Cover letter and documents on the killing of General Gustave Mesny, a POW, in January 1945

French High Command in Germany
Baden-Baden, 18 July 1946
Delegation of the Ministry of Justice for the discovery of WAR CRIMES in Germany,
General Direction of Justice,
The Delegate.
Reference. JUS/CG/No. 2680
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President FURBY General Director of Justice Delegatè in Germany for the Discovery of War Crimes, to
The Secretary General of the French Delegation at the International Tribunal in NÜRNBERG
In reply to your telegram of 13 July received today, I have the honour to forward to you the file of the murder of General
MESNY
which I have in my possession.
I should be obliged if you would return it to me when you have no further use for it so that the inquiries I asked for can be continued.
THE DELEGATE
[Stamp of the Military Government in the French Zone.]
General Direction of Justice. Inclosure :—1 file - ..
On January 20th, in the morning, Commandant PRAWITT, head of Oflag IV-C, came into the rooms of the French Generals and spoke to us as follows: '
"I inform you officially that General MESNY was shot yesterday in Dresden for trying to escape. He has been buried in Dresden with military honors from a detachment of the Wehrmaeht."
Two facts remain obscure in this sombre tragedy:
(1) —The transport of General MESNY alone (second car). The choice of General VAUTHIER, then the cancelling of the order seemed very suspicious to us giving the attitude of the general, who was a volunteer for work in Germany, and whose transfer to a reprisal camp seemed inexplicable.
(2) —General MESNY, whose eldest son is in a camp for political deportees in Germany, said to me several times during the course of conversation: "If up to 1944 I always tried to prepare my escape, afterwards I gave up trying altogether, even if I had every chance of succeeding.—First of all, the end of the war is only a question of weeks,—moreover, and especially, I should be much too afraid that my flight would cost my eldest son his life."
An hour before his departure from KOENIGSTEIN on January 19th, General MESNY repeated these words to me again.
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And How can one imagine that a general in uniform would attempt to escape, given the transport conditions described above?
If it is true that General MESNY was shot during the transport from KOENIGSTEIN to COLDITZ, it could not be for trying to escape.
Premeditation or the terrified act of a German officer (after a discussion or a request for a half of a few minutes), these are, we think the only explanations for this tragic drama.
General BUISSON
Beurget du Lac 29.4.45 Division Commander General Louis Buisson ex-prisoner of War in Oflag IV-C, repatriated from Germany on 20 April 1945. to
The Minister of War, on the subject of General MESNY who is supposed to have been shot in Dresden on 19 January 1945.
On 18 January 1945, the following 6 officers, all generals, from the camp of KOENIGSTEIN^Oflag IV B, were picked out and told to leave the Camp on 19 January in the morning—for an unknown destination:
—1st car: 6 a.m. Generals DAINE and de BOISSE —2nd car: 6:15 a.m. Generals FLAVIGNY and BUISSON —3rd car: 6:30 a.m. Generals MESNY and VAUTHIER On the 19 January, if the first car left at the appointed time, it was not the same for the other two, as both their order of departure and the times were changed.
Second car 7 a.m. General MESNY alone (for according to information given General BUISSON by the German interpreter ROSENBERG, an order had arrived from the German High Command during the night, cancelling General VAUTHIER'S departure).
Third car: 8 a.m. Generals FLAVIGNY and BUISSON.
The orders for the journey were draconian:
—destination unknown,
—it was strictly forbidden to make any halt on the way.
—the door handles were taken off the cars, '
—there was a German officer in each car, with an automatic pistol on his knees and his finger on the trigger.
On our arrival in Colditz (Oflag IV-C) the reprisal camp, to-
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wards noon on 19th January, we noticed the absence of General MESNY, who had not arrived; we thought he had been sent to another camp, although his luggage was in the truck with that of the other four generals.
INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS COMMITTEE CENTRAL AGENCY FOR
PRISONERS OF WAR '
French Service EF.120.661 (RFOD 10.511)
NJ/AJ.
Geneva, 5 April 1945
Madame MESNY
4, Place Puvis de Chavannes
LYON
Dear Madam,
We regret to inform you that Monsieur DENZLER, attache at the Swiss Legation in Berlin, has just sent us the following information concerning General MESNY :
"On 6 February 1945 I visited Oflag IV D in Colditz and at the express request of the people concerned, I am sending you the following information :
The Generals FLA VIGNY, de BOISSE and BUISSON have been transferred from Oflag IV B in Koenigstein to Oflag IV C in Colditz. The Generals MESNY and VAUTHIER have also left Koenigstein in a private car for Colditz. According to a communication from Commandant PRAWILL General MESNY was shot near Dresden when he was trying to escape."
We immediately got in touch with our Delegation in Berlin in order to try and learn some details from the German authorities as to this tragic event. We shall not fail to send you any information We receive.
With our deepest sympathy, we beg to remain
Yours faithfully,
International Red Cross Committee Central Agency for Prisoners of War
GENEVA
[Signed] : M. LENOIR
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