Download or read book The SS Massacre at Le Paradis 27 May 1940 written by Cyril Jolly and published by Pen & Sword Military. This book was released on 2020-08-19 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 27 May 1940, in the hamlet of Le Paradis, in northern France, almost a hundred soldiers of the Royal Norfolk Regiment were murdered. After a resolute defence of their positions whilst part of the rearguard that was protecting the retreat to the Dunkirk beaches, these soldiers, who had surrendered, were disarmed, marched as a body to a field and massacred by member of the SS Division that they had been fighting. However, two men survived: William O'Callaghan and Albert Pooley. Pooley in particular, was badly wounded and endured a tortuous couple of years as a sick PoW before he was repatriated in the spring of 1943, a clear indicator of his feeble physical condition. He reported the massacre on his return to the UK but was not, it seemed, believed. It was only after the war, despite continued ill health, and a return to le Paradis, that his story was taken up and a proper investigation was launched. In 1948 the officer responsible for the atrocity, an SS officer, Fritz Knoechlein, was tried in Hamburg, found guilty and executed. This edition of Cyril Jolly's account of Albert Pooley's story includes a new introduction by Nigel Cave and many new photographs. To follow the fateful trail of these men in the flat, rather uninspiring, country around Le Paradis; and to stand in the small Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery where those so cruelly treated lie, is a sobering and moving experience. It is fortunate that Private Pooley survived, showed such extraordinary courage in his determination to get justice for his comrades; and that Cyril Jolly wrote such a gripping, if horrific, account of one of several massacres that took place during the traumatic weeks that led to the Dunkirk Evacuation.

Download or read book Last Stand at Le Paradis written by Richard Lane and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2009-04-21 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A chronicle of the WWII British Expeditionary Force unit that faced a German firing squad after surrendering at the Battle of Dunkirk. In 1939, the BEF was deployed to counter the German aggression in Europe. The men of 2nd Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment, were some of the first to land in France. Less than a year later, they would be massacred by the Waffen-SS in one of the most egregious war crimes of the Second World War. After deploying to the Maginot Line sector in January of 1940, the Norfolks experienced some of the war’s most monumental firsts—including the first decorations to be awarded, and the first British officer killed in action. But more tragedy was to come when the Germans launched their May offensive. As the Allies withdrew towards the English Channel, the Norfolks were ordered to defend a section of the Canal Line. After several days, they were surrounded and forced to surrender. The next morning, ninety-nine men of the Battalion were marched to a paddock and machine-gunned in cold blood by their SS captors. Miraculously, two men survived and helped bring the SS officer responsible, Fritz Knoechlien, to justice after the war.

Download or read book Last Stand at Le Paradis written by Richard Lane and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In early September 1939, the 2nd Battalion Royal Norfolk Regiment were one of the first complete infantry units of the BEF to land in France. The first months of World War Two were relatively quiet but after deploying to the Maginot Line sector during January 1940 they came into contact with those Germans manning the West Wall or Siegfried Line. A patrol led by Captain Peter Barclay entered German territory and was attacked. As a result, the first decorations of the war were awarded. Barclay received the Military Cross and Lance-Corporal Davis the Military Medal while the remaining members of the patrol were mentioned in despatches. Two days later, the battalion suffered a tragic first when Lieutenant Patrick Everitt was mortally wounded while leading a daylight patrol. Everitt was the first British officer to be killed in action in the Second World War. When the Germans launched their offensive on 10 May, the BEF advanced to the River Dyle in Belgium. Within days the Allied Armies had been forced onto the back foot by the speed and ferocity of the German breakthrough. The Norfolks withdrew to the River Escaut where the BEF was to make a stand. On 21 May, the Company Sergeant Major George Gristock courageously destroyed some German machine-gun posts and won a posthumous Victoria Cross. As the Allies withdrew towards the Channel, the Norfolks were ordered to defend a section of the Canal Line between Béthune and Le Cornet Malo. Already down to around half strength, the Norfolks held their sector from 24 to 27 May. By the time the order was issued for them to withdraw, it was too late, Battalion HQ at Duries Farm, Le Paradis was surrounded and they had no alternative but to surrender, although 'C' Company held out until the following morning. After the surrender, ninety-nine men of the Battalion were marched to a paddock where they were machine-gunned in cold blood by their SS captors. Miraculously, two men survived and were instrumental in bringing the SS officer responsible, Fritz Knoechlien, to justice after the war. When the remnants of the battalion reassembled in England, its strength was just five officers and 134 other ranks. The remainder had either been killed or captured as POWs.

