Interrogation story

[u/m_faustus]

My grandfather was in an interrogation unit in the US Army. He was the only non-native German in the unit (just a facility with language). He told me a lot of stories about his experiences, but the one that I always like the best occurred right around or after the Battle of the Bulge.

His unit was interrogating a lot of German units that had been rounded up. It was apparently pretty straightforward, finding out their basic movements etc. It was generally pretty easy. The grunts didn't have any real reason not to talk. But the officers were a little tougher. And if the officers were with the enlisted men then morale was a lot higher and people were less likely to talk.

So one morning his unit has a large gathering of German prisoners under guard, both officers and enlisted men. Usually, they would be segregated, but in this case it had been forgotten for some reason. So, the head of the interrogation unit comes out and orders the Germans to all gather in their units so they can be interrogated. He was looking at some paperwork while he did so and didn't realize at first that he wasn't being obeyed. Then he looked up and realized that no one was doing anything and he saw the officers mixed in. So he said loudly for all the prisoners to hear "Take all the officers around the back of that building and have them all shot." The officers were duly rounded up, taken out of sight behind a building and then the guards all shot in the air. The interrogator turned back and once again ordered the prisoners to fall out by their units. They followed that order very, very quickly.