In April 1943 , while still an Army Group Center intelligence staff officer , Gersdorff supervised the excavation of the mass graves of the Katyn massacre , which contained the remains of over 4,000 Polish officers shot by the NKVD in 1940 . In 1944 , Gersdorff was transferred to the Atlantic Wall . Later that year he was decorated with the Knight 's Cross of the Iron Cross for his staff work in preparation for the German breakout from the Falaise pocket
Katyn massacre
Katyn massacre
Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff