Task Force Baum Task Force Baum was a secret and controversial World War II task force set up by U . S . Army general George S . Patton and commanded by Capt . Abraham Baum in late March 1945 . Baum was given the task of penetrating 50 miles ( 80 km ) behind German lines and liberating the POWs in camp OFLAG XIII - B , near Hammelburg . Controversy surrounds the true reasons behind the mission , which may have been simply to liberate Patton ' s son - in - law , John K . Waters , taken captive in Tunisia in 1943 . The result of the mission was a complete failure ; of the roughly 300 men of the task force , 32 were killed in action during the raid and only 35 made it back to Allied - controlled territory , with the remainder being taken prisoner . All of the 57 tanks , jeep s , and other vehicles were lost . Camp Hammelburg . Camp Hammelburg , located just 1 . 8 miles ( 3 km ) south from its namesake town , was originally used as a military training ground before World War I and again before World War II . It was converted into two separate POW camps during the second war . One camp ( Stalag XIII - C ) was for Allied enlisted men , while the other ( Oflag XIII - B ) was used for Allied officers . Originally , all of the Oflag camp ’ s occupants were Serb officers . The camp was later split into sections of American officers on one side and Serbs in the other . Most of the American portion of the camp was hastily upgraded in January 1945 after an influx of POWs from the Battle of the Bulge , which began 16 December of the previous year . As Soviets continued a westward advance toward Germany in the winter of 1944 , the POW camp Oflag 64 in Schubin , Poland was emptied of its prisoners on 21 January 1945 . In the dead of winter , 1 , 290 POWs headed west into Germany , then south toward Hammelburg . Among them was Lt . Col . John K . Waters , General Patton ’ s son - in - law , who had been captured in Tunisia in February 1943 . Col . Paul Goode , the senior ranking officer at the camp , kept a list of the men in his ranks , which would have helped U . S . intelligence keep track of where the officers were . Traveling 340 miles ( 547 km ) — mostly by foot — in 7 weeks time , the men arrived at their destination on 9 March . By the time the men from Schubin arrived at OFLAG XIII - B , the numbers in the officer camp swelled to over 1 , 400 , though it was by far less than the estimated 5 , 000 - man population in the enlisted men ’ s camp by that time . Conditions at the camp were miserable for both the prisoners and their guards . The winter of 1944 was considered one of the coldest on record . The seven 5 - room buildings each were crowded with two hundred men . One fifty - square - foot ( 5 m² ) room was to house 40 prisoners on bunk beds , while coal was rationed out to heat the furnaces at a rate of just 48 briquettes per stove every 3 days . Although some men were able to scavenge for wood nearby , it still was not enough to keep the soldiers warm . The average temperature in the rooms at any time was estimated to be 20 °F ( −7 °C ) . Food was just as scarce as heat . Initially , the men in camps were given a diet of 1 , 700 calorie s ( 7 , 100 kJ ) a day , well below the 2000 calories recommended daily allowance for men doing no work . This was cut even more as supplies ran low and the camp population increased , until an estimated 1070 calories ( 4 , 480 kJ ) were distributed daily . Many men in the camp suffered dramatic weight loss of more than 50 pounds ( 23 kilograms ) and atrophy of muscle s because of the lack of food and subsequent immobility . Dysentery due to unsterile conditions and utensils further weakened many men in the camp . General Patton assigned the mission to Combat Command B ( CCB ) , 4th Armored Division , commanded by Lt . Col . Creighton Abrams . Abrams wanted to use his entire combat command ( two battalions and supporting artillery ) but was overruled , and instead one company of medium tanks , a platoon of light tanks and one company of armored infantry were assigned to the task force . The tank battalion commander tabbed to command the mission was ill and suggested that Baum , the battalion S - 3 , instead lead the task force , which set out on late evening of 26 March . Task force organization . Altogether the force numbered 11 officers and 303 men , 16 tanks , 28 half - tracks , and 13 other vehicles . Raid to Hammelburg . On the evening of 26 March , the task force reached Aschaffenburg , encountering heavy fire that disabled several vehicles , including one of the Sherman tanks . It took until early the next morning to break through the bridgehead just past the German lines . The largest problem facing the force going into the mission was a lack of maps — 15 for 57 vehicles — and lack of knowledge of the exact location of the camp , which would have to be obtained through questioning of the locals en route . This slowed the task force considerably , forcing it to take on more fire than anticipated . Furthermore , a German spotter plane shadowed the column as it neared the camp , which would help coordinate resistance to the task force . A few Jagdpanzer 38 ( t ) “ Hetzer ” were sent as support . By the afternoon of the 27th , tanks had arrived in sight of the camp . Some of the guards in the camp put up resistance , though many of them fled or surrendered . The Serbian section of the camp received the brunt of American fire as it approached — likely due to the gray uniforms they wore making them appear to be Germans to the advancing columns . General Gunther von Goeckel , the camp commandant , called for Colonel John K . Waters to try to arrange a truce . Waters agreed to act as intermediary . Waters and several men , including one German officer , volunteered to exit the camp to notify the Americans of the mistake . While approaching the American column , an uninformed German soldier putting up resistance shot Waters in the buttocks before German officer could explain the situation . He was taken back and treated for his wounds by Serbian doctors interned in the camp . Roughly half of Baum ’ s forces made it to Hammelburg in fighting shape . Greeted by thousands of cheering prisoners , Baum quickly realized the camp contained far more than