Werner Drechsler

Werner Drechsler
Werner Drechsler (left), recovering from a bullet wound to his right knee, disembarking the USS Osmond Ingram on 20 June 1943 in Norfolk, Virginia
Born17 January 1917
Mühlberg, Brandenburg, German Empire
Died12 March 1944 (aged 27)
Papago Park, Arizona, United States
Cause of deathLynching

Werner Drechsler (17 January 1917 – 12 March 1944)[1] was a German U-boat crewman during World War II. He served on U-118, which was sunk off the Azores in 1943. When he was taken prisoner, Drechsler, a conscript, enthusiastically cooperated with his captors. His father, a Social Democrat, had been sent to a Nazi concentration camp as a political prisoner.[2]

Eventually, United States Navy intelligence officers recruited Drechsler as a spy and placed him in a prisoner of war (POW) camp near Fort Meade, Maryland with other U-boat sailors. After arrival, Drechsler worked undercover, befriending his fellow POWs in order to collect information regarding German submarine technology, operational procedures and tactics and any other intelligence which could be useful to the Allies.[3]

On 12 March 1944 Drechsler was transferred to a different POW camp in Arizona which was filled mainly with other submariners of the Kriegsmarine. This transfer took place even though Drechsler was supposed to be kept segregated from other naval prisoners, particularly his former crewmates on the U-118, who were aware of Drechsler's spying activities. Drechsler's transfer to Arizona quickly had fatal results: some members of the U-118 were confined at the camp and they immediately recognised their former crewmate. Word of Drechsler's undercover activities spread rapidly through the camp, and a kangaroo court was convened while Drechsler was asleep. The other prisoners eventually decided it was necessary to kill Drechsler to ensure he could no longer spy upon them, and also to act as a deterrent for any other POWs who might consider collaborating with the enemy. The next morning, Drechsler was found hanging in the shower room.[4]

Seven men (Helmut Fischer, Fritz Franke, Günter Külsen, Heinrich Ludwig, Bernhard Reyak, Otto Stengel and Rolf Wizny) were tried by a general court-martial and executed for the beating and hanging of Drechsler. In the last mass execution in the United States, the men were all hanged on 25 August 1945 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.[5]

A review board had recommended that two other German POWs, Siegfried Elser and Friedrich Murza, face charges as accessories before the fact to Drechsler's murder. However, they never stood trial.[6]

  1. ^ "Option 17 Military Law and Vigilante Justice in Prisoner of War Camps during World War II". Army University Press. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  2. ^ "ExecutedToday.com » 1945: Seven German POWs". Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  3. ^ "Fort Meade converted to POW camp in World War II [History Matters]". Baltimore Sun. 7 April 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  4. ^ "WWII German POWs buried at Fort Leavenworth | BasehorInfo.com". www.basehorinfo.com. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  5. ^ "Death row and capital punishment in the army". deathrowspeaks.info. Retrieved 12 November 2009.
  6. ^ Eppinga, Jane (2017). Death at Papago Park POW Camp: A Tragic Murder and America's Last Mass Execution. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4671-3576-4.