Nazi war criminals executed. Guarded by military policemen of the 15th U.S.

Nazi war criminals executed. Guarded by military policemen of the 15th U.S. Army, Peter Back, Nazi war criminal convicted of the murder of an unidentified U.S. airman, stands on the gallows at the military prison at Rheinbach, near Cologne, Germany, just before his execution on the morning of June 29, 1945. Back a crippled tailor and local Nazi Party leader, was one of the American flier after their conviction by a 15th Army Military Goverment court. They were the first German civilians to be tried in the Reich as war criminals. The American airman, who had safely parachuted to carth near Priest, Germany, waas shot and beaten to death by the three Nazis on August 15, 1944.