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bigpigeon.us webpage WWII Germany > The MTO > MTO Comm. Zone, © 2026 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 31 Dec 2025
This webpage includes a list of Pottawattamie area WWII deaths in the MTO behind the combat zone.
This webpage includes a list of Pottawattamie area WWII deaths in the MTO behind the combat zone.
Communications Zones
In military parlance, The Communications Zone, briefly CommZ, is the rear part of a `1theater of operations (behind but contiguous to the combat zone) which contains the lines of communications, establishments for supply and evacuation, and other agencies required for the immediate support and maintenance of the field forces.
Once the United States was well-established in North Africa, Algeria held the core of the Mediterranean Theater Communications Zone, with theater headquarters in Algiers and with Oran as a major staging area.
In late 1943 - early 1944, CommZ headquarters moved to Fifth Army headquarters in Caserta, about 20 miles north of Naples, with Naples as the major seaport supporting Allied operations in Italy. Later, Caserta was the site of the German surrender(s) to Allied forces in Italy
Once the United States was well-established in North Africa, Algeria held the core of the Mediterranean Theater Communications Zone, with theater headquarters in Algiers and with Oran as a major staging area.
In late 1943 - early 1944, CommZ headquarters moved to Fifth Army headquarters in Caserta, about 20 miles north of Naples, with Naples as the major seaport supporting Allied operations in Italy. Later, Caserta was the site of the German surrender(s) to Allied forces in Italy
The Executions at Aversa
Aversa, west of the main highway north from Naples to Caserta, appears to have been used for a number of executions conducted by the US Army, including the following:
In Europe in World War II, a large majority of US soldiers executed happened to be black.
- 20 March 1945 - John W. Taylor, formerly of Council Bluffs, Iowa, for murder.
- 2 July 1945 - Louis Till for rape and murder. (Father of Emmett Till, lynched in Mississippi at age fourteen in 1955.) (some sources give an alternative execution site)
- 1 December 1945 - Wehrmacht General Anton Dostler, for ordering the execution of fifteen American commandoes, captured in uniform in Italy behind German lines.
In Europe in World War II, a large majority of US soldiers executed happened to be black.
██ Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - WWII Germany > The MTO > MTO Comm. Zone ██
- Access full individual records through bigpigeon.us > WWII Dead > Roster Records.
† Adams, Waldo Paul “Ted”, SN 37-121-373, US Army, Pott. Co.
- 134th MP Co.; DNB 4 Jan 1945, Naples, Italy, motorcycle accident.
- WWII Germany > The MTO > MTO Comm. Zone
- 103rd Quartermaster Bakery Co.; DNB 18 Oct 1943 Italy; cerebral hemorrhage.
- WWII Germany > The MTO > MTO Comm Zone
- Co. I, 168th Inf. Regt., 34th Inf. Div. detached to British 1st Commando Bn.; DNB 11 Feb 1943, British 95th General Hospital, Algiers, Algeria, North Africa, motorcycle accident injuries.
- WWII Germany > The MTO > MTO Comm. Zone
- unit unknown; DNB 20 Jan 1945 Naples, Campania, Italy; coronary artery disease.
- WWII Germany > The MTO > MTO Comm. Zone
- Co. D, 371st Inf. Regt., 92nd Inf. Div., IV Corps, Fifth Army; d. 20 Mar 1945 at Aversa, near Naples, Italy; executed for killing a troublesome fellow-soldier, PFC Earl Johnson, on 23 Jan 1945, at Pietrasanta, northern Tuscany, Italy.
- WWII Germany > The MTO > MTO Comm. Zone
██ Sources for Big Pigeon's WWII Germany > The MTO > MTO Comm. Zone webpage ██
- Surrender at Caserta, the webpage header photo, C/O https://www.eptcaserta.it/la-storia/. Two German generals in civilian clothes signed the surrender document in the Royal Palace at Caserta on 29 April 1945. A second ceremony, also in the Royal Palace but with a German general in uniform, occurred on May 3.