Record of the trial of Wilhelm Hafner for the murder of a US airman, Donald Hein, in December 1944

HEADQUARTERS
THIRD U S ARMY AND EASTERN MILITARY DISTRICT
APO 403
MILITARY COMMISSION ORDER NUMBER 5
18 October 1945
Before a military commission which convened at Freising, Germany, on 15 July 1945, pursuant to paragraph 11, Special Orders No. 190, this headquarters, 11 July 1945, was arraigned and tried:
Wilhelm Hafner, a German national.
Charge: Violation of the Laws and Usages of War.
Specification: In that on or about 12 December 1944, Albert Bury, also known as Alfred Bury, a German National, then the police chief of Langenselbold, Kreis Hanau, Germany, and Wilhelm Hafner, Karl Henkel, and Wilhelm Plitt, all German Nationals, then policemen of Langenselbold, Kreis Hanau, Germany, and Johann Freidrich Wilhelm Loser, a German National, then Landrat of Kreis Hanau, Germany, and Georg Heinrich Kalte, a German National, then Oberleunant of Police of Kreis Hanau, Germany, did at Langenselbold, Kreis Hanau, Germany, wrongfully and unlawfully kill Technical Sergeant Donald L. Hein, ASN 33563157, a member of the Armed forces of the United States of America, the said Albert Bury having wrongfully and unlawfully delivered the said Donald L. Hein, who had come into his, Albert Bury's, custody as a prisoner of war, and was then and there unarmed and defenseless and was not under sentence of death for any offense committed by the said Donald L. Hein, to said Wilhelm Hafner, Karl Henkel, and Wilhelm Plitt, with directions that the said Wilhelm Hafner, Karl Henkel, and Wilhelm Plitt, should shoot the said Donald L. Hein, and pursuant thereto the said Wilhelm Hafner, Karl Henkel and Wilhelm Plitt, having conducted the said Donald L. Hein to a secluded spot at or near Langenselbold, Kreis Hanau, Germany, where the said Wilhelm Hafner in the presence of the said Karl Henkel and Wilhelm Plitt did wrongfully and unlawfully shoot the said Donald L. Hein with a pistol, causing the death of said Donald L. Hein, the said Karl Henkel and Wilhelm Plitt then and there wrongfully and unlawfully standing by and failing to prevent the aforesaid unlawful act of the said Wilhelm Hafner, all of the foregoing hav-
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ing been done pursuant to the wrongful and unlawful orders of the said Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Loser and the said Georg Heinrich Kalte that each and every enemy flier who landed within the territory of their jurisdiction was to be shot immediately, or words to that effect. .
PLEAS
To the Specification of the Charge: To the Charge:
FINDINGS
Of the Specification of the Charge: Of the Charge:
SENTENCE
Not Guilty Not Guilty
Guilty
Guilty
To be hanged by the neck until dead.
The sentence was adjudged on 15 July 1945.
The action of the convening authority is as follows:
"HEADQUARTERS THIRD UNITED STATES ARMY APO 403
In the foregoing case of Wilhelm Hafner, a German National, the sentence is approved. The record of trial is forwarded for confirmation to the Commanding General, United States Forces, European Theater.
s/ G. S. Patton, Jr.
t/ G. S. PATTON, JR.,
General, U. S. Army, Commanding."
The action of the confirming authority is as follows: "HEADQUARTERS
UNITED STATES FORCES, EUROPEAN THEATER
12 October 1945
In the foregoing case of Wilhelm Hafner, a German national, the sentence is confirmed. The Commanding General Eastern Military District, will issue appropriate orders promulgating the
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sentence as confirmed, and will carry the sentence into execution at a time and place to be determined by him.
s/ Dwight D. Eisenhower V DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER Commanding General, TJ S Forces European Theater"
BY COMMAND OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL TRUSCOTT:
DON E. CARLETON, Brigadier General, U. S. Army, Chief of Staff.
(SEAL)
HEADQUARTERS THIRD US ARMY OFFICIAL L. L. MANLY,
Colonel, Adjutant General's Department,
Adjutant General