Task Force Baum

Task Force Baum
Part of Western Front
An M4 medium tank of the 47th Tank Bn., 14th Armored Division crashes into the prison compound at Oflag XIII-B, 6 April 1945 two weeks after the failed Task Force Baum raid.
Date 26–29 March 1945 Location Area of Hammelburg Germany Result Axis tactical victory
Belligerents
United States	Nazi Germany
Commanders and leaders
Abraham Baum  (POW)	Heinrich Köhl
Units involved
Elements of 4th Armored Division Task Force Baum	Elements of 251st Infantry Division Panzerjägerabteilung 251.
Strength
11 officers and 303 men 16 tanks, 28 half-tracks, and 13 other vehicles.	Unknown
Casualties and losses
32 killed 247 wounded, missing or captured	Unknown

Elements of 4th Armored Division

Elements of 251st Infantry Division

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, jeeps, and other vehicles were lost.

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.

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