support the continuing legal battle to help him regain his freedom and to a lesser extent for his modest personal needs.
Walter Reder is the last POW from World War Two. It is the duty of those of us who have any appreciation whatsoever for bravery, truth and decency to offer our support to him in whatever way we can. It is the least we owe him.
Kamerad Walter Reder was released from prison in 1985. Austrian Defense Minister Friedhelm Frischenschlager (FPÖ) was personally present at Graz-Thalerhof Airport on January 24, 1985, when an Italian military aircraft brought the pardoned Walter Reder back home from Italy. Walter Reder was greeted with a handshake. The media in West Germany and East Germany, however, vilified both men.
After his release, his health was severely compromised. The war veteran was 70 years old, missing one arm, with his remaining hand radially paralyzed, and two-thirds of his stomach and his gallbladder removed. Just one year after his release, he wrote a farewell letter to be sent after his death to everyone who had cared for him during his captivity. He passed away just a few years later. The FRG vassal regime did not lift a finger for him during the decades of his captivity, since he was “only” a German from Austria. Only from the Austrian part of Germany did he receive tentative political support.
Retired SS-Sturmbannführer Walter “Bubi” Reder passed away on April 26, 1991, in Vienna; the funeral took place on May 8, 1991, in Gmunden on the northern shore of Lake Traunsee, attended by a large gathering of friends and comrades.
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