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Testimony of: Pfc. John S. Edwards (Contd)

895 A I didn't see them in the tower, I saw them several minutes after we had crossed. I saw them coming out of the door at the bottom of the tower.

896 Q You first reached this stockade in the company of Lt. Moyer?

A Yes, sir.

897 Q Where was he when you saw these Germans emerging from the tower?

A He was farther to the right beyond the main gate and part of our squad was with him. When I hit there I was worried about the situation to my left. There were several pillbox looking things down there and I was keeping an eye on them. Riley, a machine gunner, was with me with his machine gun. He threw a burst or two toward those pillboxes to the left and then crossed the canal and followed Lt. Moyer. Whether he went all of the distance with him or not I do not know.

898 Q Tell me in your own words what happened after these Germans came out of the tower?

A They came out of the tower and they were standing in a group along side of the canal and I paid no more attention to them until I heard shots, at which time I turned around and saw them falling into the canal. The reason I wasn't paying any attention to them was that I thought they were taken care of. There were GI's who had brought them out of the tower and I was still interested in what might be to our left, since we had no soldiers down that way at that time.

899 Q How many GI's took these Germans out of the tower?

A I would not know exactly. There looked to be two or three squads of men up there, probably a whole platoon. In other words there was so much milling about up there you could not count them and see how many there were. I wasn't thinking of counting them and it was very narrow between the canal and the fence.

900 Q Did these Germans have their hands up?

A No, sir.

901 Q Did you see them when they were lined up in double file?

A Well, I didn't know that they were lined up. They just seemed to be in a group up there. That is all I could tell from where I was.

902 Q Where were the shots coming from when you saw these Germans being shot?