Horka massacre

The Horka massacre was the murder of wounded soldiers and members of the medical staff of the Second Polish Army carried out by the Wehrmacht on 26 April 1945, in the final days of World War II, in the village of Horka near Crostwitz.

During the fighting in Lusatia in April 1945, the Polish 9th Infantry Division managed to advance to the outskirts of Dresden, but was soon surrounded. The order to turn east and join the main forces of the Second Polish Army came too late, and the map with the division's route accidentally fell into German hands. During the retreat, the 15th Independent Medical Battalion, which was evacuating the wounded from the divisional medical point, was surprised by the enemy while stopping in Horka. A massacre ensued, during which soldiers of the Panzergrenadier Division Brandenburg, likely supported by collaborators from the Free Ukraine 104th Anti-Tank Brigade, murdered between 150 and 300 Poles.