German Forces

Massacre in Rome.

The opening to the Adeatine caves, part of a disused quarry near Rome - early postwar photo. On 24 March, 1944, 335 people (5 in excess of the requirement - an error) and shot to death by SS security personnel in the Areatine caves. When deciding the "quantum of damages", the SS appear to have assumed that there would be a sufficient number of prisoners in Rome's prisons under sentence of death to supply the number of victims required. Surprisingly or unsurprisingly (depending on one's point of view), the number of the condemned fell well, well short of requirements. In the end, the cadre of victims came to include persons merely accused of serious crimes, Italian government officials (Carabineri, Army officers) hostile to the RSI/Germans, perfectly unconnected civilians, Jews, and at least one Roman Catholic priest. The SS personnel involved seem to have required a lot of alcohol to steel themselves to their task, resulting in a fair degree of "inefficiency" in the later stages of the day-long operation. At its end, the entrance of the caves was sealed by explosion executed by German Army engineers. In spite of the Germans' efforts to conceal it, an incident of this sort could not be kept secret following Rome's liberation. Obersturmbannfuhrer Kappler, Obersturmbannfuhrer Karl Hass and Hauptsturmfuhrer Erich Priebke, the leading SS officers with direct responsibility for the Ardeatine caves massacre, were subsequently convicted by Italian courts of the crime. Best regards, JR.