Editing Werwolf (section)

==Allied reprisals==
According to Biddiscombe "the threat of Nazi partisan warfare had a generally unhealthy effect on broad issues of policy among the occupying powers. As well, it prompted the development of draconian reprisal measures that resulted in the destruction of much German property and the deaths of thousands of civilians and soldiers".<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 252">{{harvnb|Biddiscombe|1998|p=252}}</ref> [[Ian Kershaw]] states that fear of Werwolf activities may have motivated atrocities against German civilians by Allied troops during and immediately after the war.<ref>Kershaw, Ian. ''[[The End: Hitler's Germany 1944–45]],'' Allen Lane, 2011. {{ISBN|0-7139-9716-8}}</ref>

The German resistance movement was successfully suppressed in 1945.<ref>{{harvnb|Biddiscombe|1998|p=263}}</ref> However, [[collective punishment]] for acts of resistance, such as fines and curfews, was still being imposed as late as 1948.<ref>{{harvnb|Biddiscombe|1998|p=265}}</ref> Biddiscombe estimates the total death toll as a direct result of Werewolf actions and the resulting reprisals as 3,000–5,000.<ref>{{harvnb|Biddiscombe|1998|p=276}}</ref>

===Soviet reprisals===
In the [[Soviet occupation zone of Germany|Soviet occupation zone]], thousands of youths were arrested as "Werwolves".<ref name=Weber99>{{cite book|first=Petra |last=Weber |title=Justiz und Diktatur: Justizverwaltung und politische Strafjustiz in Thüringen 1945–1961. Veröffentlichungen zur SBZ-/DDR –Forschung im Institut für Zeitgeschichte |publisher=Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag |year=2000 |page=99 |isbn=3-486-56463-3}}</ref><ref name=swr>{{cite news|url=http://www.swr.de/swr2/programm/sendungen/wissen/-/id=6163770/property=download/nid=660374/1dqc2hs/swr2-wissen-20100507.pdf|title=Die Lüge vom Werwolf. Warum Tausende Jugendliche in sowjetischen Lagern landeten|last=Fruth|first=Pia|date=7 May 2010<!--, 8:30&nbsp;– 9:00 CEST -->|work=[[Südwestdeutscher Rundfunk]] 2|language=de|access-date=16 May 2010|archive-date=6 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606152811/http://www.swr.de/swr2/programm/sendungen/wissen/-/id=6163770/property=download/nid=660374/1dqc2hs/swr2-wissen-20100507.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Evidently, arrests were arbitrary and in part based on denunciations.<ref name=Weber99/> The arrested boys were either executed or interned in [[NKVD special camps]].<ref name=Weber99/> On 22 June 1945, Deputy Commissar of the [[NKVD]] [[Ivan Serov]] reported to the head of the NKVD [[Lavrentiy Beria]] the arrest of "more than 600" alleged Werwolf members,<ref name=Ritscher138>{{cite book|last1=Reif-Spirek|first1=Peter|last2=Ritscher|first2=Bodo|title=Speziallager in der SBZ|year=1999|publisher=Ch. Links Verlag|language=de|isbn=3-86153-193-3|page=138}}</ref> mostly aged 15 to 17 years.<ref name=Ritscher139>{{cite book|last1=Reif-Spirek|first1=Peter|last2=Ritscher|first2=Bodo|title=Speziallager in der SBZ|year=1999|publisher=Ch. Links Verlag|language=de|isbn=3-86153-193-3|page=139}}</ref>

