Dr [Francois] Naville, Professor of Forensic Medicine at the University of Geneva.
Dr [Francisek] Subik, Professor of Pathological Anatomy at the University of Bratislava and head of the Public Health Service of Slovakia.
Dr [Ferenc] Orsós, Professor of Forensic Medicine and Criminology at the University of Budapest.
Dr [Gerhard] Buhtz, Professor of Forensic Medicine and Criminology at the University of Breslau.
Dr Costedoat Medical Inspector
Despatch No. 52 Most Secret, 24 May 1943[17]
1. At the foot of a hillock is the ‘L’ shape mass grave, which has been completely opened up. Its dimensions are: 16 x 26 x 6 metres. The bodies of the murdered men have been carefully arranged in from 9 to 12 layers, one on the top of another, each layer with the heads laid in opposite directions. The uniforms, notes in the pockets, passports and decorations are well preserved. The skin, hair and tendons have remained in such a good state that in order to carry out the trepanning it was necessary to cut under the skin and tendons. The faces were however unrecognisable.
2. Perpendicular to the first grave is a second mass grave, which up to now has only been partially opened up. Its dimensions are 14 x 16 metres. All the bodies in this grave have the hands tied behind them with a plait of string: in some cases the mouths have been gagged with handkerchiefs or rags: in some the head has been wrapped round with the skirts of an overcoat.
3. Up to now 906 bodies have been extracted, 76 per cent of which have been identified on the strength of passports, letters etc found on them.
4. It is presumed that in the two graves together there lie the bodies of from 2,500 to 4,000 officers: in only a few cases are they reserve officers in civilian dress.
5. Twelve persons, including one doctor and three non-commissioned officers of an ambulance unit, were present on behalf of the Polish Red Cross when the graves were opened up, the bodies identified and the documents found on them collected.
6. A characteristic feature is that nothing except watches has been removed from the murdered men: notebooks, money and papers are still in their pockets: sometimes rings are still on the fingers.
7. All the bodies have a bullet wound in the back of the skull. The representatives of the Polish Red Cross who were present at the exhumation took pains to collect the bullets extracted from the heads of the murdered men, the revolver shells and ammunition lying in the mass graves as well as the cords with which the hands of the murdered men had been tied. The entire material found was sent to the Polish Red Cross in Warsaw for Dr. Gorczycki. [All bullets are of 7.65 calibre, shells bear inscription Geco, and the ropes are of twisted variety. Sentence omitted]
8. In the presence of the author of this report, there was taken from the clothing of Major Solski a diary written up to April 21st. The writer of the diary stated that from Kozelsk they were taken in prison vans to their destination, then taken to Smolensk where they spent the night: reveille was sounded at 4 a.m. and they were placed in prison motor cars. At a clearing in the forest they were turned out of the motorcars and at 6.30 taken to some buildings there, they were told to give up their jewellery and watches. At this point the diary ends.
9. Under the supervision of the German authorities the Delegate of the Polish Red Cross is carrying out the exhumation and autopsies, besides collecting the papers. He has moreover established private contact with the local population. Whenever the body is identified a small tablet with a Red Cross number is attached to the bones. Afterwards all the bodies are put into a freshly dug, common grave. All of the officers identified were from Kozelsk with the exception of one from Starobelsk.
10. The clearing in the forest at Katyn covers several square kilometres: on it there used to be NKVD rest houses. The local civilian population states that in March and April 1940 one transport of Polish officers to the number of from 200 to 300 used to arrive every day.
The report of the International Commission of scientists on the examination of mass graves at Katyn Wood in the main section reads as follows:
From the 28th April to the 30th April 1943, a Commission composed of leading representatives of forensic medicine at European Universities and other prominent University professors of medicine have conducted a thorough scientific examination of the mass graves of Polish officers in Katyn wood.
The discovery of those mass graves, which was recently brought to the attention of the German authorities, prompted Reich’s Chief Health Officer, Dr [Leonard] Conte, to invite experts from various European countries to inspect the Katyn site in order thus to contribute to the clarification of this unique case. Members of the Commission personally heard the testimonies of several Russian native witnesses who, among others, confirmed that during the months of March and April, 1940, almost daily big railway transports with Polish officers arrived at the station of Gnesdovo, near Katyn, where the Polish officers alighted and were then transported in a prisoners motor van to Katyn wood and were not seen again; The Commission further took cognisance of the discoveries and facts thus far established and inspected objects of circumstantial evidence.
Accordingly, up to 30th April 1943, 982 bodies were exhumed, of which approximately 70 per cent have been identified, while papers found on others must first be subjected to careful preliminary treatment before they can be used for identification. Bodies exhumed prior to the commission’s arrival were all inspected, and a considerable number were dissected by Professor Buhty [Buhtz] and his assistants. Up to today seven mass graves have been opened, the biggest of which is estimated to contain the bodies of 2,000 Polish officers. Members of the Commission personally dissected nine corpses and submitted numerous specially selected cases to post-mortem.
In all cases, bullets entered the nape. In the majority of cases only one bullet was fired. Two bullets were fired only rarely and only one case was found where three bullets had been fired into the nape. All the bullets were fired from pistols of less than 8 mm calibre. The spot where the bullets penetrated leads to the assumption that the shot was fired with the muzzle pressed against the nape or from the closest range. The surprising regularity of the wounds…permits the assumption that experienced hands fired shots. Numerous bodies revealed a similar method of tying the hands; and in some cases stabs from four-edged bayonets were found on bodies and clothes. The method of tying is similar to that found on the bodies of Russian civilians that were earlier exhumed in Katyn Forest. The assumption is justified that a ricocheted bullet first killed one officer, then went into the body of one already dead in the pit – the shootings apparently being made in ditches to avoid having the bodies transported to graves.
The mass graves are situated in clearings in the forest, the ground being completely levelled off and planted with young pines. The mass graves were dug in undulating terrain, which consists of pure sand in terraces, the lowest going down as far as the ground water. Bodies lay, practically without exception, face down, closely side by side and in layers one above the other, clearly ledged methodically at the sides of pits and more irregularly in the centre.
The uniforms of the exhumed bodies, according to the unanimous opinion of the commission, were, especially with regard to buttons, rank insignia, decorations, form of boots, etc., undoubtedly Polish. They had winter wear. Frequently furs, leather coats, knitted vests and typical Polish officers’ caps have been found. Only a few bodies were those of other ranks. One body was that of a priest. The measurements of the clothes correspond with the measurements of the wearer. No watches or rings were found on the bodies, although from the exact date and time found in entries in several diaries, the owners must have had these objects up to their last days, even hours. Comments found on bodies – diaries, correspondence, newspapers are from the period of the autumn of 1939 to March and April 1940.The last hitherto established date is that of a Russian newspaper of 22 April 1940.
17
TNA FO 371/34577/ C6161 C6160/258/55 Secure Signal 1943 May 15, from the underground organisation in Warsaw. Unauthorised copy obtained by O’Malley from his ‘contacts’ without prior knowledge of the Polish government-in-exile and asked by O’Malley to be treated as ‘particularly secret’; SPP