Download or read book The Vengeance of Private Pooley written by Cyril Jolly and published by . This book was released on 1956 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Massacre and Murder in Le Paradis written by Bill Sharpe and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-02 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: May 1940 and elements of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment were stubbornly holding Le Paradis and the neighbouring hamlet of Le-Cornet Malo, against overwhelmingly superior forces, trying to block the enemy's road to Dunkirk. On May 27th, their ammunition expended, and completely cut off from their Battalion and Brigade Headquarters, 99 officers and men of the 2/Royal Norfolks surrendered to No. 4 Company of the 1st Battalion of the 2nd S.S. Totenkopf (Deaths head) Regiment. They were disarmed, marched into a field, mowed down by machine-guns, finished off by revolver shots and bayonet thrusts and left for dead. By a miracle two of them escaped death, and were hidden and succoured for a short time by the people of Le Paradis. Later they became prisoners of war, and ultimately returned home to see that justice was done, on January 28th 1949, brought to the gallows the German officer who gave the command for this massacre. The Author's uncle was one of the victims and this story is dedicated to him, his comrades and family.

Download or read book The Aftermath of Dunkirk written by Stephen Wynn and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2021-12-31 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Operation Dynamo, the successful evacuation of Belgian, British, Dutch, French and Polish troops from the beaches at Dunkirk between 27 May and 4 June 1940, was not only a pivotal moment of the war, but one that changed its final outcome. There has been much debate in the years since the end of the war concerning the “Hitler Halt” order, which was given to German Panzer units waiting patiently on the outskirts of Dunkirk to be allowed to finish the job they had started. Many theories have been put forward as to the reasons behind this, but the consequence was that it allowed Britain to remain in the war. A total of 338,226, British and Allied troops were rescued from the beaches of Dunkirk, aboard a total of 861 vessels, of which 243 were sunk. For those left behind, official figures record that up to 80,000 French and British troops were captured, whilst during the time of the actual evacuation, somewhere in the region of 16,000 French and 1,000 British soldiers were killed. Equipment wise British forces left behind somewhere in the region of 90,000 rifles, 11,000 machine guns, huge supplies of ammunition, 880 field guns, 310 large calibre artillery pieces, 500 anti-aircraft guns, 850 anti-tank guns, 700 tanks, 45,000 cars and lorries, and 20,000 motor cycles – enough equipment to arm nearly ten divisions of soldiers. It is known that two atrocities took place during the Battle of Dunkirk: the Massacre at Le Paradis, and another at Wormhoudt, carried out by Waffen- SS soldiers, against British and French troops who had already surrendered. Although the Battle of Dunkirk must ultimately go down tactically as a German victory, the rescue of so many of its men, ensured that like a phoenix, Britain rose from the ashes of defeat to gain a great and lasting victory.

Download or read book Dunkirk written by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2007-05-31 with total page 1005 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: * * * Special 75th Anniversary Edition * * * Hugh Sebag-Montefiore's Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man tells the story of the rescue in May 1940 of British soldiers fleeing capture and defeat by the Nazis at Dunkirk. Dunkirk was not just about what happened at sea and on the beaches. The evacuation would never have succeeded had it not been for the tenacity of the British soldiers who stayed behind to ensure they got away. Men like Sergeant Major Gus Jennings who died smothering a German stick bomb in the church at Esquelbecq in an effort to save his comrades, and Captain Marcus Ervine-Andrews VC who single-handedly held back a German attack on the Dunkirk perimeter thereby allowing the British line to form up behind him. Told to stand and fight to the last man, these brave few battalions fought in whatever manner they could to buy precious time for the evacuation. Outnumbered and outgunned, they launched spectacular and heroic attacks time and again, despite ferocious fighting and the knowledge that for many only capture or death would end their struggle. 'A searing story . . . both meticulous military history and a deeply moving testimony to the extraordinary personal bravery of individual soldiers' Tim Gardam, The Times 'Sebag-Montefiore tells [the story] with gusto, a remarkable attention to detail and an inexhaustible appetite for tracking down the evidence' Richard Ovary, Telegraph Hugh Sebag-Montefiore was a barrister before becoming a journalist and then an author. He wrote the best-selling Enigma: The Battle for the Code. One of his ancestors was evacuated from Dunkirk.