the 300 officers they were originally planning to liberate . After calculating losses , he determined no more than two hundred men would actually be able to be taken back to Allied - controlled land with their remaining fleet . It was decided that only field - grade officers ( O - 4 and above ) would be allowed to ride back , while any remaining men who wished to march with the columns would be allowed to do so , or they could try to travel cross - country on their own to the American lines about 50 miles to the west . Barely able to walk , the vast majority of POWs decided to stay behind . One of the few who took off on foot , attempting to make it to the American lines was Lt . Donald Prell . Unfortunately he was recaptured and taken to a POW camp south of Nürnberg . Waters , unable to be moved , was left behind in the camp . Moving out . The task force left the camp at 8 pm local time to cross back across the German lines . By then , further complications had surfaced . There was no moon out that night , so only artificial light could be used for navigation , which could be spotted easily by the growing number of German troops in the area . Only one reconnaissance jeep was able to scout ahead of the column to find an escape route . Sometimes the tanks had to be turned off entirely to avoid detection by a growing German encirclement . Nearing Höllrich in the black of night , Task Force Baum encountered a German ambush . The first tank was hit by a German panzerfaust . Then a German drove this tank into a garden and used it against the other U . S . tanks . Four American Sherman tanks were destroyed . The remnants of the task force regrouped again after pulling back to a quiet area near Hill 427 in the early morning hours . Without enough fuel to make it back across the line by now , the task force waited for daylight to travel with visibility to maximize the distance they could travel . Colonel Goode , knowing most of the men would be unable to travel across the line on their own , advised that most of the walking wounded should head back to the Oflag . Colonel Goode himself decided not to slow the rest of the task force down and began the march back under a white flag . Baum gave the order to move out shortly after dawn on 28 March . Just as the column started up , they immediately came under fire from all directions . Germans , having surrounded the hill during the night , opened fire on the first sign of mobilization . Knowing there was no way of fending off the attack , Baum ordered every man for himself . The battle lasted mere minutes before the survivors who hadn ’ t escaped into the woods were lined up as fresh POWs . Baum managed to escape with two soldiers into the nearby woods , as did a number of American POWs from the camp . Aftermath . As Soviets were encroaching from the east , Americans began advancing into Germany days after the task force , with Germans moving POWs further away from combat zones . Those able to move were rounded up into unmarked boxcars and sent via train to Nuremberg , then to other prisoner camps away from the front lines . The remaining men were left behind at Hammelburg . Baum was shot in the groin while trying to flee back to allied lines and captured by German Home Guard . He joined Waters in the Serbian hospital at the Hammelburg camp , which was liberated by the 14th Armored Division on 6 April — just 9 days after the failed liberation by Task Force Baum . Ironically , the failure of the task force did help set Waters free sooner : had he not been shot he would have been marched off to a camp further into Germany with the rest of the POWs . Patton was alleged to have offered Baum a Medal of Honor for a successful completion of the mission . As a Medal of Honor warrants an investigation into the events behind the awarding of it , which Patton would not have wanted , Baum received just a Distinguished Service Cross . Patton awarded it to him personally . It is disputed whether Patton knew his son - in - law was being held at the camp , but many at the camp and Abraham Baum believed so . Patton sent an aide , Major Alexander Stiller , with the task force , purportedly to identify Waters so he could be taken back with them . Diaries that Patton made publicly available indicate he was unaware of Waters ’ presence there until after the task force had arrived , but a letter written to his wife just after the task force left indicates otherwise . I sent a column to a place forty miles east of where John [ Waters ] and some 900 prisoners are said to be . I have been nervous as a cat … as everyone but me thought it too great a risk … . If I lose that column , it will possibly be a new incident . But I won ’ t lose it . " ( " The Longest Winter " , p . 207 ) A furious General Eisenhower reprimanded Patton for the incident . While Patton admitted the failure of the mission , he defended his actions due to fear that retreating Germans might kill the prisoners in the camp . Except for the Malmedy massacre during the Battle of the Bulge , the intentional killing of American prisoners was uncommon . According to Patton , the mistake was sending a force too small to perform the mission , saying , " I can say this , that throughout the campaign in Europe I know of no error I made except that of failing to send a combat command to take Hammelburg . ” However , Patton claimed its true goal had been to distract the German forces from a massive wheeling maneuver to the north of Hammelburg by a mass of his Third Army . As Patton insisted , that mission was in fact accomplished as the diversion of German forces to Hammelburg had caused them to lose sight of the Allied turn north . Task Force Baum actually also fooled the Germans into believing the Allies would be continuing east instead of planning their actual northern maneuver . As a footnote , Captain Abe Baum was born in the Bronx , New York , March 29 , 1921 . He died , age 91 , at his home in Ranch Bernardo , California on March 3 , 2013 . Baum fought at Normandy , suffering shrapnel wounds in a mine field . By March he was a battle - toughened officer . Surprised when Patton personally gave him his orders for the raid to Hammelburg , he later remarked : “ I thought , what the hell am I doing here ? ”