I looked for info but couldn’t find any. Why did Burckel commit suicide? The Allies were still a long way from Austria.
“Sydney Provost Marshal Strict With Men on Leave” (Page 9)
United States service men on leave in Sydney must not hold girls’ hands in the streets, walk with their arms around girls, sit on the grass with girls in parks when benches are available, rush ahead of Australians for taxicabs, carry liquor through the streets conspicuously, or use official cars except for official business.”
***
So, what are they supposed to do for fun in Sydney, then?
The truth was covered up by Burckel’s doctor at the time, so impossible now to say for certain.
Burckel suffered from various ailments, brought on, it was said, by exhaustion — and no doubt by stress, but stress over what?
Certainly not fear that his corruption & pilfering might be discovered & punished, or his role in the Holocaust.
The reason instead seems to be his inability to carry out with great Nazi enthusiasm orders to build defensive structures which Burckel believed difficult to build and useless for stopping Allied forces.
Burckel was given full posthumous honors by Hitler, and immediately replaced by a Nazi with more enthusiasm for the assigned task.
And yes, Burckel was right — those structures had little effect in slowing down Patton’s army.