Anton Dostler

General Anton Dostler (10 May 1891-1 December 1945) was a Nazi German infantry general. He was a junior officer in World War I and chief of staff of the 7th army at the start of World War II. In 1944 he was appointed commander of the 75thArmy Corps and was subsequently responsible for what happened that March.

On 22 March 1944 a group of Italian Fascists captured fifteen US commandos during Operation Ginny II. They were handed over to the 75th Army, the commander of which reported directly to Dostler. When asked for orders regarding the fates of the soldiers, Dostler informed his superior officer, Albert Kesselring, of the situation. Kesselring replied by ordering the execution of the prisoners without trial in line with the Commando Order issued by Adolf Hitler in 1942, an order relayed to the soldiers by Dostler. On the 26th of March all fifteen prisoners were shot.

At the end of the war Dostler was arrested by the US army and put on trial for war crimes in May 1945. A military tribunal found him guilty of all charges and sentenced him to death by firing squad. This sentence was carried out that December. He was buried in Pomezia War Cemetery.