The report, though referring to incidents where Soviet units came under fire from the woods,<ref name=Ritscher138/> asserts that most of the arrested had not been involved in any action against the Soviets, which Serov explained with interrogation results allegedly showing that the boys had been "waiting" for the right moment and in the meantime focused on attracting new members.<ref name=Ritscher139/> In October 1945, Beria reported to [[Joseph Stalin]] the "liquidation" of 359 alleged Werwolf groups.<ref name=Weber99/> Of those, 92 groups with 1,192 members were "liquidated" in [[Free State of Saxony|Saxony]] alone.<ref name=Weber99/> On 5 August 1946, [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] minister for internal affairs [[Sergei Nikiforovich Kruglov]] reported that in the Soviet occupation zone, 332 "terrorist diversion groups and underground organizations" had been disclosed and "liquidated".<ref name=Weber99/> A total of about 10,000 youths were interned in NKVD special camps, half of whom did not return.<ref name=swr/> Parents as well as the East German administration and political parties, installed by the Soviets, were denied any information on the whereabouts of the arrested youths.<ref name=Weber99/> The [[Red Army]]'s torching of [[Demmin]], which [[Mass suicide in Demmin|resulted in the suicide of hundreds of people]], was blamed on alleged preceding Werwolf activities by the [[East Germany|East German]] regime.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.focus.de/politik/deutschland/die-letzten-kriegstage-tragoedie-an-der-peene_aid_151639.html|title=Tragödie an der Peene|last=Vernier|first=Robert|magazine=[[Focus (German magazine)|Focus]]|date=1995-05-08|access-date=2010-08-20|language=de|archive-date=2015-09-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924201514/http://www.focus.de/politik/deutschland/die-letzten-kriegstage-tragoedie-an-der-peene_aid_151639.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===American reprisals===
Eisenhower believed he would be faced with extensive [[guerrilla warfare]], based on the [[Alpine Redoubt]].<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 252"/> The fear of Werwolf activity believed to be mustering around [[Berchtesgaden]] in the [[Alps]] also led to the switch in U.S. operational targets in the middle of March 1945 away from the drive towards Berlin and instead shifted the thrust towards the south and on linking up with the Russians first.<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 267">{{harvnb|Biddiscombe|1998|p=267}}</ref> An intelligence report stated "We should&nbsp;... be prepared to undertake operations in [[Southern Germany]] in order to overcome rapidly any organised resistance by the [[Wehrmacht|German Armed Forces]] or by guerrilla movements which may have retreated to the inner zone and to this redoubt".<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 267"/> On March 31 Eisenhower told Roosevelt, "I am hopeful of launching operations that should partially prevent a guerrilla control of any large area such as the southern mountain bastions".<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 267"/>

Eisenhower had previously also requested that the occupation directive [[JCS 1067]] not make him responsible for maintaining living conditions in Germany under the expected circumstances; "...&nbsp;probably guerrilla fighting and possibly even civil war in certain districts&nbsp;... If conditions in Germany turn out as described, it will be utterly impossible effectively to control or save the economic structure of the country&nbsp;... and we feel we should not assume the responsibility for its support and control."<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 252"/> The British were "mortified by such a suggestion", but the [[United States Department of War|War Department]] took considerable account of Eisenhower's wishes.<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 253">{{harvnb|Biddiscombe|1998|p=253}}</ref> In addition, civilians held by the U.S. climbed from 1,000 in late March to 30,000 in late June, and more than 100,000 by the end of 1945.<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 254">{{harvnb|Biddiscombe|1998|p=254}}</ref> Conditions were often poor in the camps for civilians.<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 254"/>

===British reprisals===
In April 1945 Churchill announced that the Allies would incarcerate all captured German officers for as long as a guerrilla threat existed.<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 253"/> Hundreds of thousands of German last-ditch troops were kept in the makeshift [[Rheinwiesenlager]] for months, "mainly to prevent Werwolf activity".<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 253"/> 

Prior to the occupation [[SHAEF]] investigated the reprisal techniques the Germans had used in order to maintain control over occupied territories since they felt the Germans had had good success.<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 257">{{harvnb|Biddiscombe|1998|p=257}}</ref> Directives were loosely defined and implementation of reprisal was largely left to the preferences of the various armies, with the British seeming uncomfortable with those involving bloodshed.<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 257"/> Rear-Admiral [[Harold Tom Baillie-Grohman|H.T. Baillie Grohman]] for example stated that killing hostages was "not in accordance with our usual methods".<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 257"/> Thanks to feelings such as this, and relative light guerrilla activity in their area, relatively few reprisals took place in the UK zone of operations.<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 257"/>