Staufen bombing 8 February 1945

The units (GC 1/4 and 1/5) that bombed Staufen were stationed at Dole-Tavaux and flew p-47s. It is not surprising that German troops sought to withdraw into the Black Forest. Staufen lies at the edge of the forest and at the mouth of the Münstertal Valley, which leads up into the mountains. This is about 40 km from Basel: not a particularly short stretch in time of war, at least for ground troops. The bombing of Staufen probaby convinced the Bürgermeister on April 22 that it would be better to capitulate than to resist, and he secretely negotiated with the French command in Offnadingen. The SS guards who tried to blow up the bridge as French troops approached on the next day were shot. On April 22, SS troops kidnapped and executed a popular cleric, decan Willibald Strohmeier, in the forest above Münstertal. Fighting continued in the Münstertal Valley for days after that. It is unfortunate that a French historian recently added his two cents' worth to the legend that Staufen was of no military importance. He tried to "prove" that it was bombed to avenge the death of a popular commander and to relieve the French pilots of their pent-up frustration... I am working on setting the record straight.