Nazi General Anton Dostler is tied to a stake before his execution by a firing
Nazi General Anton Dostler is tied to a stake before his execution by a firing The first Nazi General to be executed, Anton Dostler, is tied to a post in Aversa to face a US Army firing squad. He was tried by an American military tribunal for the summary shooting of 15 prisoners while serving as the General Commanding the 75th German Army Corps. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images). 1945 Anton Dostler (10 May 1891 – 1 December 1945) was a German army officer who fought in both World Wars. During World War II, he commanded several units as a General of the Infantry, primarily in Italy. After the Axis defeat, Dostler was executed for war crimes—specifically, ordering the execution of fifteen American prisoners of war in March 1944 during the Italian Campaign Dostler was tried during the first Allied war crimes trials to be held after the end of the war in Europe; at Nuremberg, he mounted a defense on the grounds that he had ordered the executions only because he himself was obeying superior ...