MII TEAM 436-G
HEADQUARTERS
EIGHTH ARMORED DIVISION

19 April 1945      

SUBJECT: After Action Report
To: AC of S, G-2

1. As in the previous period, this team continued to be employed chiefly in the interrogation of prisoners of war at the division enclosure.

2. In view of the activity of this division, the activity of this team with regard to IPW can be broken down into three phases:

a. The phase immediately following the Rhine crossing, when the division was under XVI Corps, pushing E in direction of Gladbeck/Ruhr. During that phase, the number of PW processed averaged 250 per day. The bulk of PW came from the 116 Panzer Division and the 180 Infantry Division.

b. The phase during which the division pushed SW from the vicinity of Paderborn in direction of Dortmund. During that period, the number of PW showed a sharp increase and reached a high point with 1332 PW processed in one day, the highest total processed to this date. The 116 Pz Div was still in the picture, but the two above infantry divs had been partly committed elsewhere, partly destroyed, and partly absorbed into other units. The bulk of PW consisted of members of various small units. The bulk of PW consisted of members of various small units, AA personnel employed as infantry, stragglers, deserters, Volkssturm, hospital inmates. Almost all of the formerly formidable SS-men proved to be oldsters or youngsters with no military experience, low morale.

c. The third phase is the phase which still continues at time of report, with the division being deployed in the vicinity of Wolfenbuttel. PW processed are mostly stragglers and other small fry, with the exception of those coming from the newly identified POTSDAM and SCHARNHORST divisions.

3. While still on the W side of the Rhine, the personnel of this team was employed, along with other MI teams from this and neighboring divisions as well as from XVI Corps, in the security check of the Corps - area to be made by this division. For this purpose, all language-speaking personnel was pooled and the individuals attached to the searching patrols furnished by the combat commands.

4. In the wake of this search, some interesting discoveries on the German WEREWOLF organization were made through capture and interrogation, in conjunction with CIC, of a number of enemy saboteurs who lived in an ingeniously camouflaged hideout in the vicinity of Minsbeck. A full report on the findings has been made to G-2. At the same time, 6 other hideouts were discovered through breaking of a particularly stubborn SS saboteur.

ERNEST M. LOEW, 1st Lt
OIC, MII Team 436-G