Ansbach is a beautiful small town in northern Bavaria, a little more than 180 kilometres southeast of Frankfurt. It dates back to about 700 CE and is today home to about 40,000 people.
In April 1945, Ansbach was in the path of advancing American troops heading for the last Nazi redoubts in southern Bavaria.
Destruction of Wurzburg
By the late winter of 1945 there was little doubt about the outcome of the war – a crushing defeat for Nazi Germany. Yet, many military units ignored the inevitable and fought on. This led to the destruction of cities and towns before their surrender to Allied forces. One such casualty was Wurzburg, a city renowned for its Renaissance and Baroque architecture.
On the night of March 16, 1945, Wurzburg was destroyed in a Royal Air Force bombing raid. The city’s official website records that, “In three separate waves between 360,000 and 380,000 cylinder-shaped incendiary bombs, and between 180 and 220 1,000 pound blast bombs” were dropped on the city.
This created a firestorm that could be seen 220 kilometres away and which killed about 5,000 people.
Nineteen-year-old Robert Limpert from Ansbach, about 90 kilometres away, witnessed the devastation of Wurzburg and decided to do what he could to spare his hometown from the same fate.
Distribution of Leaflets
Limpert was a theology student who had been deemed unfit for military service. In early April 1945, Limpert started distributing leaflets in Ansbach calling on the military and civilians to surrender to the American troops.
As the Allied soldiers approached closer to the city he decided on an even more desperate tactic, as described by Sir Ian Kershaw in his 2011 book The End Hitler’s Germany, 1944-45. On the lovely spring morning of April 18, Limpert “cuts the telephone wires which he thinks connect the commandant’s base with the Wehrmacht unit outside the town – a futile attempt at sabotage, in fact, since unbeknown to him the base had just moved.”
He was spotted by two members of the Hitler Youth who reported him. His arrest followed swiftly.
Trial and Execution
The military commandant of Ansbach was one Dr. Ernst Meyer, described as a fanatical Nazi determined that the people of the town should fight to the end. The young saboteur was brought before him and given a swift trial whose outcome was never in doubt.
He was taken to the town square where a noose was put around his neck. Limpert struggled loose and made a dash for freedom, but he was quickly run down and recaptured. Then, he was kicked and punched by the soldiers and some of his own townspeople, and dragged back to be executed.
But, still his ordeal was not over. As Limpert was hoisted up the rope broke and he crashed to the ground. The second attempt is more successful and Commandant Meyer order that he be left there “until he stinks.”
Finally, Sir Ian Kershaw writes that the brave Nazi commander “requisitions a bicycle and immediately flees the town. Four hours later, the Americans enter Ansbach without a shot being fired and cut down the body of Robert Limpert.”
Sources
- “16th March 1945 - The City’s Fateful Day.” Stadt Wurzburg Online.
- “The End Hitler’s Germany, 1944-45.” Ian Kershaw, Penguin Books, August 2011.
- “Robert Limpert.” German Resistance Memorial Center.
- “Why Did the Nazis Fight to the Death?” Sir Ian Kershaw, BBC History Magazine, September 2011.
Rupert Taylor - Rupert Taylor is the editor of a magazine that provides background to current events.
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