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by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian
CIC AGENT MURDERED IN GERMANY
On 17 April 1945, less than a month before Germany surrendered, Capt. Peter M. Cummins, Jr., the commander of the 44th Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) Detachment, was captured and killed by German soldiers. A thorough investigation by the CIC identified the perpetrators, who were tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death.
The 44th Infantry Division arrived in France in September 1944 and, in mid-October, joined XV Corps, Seventh Army. The division took part in the drive through the Vosges Mountains, liberated Strasbourg, and crossed the Rhine River at Worms on 26 March 1945. After a three-week rest and training period, in mid-April, the 44th Infantry Division began moving through the 63d Infantry Division to the front line near Eherbach, Germany. Organized resistance by the Germans had mostly ceased, but an unknown number of enemy soldiers remained scattered within the division’s area.
As a first lieutenant, Cummins had taken command of the 44th CIC Detachment upon the division’s arrival in France. His small detachment of two officers and five agents had entered newly liberated towns, apprehended suspects on the division’s Black List, and organized temporary local governments. Promoted to captain in early 1945, Cummins had a reputation for keeping himself and his agents as far forward as possible.
The evening of 17 April 1945, Cummins and a Maj. Bennett from the division’s G-5 (Military Government and Civil Affairs) left Eherbach in the direction of Billingsbach sixty miles away. The narrow road passed through dense forest into a small clearing where the two Americans encountered a German company left behind to harass the supply lines of the advancing Allied forces. Major Bennett left the vehicle to investigate the enemy’s bivouac but, within minutes, was killed by the German soldiers.
When the gunfire began, Captain Cummins took cover under the vehicle and returned fire but was wounded when a bullet hit his helmet. The Germans took Cummins captive, gave him first aid, and then transported him to the battalion command post. When he was returned thirty minutes later, the German company commander, Lt. Gunther Thiele, received orders from the battalion commander to kill the American. Thiele passed the orders on to Grenadier Georg Steinert, who was told to make it appear Cummins had been killed in battle. Steinert shot Cummins three times.
When Cummins and Bennett failed to return to the division command post by the next morning, a patrol searched the route the two had taken. Near their abandoned bullet-riddled vehicle, they found Cummins’ bedroll, blood-covered carbine, and bullet-grazed helmet. About 300 yards away, on the slope of a hill, they discovered both Cummins’ and Bennett’s bodies concealed by branches and leaves. Their credentials, papers, boots, and part of their clothing had been removed.
Soldiers from the 63d Infantry Division searched the area and captured about thirty German soldiers. Agents with 1st Lt. Clinton R. Weidner’s 63d CIC Detachment conducted thorough interrogations and learned the names and descriptions of the men responsible for the killings. The accused men were then located in one of the division’s POW cages. By 1 May 1945, both Thiele and Steinert had signed confessions.
As the 44th and 63d divisions moved on, the Seventh Army CIC Detachment completed the investigation. On 13 June 1945, the two Germans were tried by a military commission at Augsburg for killing an unarmed POW without a trial. The Germans defended their actions as being of military necessity to protect their own position as they attempted to withdraw. They also claimed they had to follow the battalion commander’s orders or be shot themselves. The military commission found the two guilty and recommended death by hanging. The Staff Judge Advocate, however, asked for their sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment so the two could testify against the battalion commander who issued the order, in the event he could be located. Unfortunately, the final outcome of the trial is unknown as is whether justice was achieved for Captain Cummins and Major Bennett.
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| Date Taken: | 04.12.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 04.12.2024 15:24 |
| Story ID: | 468461 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 65 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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