The Munich Massacre- How Untrained Police Officers Led To The Deaths of Eleven Israeli Athletes

On September 5, 1972, a 23-hour long terrorist attack resulted in the deaths of eleven members of Israel's Olympic team and four Arab terrorists. The incident commenced with an invasion of the Olympic Village by the terrorists, which culminated in a shootout at a military airport located 15 miles away. The terrorists had been preparing to fly to Cairo with their Israeli hostages at the time of the confrontation.

The operation was carried out by individuals associated with the Palestinian extremist organization known as Black September.

The Day of The Terror

The Olympic Games had been proceeding without any problems for over a week. However, on September 5, 1972, at 4:30 AM, a group of eight Palestinian militants linked to Black September climbed over a fence that encircled the Olympic Village in Munich, marking the start of the day's horrific events.

Disguised as athletes they managed to gain entry into the living quarters of the Israeli Olympic team.

Upon attempting to enter Apartment 1, the militants were met by Yossef Gutfreund, a wrestling referee, and Moshe Weinberg, a wrestling coach. Weinberg was fatally shot while struggling with the attackers. At gunpoint, the militants then compelled him to lead them to the quarters of the other Israeli coaches and athletes.

There has been a suggestion that Weinberg deliberately led the attackers past Apartment 2, which was also occupied by the Israeli team, as he believed that the wrestlers and weightlifters residing in Apartment 3 would have been better equipped to resist the attackers.

After gathering additional hostages in Apartment 3, the terrorists compelled them to return to Apartment 1.

During the chaos, wrestler Gad Tsabari broke away from the group and sprinted down a flight of stairs towards an underground parking garage. Weinberg used the opportunity to once again engage the attackers in a physical altercation.

Weinberg had nearly gained control of one of the terrorists' guns when he was fatally shot. Despite being on crutches due to an injury sustained during competition, weightlifter Yossef Romano also made an effort to disarm one of the terrorists. Romano was killed, and his body was left mutilated on the floor of Apartment 1 as a warning to the others.

Amidst the deaths of two Israeli athletes in the Olympic Village and the captivity of nine others, Avery Brundage, the chairman of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), maintained that the games should proceed as scheduled.

The militants put forth several demands, including the release of over 200 Palestinians who were incarcerated in Israeli prisons, the liberation of Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof of the Red Army Faction from German jails, and the provision of an aircraft to transport them to a secure location in the Middle East.

Israel responded firmly and decisively, stating that there would be no negotiation. The Israeli government's official policy at the time was to reject all negotiations with terrorists under any circumstances. The government believed that negotiations would only serve as an incentive for future attacks.

At approximately 10:00 PM on September 5, the militants, convinced that they had reached a settlement with the Munich official, led their hostages, who were bound and blindfolded, from their rooms to buses that then took them to helicopters that were waiting nearby.

Tragedy at Fürstenfeldbruck

The helicopters transported the hostages to Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base, which was located 15 miles (25 km) to the west of the Olympic Village, where police had set up an ambush. The terrorist had negotiated with the officials to be taken to Cairo, Egypt.

The snipers who were involved in the operation had not been formally trained as sharpshooters, and they were not positioned correctly and were insufficient in number. Additionally, they lacked the necessary communication tools, such as radios, to effectively communicate with each other or to receive instructions from their commanders.

Moreover, the snipers were equipped with assault rifles instead of sniper rifles, and their weapons lacked both long-range scopes and night-vision capabilities. On the tarmac of the air base, there was a Boeing 727 that was filled with 17 police officers disguised as a Lufthansa flight crew. The officers were supposed to overpower the terrorists once they had boarded the plane, but they all deserted their posts.

Armored vehicles that were intended to assist in the rescue of the Israeli hostages were dispatched too late and became trapped in traffic. With numerous shortcomings in both planning and execution, the outcome was a catastrophe on virtually every level.

At around 10:30 PM, the helicopters arrived at the airbase, and two of the militants went to inspect the jetliner. Upon discovering that the plane was empty and realizing that they had been tricked, they alerted their fellow terrorists. In response, West German police opened fire on them, sparking a fierce gunfight in which several terrorists and one police officer were killed.

The flight crews of the helicopters fled for cover, but the Israeli athletes remained bound together and unable to escape.

Around midnight, one of the terrorists hurled a hand grenade into one of the helicopters, killing all but one of the Israeli hostages aboard, David Berger, an American wrestler, he later died of smoke inhalation before rescue workers could reach him. In the other helicopter, a second terrorist fired a hail of bullets at point-blank range, killing the remaining five Israeli hostages.