Edmonds, along with other inexperienced troops, arrived in the
European Theater of Operations in December 1944, with the
106th Infantry Division, arriving only five days before Germany launched a massive counteroffensive, the
Battle of the Bulge. During the battle, on December 19, 1944, Edmonds was captured and sent to
Stalag IX-B, a
German prisoner-of-war (POW) camp. Shortly thereafter, he was transferred, with other enlisted personnel, to another POW camp near
Ziegenhain, Germany: Stalag IX-A. As the senior
noncommissioned officer at the new camp,
Master Sergeant Edmonds was responsible for the camp's 1,275 American POWs.
[1][3][4][6]
On their first day in
Stalag IX-A, January 27, 1945—as Germany's defeat was clearly approaching—Commandant Siegmann ordered Edmonds to tell only the Jewish-American soldiers to present themselves at the next morning's assembly so they could be separated from the other prisoners.
[1][3][9][4][6]
Instead, Edmonds ordered all 1,275 POWs to assemble outside their barracks. The German commandant rushed up to Edmonds in a fury, placed his pistol against Edmonds's head and demanded that he identify the Jewish soldiers under his command. Instead, Edmonds responded, "We are all Jews here," and told the commandant that if he wanted to shoot the Jews he would have to shoot all of the prisoners. He then warned the commandant that if he harmed any of Edmonds' men, the commandant would be prosecuted for war crimes after the conflict ended—since the
Geneva Conventions required prisoners to give only their name, rank, and serial number; religion was not required. The commandant backed down. Edmonds' actions are credited with saving up to 300 Jewish-American soldiers from possible death.
[1][3][9][4][6] After 100 days of captivity, Edmonds returned home after the war, but kept the event at the POW camp to himself.
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