Evening star., 1944-01-26
Cassidy
Continued From First Page }

special commission hearing testi-
mony OF witnesses.
Americans among the party in
cluded Miss Kathleen Hartman,
daughter of United States Ambassa-
dor w. Averell Hartman, and John
Melby, Bloomington, Ind, third
secretary of the Embassy, who ac-
companied the correspondents at
the Embassy's request.
Documents Shown.
The conclusions already reached
by the special Soviet Atrocities Com
mission were:
l. 1T is established that in August
and September of 1941 the Germans
killed Polish prisoners of war on the
Goat Hills Tin Katyn Forest)."
2. Feeling their position insecure,
the Germans hastened to cover up
their crime. For this purpose they
opened the graves and tried to find
witnesses. brought bodies from other
graves and mounted provocation.
Correspondents we're shown docu-
ments taken from Polish bodies
dated as late as June 20, 194l. which
would make the German explana-
ton of the mystery impossible, saw
evidence that the bodies had been
in the ground only about two years
and heard testimony confirming
the Soviet version.
The scene of the crime was 4
sparse cluster of pine trees on the
Goat Hills above the upper Dnieper
just OH the Smolensk-Vitebs high
way 10 miles west OF Smolensk,
where seven gaping open graves ex-
posed indisputable evidence that
thousands Of Poles had been killed.
100 Bodies Already Removed.
Prof. Victor Ilyich Prozorovsky
senior medical expert of the Soviet
Atrocities Commission and director
Of the Moscow Institute OF Criminal
Medical Research, was in charge of
the exhumation.
He said more than TOO bodies
had been removed from the
tombs and estimated the total at
IL 900.
DR.. Prozorovsky stood on a heap
Of red sand above the graves while
Red Army privates dug out the
bodies, placed them on stretchers
and carried them to a nearby tent
for examination.
"On the basis Of examination Of
the condition of the bodies, medical
and criminal experts estimate the
bodies were confined in the grave
about two years, perhaps little
more or a little less" the doctor
said.
In two graves the bodies lay in
neat rows, fully clad in uniforms
and boots. In other pits 3 feet deep,
which the Germans had not
touched, the bodies lay in a tumble.
I'm all cases of the TOO bodies
already exhumed there was a bullet
hole in the head" Pr0orovsky said.
"As q rule, there were entry and
exit holes. The entry hole in
variably Is in the back of the head"
Buried Two Years.
He said the condition of skulls,
skin and hair showed the bodies
had been in the ground only about
two years.
On tables around a wood stove in
the postmortem tent we saw bodies
being opened. with the brain and
other organs being removed for ex-
animation as to the state OF decay.
Outside the tent rows of bodies
lay awaiting examination and the
tunics taken from them were hung
on racks The pockets of each
tunic had been slit. The Russians
said this was done by the Germans
to remove any incriminating evil
dence.
In the temporary headquarters of
the local Soviet in the Smolensk
Kremlin, one of the members OF
the commission, Vladimir Potemkin,
Soviet commisar Of education, told
how a country house in the Katyn
Forest, once a favorite picnic re-
gion, was occupied by members OF
the so-called staff of the 537th
German Construction Battalion
who actually engaged in the execu-
tions.
During an evening session of the