American Soldiers' Remarkable Escape From Berga Concentration Camp
291 pages. 8 pages of black-and-white photos. Epilogue, acknowledgments, bibliography, endnotes, index, author bio.
Let's deal with the title first. Operation Swallow. Is this book about the late-war SS project to build a generating plant under a bomb-proof mountain? No. It is part of the story, but it is not what the book is about.
What about the subtitle? American Soldiers' Remarkable Escape From Berga Concentration Camp. Is that what the book is about? No. Near the end of the book, three soldiers briefly escape from Berga II but are recaptured. Hardly 'remarkable', not the focus of the book.
The front cover shows a line of U.S. infantry standing on the side of a road. The book fails to tell us who these soldiers are, or how they relate to this story. Are they POWs? Liberators?
Having said all that, what is this book really about? It is the story of Hans Kasten, a German-born infantryman in the U.S. Army. The veteran 28th Division has been sent to rest in a quiet sector… until the Germans launch the Battle of the Bulge, that is. Hans, a BAR gunner, is fighting on the front line until his unit is surrounded and surrenders. Hans chooses to instead escape, making his way back to American lines in Clervaux… just as that unit surrenders. Escaping out the back of the command post, he joins the defense of Clervaux Castle until, again, the surrounded Americans surrender. This time, there is no escape.
The POWs suffer a miserable march behind German lines to the nearest railhead, lacking adequate food and water, guarded by German soldiers who want vengeance for the bombing of Germany. The POWs are loaded onto filthy cattle cars, then abandoned to their fate when British bombers attack the railyard. Finally, after days of travel in cramped conditions with little food, the POWs are delivered to Stalag IX.
Having shown leadership skills during the transit, and being fluent in German, Hans is elected by his fellow POWs to be the representative for all Americans in the prison camp: "Senior Man of Confidence." However, when Hans gives an honest report to Red Cross inspectors about camp conditions, he is marked by the Germans for transfer. When he refuses to identify which American POWs are Jewish, he is beaten and thrown down a flight of stairs.
The Germans send all Jewish POWs, suspected Jews, and troublemakers by train to Berga II, a slave labor camp that is part of the Buchenwald system. (Berga I holds German Jews from Buchenwald assigned to slave labor.) Contrary to the Geneva Convention, the POWs are forced to blast tunnels in the mountain, under the supervision of the S.S. The conditions are dangerous, safety equipment non-existent, and the guards are merciless.
When the S.S. sadistically announce a plan to test their new guard dogs by releasing Hans and seeing how far he can get before the dogs tear him apart, he realizes he must escape from Berga for his own safety, and to alert the Allies to what is going on there. Joined by his two assistants, Hans miraculously escapes, only for the three of them to be captured by the Gestapo days later. Hans, who is carrying dynamite stolen from the mines, is sentenced to death as a saboteur, and again beaten up.
Awaiting execution, Hans and his companions are unexpectedly liberated by advancing American soldiers. Refusing evacuation, he tries unsuccessfully to apprehend the S.S. officer in charge of Berga.
The Endnotes provide what information is known about the fate of individuals mentioned in the book. Kasten went into business, moved to the Philippines, and his ashes are buried at Arlington. The S.S. officer was caught by the Soviets and executed.
The author is writing his account based on the facts available, and is no doubt inventing some of the descriptions and conversations. I thought he was slightly over-dramatic at times, and sometimes repetitive. But for the most part, he writes well.
Despite the problem with the misrepresentative titles of the book, I found the story of Hans Kasten to be quite interesting. The book is a quick read. Highly recommended.
Reviewed by 
Editor in Chief Bill 
.