Download or read book The Story of the SS written by Nigel Cawthorne and published by Arcturus Publishing. This book was released on 2012-07-24 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'The best political weapon is the weapon of terror. Cruelty commands respect. Men may hate us. But, we don't ask for their love - only for their fear.' -Heinrich Himmler The Schutzstaffel, or SS - the brutal elite of the Nazi Party - was founded by Hitler in 1925 to be his personal bodyguard. From 1929 it was headed by Heinrich Himmler, who built its numbers up from under 300 to well over a million by 1945. The SS became the very backbone of Nazi Germany, taking over almost every function of the state. SS members were chosen not only to be the living embodiment of Hitler's notion of 'Aryan supremacy', but also to cement undying loyalty to the Führer at every level of German society. Merciless fanatics in jackboots, the SS systematically slaughtered, tortured, and enslaved millions. This is the story of the rise and fall of one of the most evil organizations the world has ever seen.

Download or read book Collaboration and Resistance in Occupied France written by C. Lloyd and published by Springer. This book was released on 2003-09-16 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is about how people behaved during the German occupation of France during World War Two, and more specifically about how individuals from different social and political backgrounds recorded and reflected on their experiences during and after these tragic events. The book focuses on the concepts of treason and sacrifice, and takes the form of an introductory overview, followed by contextualised case studies in the areas of politics, daily life, civil administration, paramilitary action, literature and film.

Download or read book Soldiers of Destruction written by Charles Sydnor and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 1990-05-21 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Surveys the emergence of the Nazi SS and its Death's Head Division, noting the impact of this elite and powerful army upon military history.

Download or read book A War To Be Won written by Williamson Murray and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 736 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chronicles the military operations and tactics of World War II in both the European and Pacific theaters from the Sino-Japanese War in 1937 to the surrender of Japan in 1945.

Download or read book Voices of the Waffen SS written by Gerry Villani and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2019-03-15 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Waffen SS were Hitler's elite forces during WWII. They were the forces that were feared by the enemy and praised by their allies. During the Nuremberg Trials, the Waffen SS was condemned as part of a criminal organization, however, the Nuremberg Trials exempted conscripts from that condemnation. On several occasions, the Waffen SS was criticized by Heer commanders for their reckless disregard for casualties while taking or holding objectives, however, the Waffen SS divisions eventually proved themselves as capable soldiers. The poor initial performance was mainly due to the emphasis on political indoctrination rather than proper military training before the war. Despite this, the experience gained from the Polish, French, and Balkan campaigns and the peculiarly egalitarian form of training soon turned Waffen SS units into elite formations. These are the stories of the men that once were part of this elite force, not to glorify the Nazi regime or crimes committed by them, but to give them a voice too.

Download or read book Battle for Hong Kong December 1941 written by Philip Cracknell and published by Amberley Publishing Limited. This book was released on 2019-07-15 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 25 December 1941 is known to this day by the people of Hong Kong as ‘Black Christmas’. The battle for Hong Kong is a story that deserves to be better known.

