The survivors of the Le Paradis Massacre . I just wanted to blog about a sad thing that happened during World War II that yet again demonstrates the serial killer mind set of the Nazis.
In 1940 when the British expidittionary force (BEF) who were heavily outnumbered were beat back by the hun, they left their eqiupment and made their way to the beaches of Dunkirk hoping for rescue.
Some of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment, knowing it would end in defeat stayed behind fighting, trying to slow the Germans doon so their mates could get away. Those at Dunkirk had it bad with constant bombings and strafing from fighter planes, the RAF did what they could but they were kept very busy leading the troops on the beaches to think they had been deserted by them and in fact the whole British public considered them cowards though they were there bravely fighting and dying, just not in plain view.
In 1940 when the British expidittionary force (BEF) who were heavily outnumbered were beat back by the hun, they left their eqiupment and made their way to the beaches of Dunkirk hoping for rescue.
Some of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment, knowing it would end in defeat stayed behind fighting, trying to slow the Germans doon so their mates could get away. Those at Dunkirk had it bad with constant bombings and strafing from fighter planes, the RAF did what they could but they were kept very busy leading the troops on the beaches to think they had been deserted by them and in fact the whole British public considered them cowards though they were there bravely fighting and dying, just not in plain view.
Eventually the Germans in their never ending waves used up the ammo of the Norfolks, so the Norfolks threw their excellent Enfield rifles into a river rather have them taken by the hun and surrendered to the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the SS Totenkopt (death's head) division, the ones that manned the concentration camps. A total of 99 Brits were captured , every single one had been wounded.
They were marched to a nearby barn and lined up against the wall and machine gunned doon by the brave Nazis at the order of the commander SS Obersturmführer Fritz Knochlein.
97 British prisoners were killed and the bodies then buried in a shallow pit. Privates Albert Pooley and William O'Callaghan had hidden in a pig-sty and were discovered later by the farm's owner, Madame Creton, and her son.
97 British prisoners were killed and the bodies then buried in a shallow pit. Privates Albert Pooley and William O'Callaghan had hidden in a pig-sty and were discovered later by the farm's owner, Madame Creton, and her son.
They went on the run and were captured by a Wehrmacht unit which is regular army. The soldiers spent the war as POWs and told their story upon release.
Knoechlein was well hung.
The bodies were exhumed in 1942 by the French and reburied in the local churchyard which now forms part of the Le Paradis War Cemetery. The massacre was investigated and Knoechlein was found and arrested. He was hanged January 28th 1949.
A large memorial was erected beside the Church. God bless them all, these brave warriors have earned a place of honour in the next life.
3 comments:
That's it. A plain war-crime committed by the SS. Others should follow.
That is why the SS was declared a criminal organization, the whole SS, Waffen-SS included. And that is why the Wehrmacht (Heer besonders, army) held a healthy distance to the comrades in black. Mostly. From the strictly organizational point of view the SS was a party-organization, a private army with stately funds ... a little like Blackwater nowadays
Blackwater? I bet they get paid more than the Nazis.
My Uncle, was one of those murdered there and his brother my Dad didn't find out about it until the mid 80's when a display and information was presented at the Norfolk Museum that my Dad stopped in at on one of his trips home to England from Canada
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