|
The Le Paradis massacre was a war crime committed by members of the 14th Company, SS Division Totenkopf, under the command of Hauptsturmführer Fritz Knöchlein. It took place on 27 May 1940, during the Battle of France, at a time when the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was attempting to retreat through the Pas-de-Calais region during the Battle of Dunkirk. Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, the Royal Norfolk Regiment, had become isolated from their regiment. They occupied and defended a farmhouse against an attack by Waffen-SS forces in the village of Le Paradis. After running out of ammunition, the defenders surrendered to the German troops. The Germans led them across the road to a wall, and machine-gunned them. Ninety-seven British troops died. Two survived, with injuries, and hid until they were captured by German forces several days later. After the war, Fritz Knöchlein was located, tried and convicted by a war crimes court, with the two survivors acting as witnesses against him. For his part in the massacre, Knöchlein was executed in 1949. ==Background== (詳細はFrench Army and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to the Meuse river on 12 May, crossing it that evening.〔Jackson, ''The Fall of France: The Nazi Invasion of 1940'', pp. 221–556.〕 From there, the German forces rapidly advanced to the English Channel over the course of the next week. BEF units, including detached companies of the Royal Norfolks and Royal Scots, were ordered to try to slow the German advance in northern France to buy time to evacuate troops at Dunkirk.〔Jackson, ''The Fall of France: The Nazi Invasion of 1940'', pp. 94–97.〕〔Wilson, ''Dunkirk: From Disaster to Deliverance'', pp. 42–56.〕 One of the participating German units, the 3rd SS Division ''Totenkopf'', had been strongly indoctrinated with the Nazi Party ideology by its commander Theodor Eicke. Eicke's men had a fanatical loyalty to him and to Germany. The men of ''Totenkopf'' fought recklessly throughout the campaign, suffering higher death rates than other German forces. The Battle of France was SS Division ''Totenkopf''s first major engagement of World War II. The division, part of the reserves of Army Group A, was called to the front line on 17 May. The unit was engaged in "mopping up" operations against Allied forces to the north and east of Cambrai.〔Sydnor, ''Soldiers of Destruction'', p. 93.〕 In total 16,000 prisoners had been taken by the division, but they had refused the surrender of 200 Muslim , who were executed on the spot.〔Mann, ''SS-Totenkopf'', p. 76.〕 By the time the operation had finished in Cambrai, the first German units had reached the English Channel, but the British counter-attacked just west of Arras on 21 May, following on from the counter-attack of the day before (Battle of Arras). The ''Totenkopf'' division suffered casualties of just under 100 men in repelling the assault. The ''Totenkopf'' was then ordered to the town of Béthune and crossed the La Bassée river under British attack on 24 May. However, the men were ordered to retreat the next day to preserve tanks for the upcoming campaign in Dunkirk and to allow the ''Luftwaffe'' to attack Allied positions in the area.〔Mann, SS-''Totenkopf'', p. 85.〕 The men thus had to make the hazardous crossing again on the night of 26 May. The SS men took Béthune after heavy house-to-house fighting with the British, who withdrew to a line between Locon and Le Paradis.〔Mann, SS-''Totenkopf'', pp. 74–82.〕 The 2nd Battalion of the Royal Norfolks, along with the 8th Lancashire Fusiliers, were holding the Allied line at the villages of Riez du Vinage, Le Cornet Malo and Le Paradis with the battalion headquarters based at Le Paradis. The battalions had been ordered to hold out for as long as possible against the Germans to give time for the BEF to evacuate from Dunkirk.〔 The SS Division ''Totenkopf'' emerged from the Bois de Paqueaut wood and attacked Le Cornet Malo at dawn on 27 May. The British troops defended stubbornly but were eventually overrun. The attack resulted in the deaths of four German officers and 150 men. Another 480 men and 18 officers were wounded. Later the same day, the German troops moved forward to attack Le Paradis.〔Mann, ''SS-Totenkopf'', pp. 80–83.〕〔Jackson, ''The Fall of France: The Nazi Invasion of 1940'', pp. 285–288.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Le Paradis massacre」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|