Download or read book Hitler s Atrocities Against Allied PoWs written by Philip D. Chinnery and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2018-04-30 with total page 550 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A chilling description of the ordeals that captured men and women were put through by the Third Reich regime and their Italian allies.” —Daily Mail Seventy years ago, the Nuremberg Trials were in full swing in Germany. In the dock were the leaders of the Nazi regime and most eventually received their just desserts. But what happened to the other war criminals? In June 1946, Lord Russell of Liverpool became Deputy Judge Advocate and legal adviser to the Commander in Chief for the British Army of the Rhine in respect of all trials held by British Military Courts of German war criminals. He later wrote: “At the outbreak of the Second World War, the treatment of prisoners was governed by the Geneva Prisoner of War Convention of 1929, the Preamble of which stated that the aim of the signatories was to alleviate the conditions of prisoners of war. “During the war, however, the provisions of the Convention were repeatedly disregarded by Germany. Prisoners were subjected to brutality and ill-treatment, employed on prohibited and dangerous work, handed over to the SD for ‘special treatment’ in pursuance of Hitler’s Commando Order, lynched in the streets by German civilians, sent to concentration camps, shot on recapture after escaping, and even massacred after they had laid down their arms and surrendered.” Tens of thousands of Allied prisoners of war died at the hands of the Nazis and their Italian allies. This book is for them lest we forget. “A sobering and harrowing book, detailing many forgotten crimes committed against POWs who should have been offered the protection of the Geneva Convention, but tragically were not.” —Recollections of WWII

Download or read book The London Cage written by Helen Fry and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2017-09-05 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first complete account of the fiercely guarded secrets of London’s clandestine interrogation center, operated by the British Secret Service from 1940 to 1948 Behind the locked doors of three mansions in London’s exclusive Kensington Palace Gardens neighborhood, the British Secret Service established a highly secret prison in 1940: the London Cage. Here recalcitrant German prisoners of war were subjected to “special intelligence treatment.” The stakes were high: the war’s outcome could hinge on obtaining information German prisoners were determined to withhold. After the war, high-ranking Nazi war criminals were housed in the Cage, revamped as an important center for investigating German war crimes. This riveting book reveals the full details of operations at the London Cage and subsequent efforts to hide them. Helen Fry’s extraordinary original research uncovers the grim picture of prisoners’ daily lives and of systemic Soviet-style mistreatment. The author also provides sensational evidence to counter official denials concerning the use of “truth drugs” and “enhanced interrogation” techniques. Bringing dark secrets to light, this groundbreaking book at last provides an objective and complete history of the London Cage.

Download or read book The First World War A Marxist Analysis of the Great Slaughter written by Alan Woods and published by Wellred Books. This book was released on 2019-06-27 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 28 June 1914, two pistol shots shattered the peace of a sunny afternoon in Sarajevo. Those shots reverberated around Europe and shattered the peace of the whole world. This was the beginning of the Great Slaughter. Could it have been avoided? Alan Woods uses the method of Marxism to answer this question. He explains that, actually, whilst individuals play an important role in history, to explain events such as wars, one must look at deeper causes. As well as dealing with the origin of the war, Woods traces the conflict through its development, looking at the role of all the major actors, and their aims. He shows how in the midst of the despair of the trenches and the home front, a new consciousness was formed. He also makes the case that it was the German Revolution that brought the war to an end, and how a revolutionary wave swept across Europe. The book also looks at the Treaty of Versailles and how the victorious powers imposed the deal, not just on Germany, but the rest of Europe and the Middle East. Given the amount of nationalistic mystification from all sides about the First World War, a history of the subject from the standpoint of the world working class is essential and it is provided by this book.

Download or read book Britain France and the Decolonization of Africa written by Andrew W.M. Smith and published by UCL Press. This book was released on 2017-03-01 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Looking at decolonization in the conditional tense, this volume teases out the complex and uncertain ends of British and French empire in Africa during the period of ‘late colonial shift’ after 1945. Rather than view decolonization as an inevitable process, the contributors together explore the crucial historical moments in which change was negotiated, compromises were made, and debates were staged. Three core themes guide the analysis: development, contingency and entanglement. The chapters consider the ways in which decolonization was governed and moderated by concerns about development and profit. A complementary focus on contingency allows deeper consideration of how colonial powers planned for ‘colonial futures’, and how divergent voices greeted the end of empire. Thinking about entanglements likewise stresses both the connections that existed between the British and French empires in Africa, and those that endured beyond the formal transfer of power.