Introduction

Military Court held at London District P.O.W Cage, 6-8 Kensington Palace Gardens, London W8, on 2-7, 9-12 July 1945 upon the trial of 8 German Prisoners-of-War.

The Defendents

Rank	Name	Age
Sturmman	Kurt ZUEHLSDORF	20
Unteroffizier	Rolf HERZIG	24
Matrozer	Josef MERTENS	21
Unterscharfuhrer	Joacim GOLTZ	20
Obergefreiter	Herbart WUNDERLICH	22
Rottenfuhrer	Heinz BRULING	22
Oberfahnrich	Erich Pallme KOENIG	21
Oberfeldwebel	Hans KLEIN	?

The Court

The courts-martial was convened by Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Loyd, KCB, DSO, MC, Commanding London District.

President:	Colonel R.H.A. Kellie, MC.
Members:	Lieutenant-Colonel G.A.I. Dury, MC.
	Lieutenant-Colonel A.N. Overall.
	Major J.D.B. Drury-Lowe.
	Major A.H. Rushin.
	Major J. Leitch.
Waiting:	Major L. Dow.
Advocate:	C.L. Stirling, Esq, CBE.
Prosecution:	Major R.A.L. Hillard, Judge Advocate General Office.
Defence:	Major R. Evans, Solicitor, representing
	HERZIG, MERTENS, GOLTZ and BRULING.
	Captain R. Willis (Barrister-at-Law) representing
	ZUEHLSDORFF, WUNDERLICH, KOENIG and KLEIN.
Short-Hand:	Staff-Sergeant C.R. Stanton, RASC.
Interpreters:	Captain W.E. Kieser.
	Captain M.F. Cornish.

The Charges & Plea

Committing a civil offence, that is to say, the murder of FELDWEBEL WOLFGANG ROSTERG, on 23 December 1944 at No. 21 P.O.W Camp, Comrie, Scotland.

All eight defendants pleaded Not Guilty.

Verdict & Sentence

None of the accused called any witnesses. They all gave sworn evidence themselves, except BRULING who made a unsworn statement.

Sentence	Prisoner	Remark
Death by Hanging	Zuehlsdorff
Death by Hanging	Herzig	Commuted to Penal Servitude for Life
Death by Hanging	Mertens
Death by Hanging	Goltz
Death by Hanging	Bruling
Death by Hanging	Koeing
Not Guilty	Wunderlich
Not Guilty	Klien

Zuehlsdorff, Mertens, Goltz, Bruling and Koeing were hanged at H.M.P. Pentonville on Saturday 6 October 1945. These five executions is the largest number carried out in one day at the same prison in the UK.