bigpigeon.us webpage WW II - Germany > MTO > MTO Communications Zone, updated by RAC 8 Sep 2020.
In military parlance, The Communications Zone or CommZ is the rear part of theater 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, the core of the Mediterranean Theater Communications Zone appears to have been in Algeria, with theater headquarters in Algiers and with Oran as a major staging area.
In late 1943 or early 1944, Comm Z headquarters moved to 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:
Incidentally, in Europe in World War II, a large majority of US soldiers executed for rape and murder happened to be black.
In military parlance, The Communications Zone or CommZ is the rear part of theater 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, the core of the Mediterranean Theater Communications Zone appears to have been in Algeria, with theater headquarters in Algiers and with Oran as a major staging area.
In late 1943 or early 1944, Comm Z headquarters moved to 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:
- 20 March 1945 - John W. Taylor, formerly of Council Bluffs, IA, 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.
Incidentally, in Europe in World War II, a large majority of US soldiers executed for rape and murder happened to be black.
Sources for the MTO Communications Zone webpage:
Pottawattamie County, Iowa Area WW II Dead - The MTO Communications Zone:
† Adams, Waldo Paul “Ted”, SN 37-121-373, US Army, Pott. Co.
- The webpage header photo, Surrender at Caserta, is courtesy of eptcaserta.it. 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.
Pottawattamie County, Iowa Area WW II Dead - The MTO Communications Zone:
- Taken from the bigpigeon.us WW II Dead webarea.
† Adams, Waldo Paul “Ted”, SN 37-121-373, US Army, Pott. Co.
- 134th MP Co.; DNB 4 Jan 1945, Naples, Italy, motorcycle accident; The MTO > MTO Comm. Zone.
- Co. D, 371st Inf. Regt., 92nd Inf. Div.; 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; The MTO > MTO Comm. Zone.