First German civilians tried by U.S. Army Commission.

First German civilians tried by U.S. Army Commission. Three German civilians, the first to be tried for a war crime, are shown before their trial June 1, 1945, by an eight-man commission of the 15th U.S. Army in the City Hall of Ahrweiler. They are accused of shooting and beating to death an unidentified American airmen who bailed out of a damaged plane August 15, 1944. Left to right: Peter Kohn, 32, a one-armed crane operator; Matthias Gierens, 37, a railway worker, and Matthias Krein, 44, a blacksmith. They pleaded "not guilty" and were defended by a German civilian lawyer and a U.S. Army major. The prosecution's case was handled by two U.S. Army representatives.