[2] On August 4, 1944, Boeing B-17G-75-BO 43-37909 of the 486th BG, crashed into Borkum Island, the site of a German military base.

However, upon being handed over to the commanding officers on Borkum, the prisoners were marched through the streets of the island and left vulnerable to attack by civilians.

The citizens of Borkum were incited by Jan Akkermann, the town mayor and the leader of the local Nazi Party, to assault the airmen.

During the beating, Howard Graham collapsed after being struck by an air raid policeman named Mammenga.

A German private whose family had been killed in the Allied bombing of Hamburg then shot Graham as he lay on the ground.

An official memorandum submitted by Kurt Goebell, the ranking officer on Borkum Island, which attributed the deaths of the airmen to injuries sustained during the beating was signed by all members of the guard detail.

[2]: 190 Following the British occupation of Borkum, a more substantive investigation was conducted by a United States Army Intelligence Corps team.

[2]: 190  With this background, the Borkum Island war trial itself took place at Ludwigsburg Palace between February 6 and March 22, 1946[2]: 183  in the case of U.S. v Kurt Goebell et al.