This Date in History: June 16

On June 16, 1942, partisans near Orsa, White Russia ambushed and killed 17 German Police officers.  This prompted a “punishment expedition” by Sonderkommando Dirlewanger.  Three days later, the unit found an enemy partisan camp near the village of Stochowtschina and destroyed it.  (The Cruel Hunters: SS-Sonderkommando Dirlewanger Hitler’s Most Notorious Anti-Partisan Unit)

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Georg Keppler, SS-Obergruppenführer, born May 7, 1894 in Mainz, commander 2nd SS Panzer Division “Das Reich”, commander Ist SS Panzer Corps, winner of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross, died June 16, 1966 in Hamburg, on the war:

“I am a true German soldier and I do not approve of what is happening on the Eastern Front.  Decent young people are forced, by gangster methods, to participate in what amounts to mass murder.”  (2,000 Quotes From Hitler’s 1000-Year Reich)