Le Paradis Massacre: SS Execute 97 British POWs
SS troops under Hauptsturmfuhrer Fritz Knochlein murdered 97 prisoners of war from the 2nd Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment, at Le Paradis, France, on May 27, 1940. The Norfolks had been defending a farmhouse against the SS Totenkopf Division during the retreat to Dunkirk and surrendered when they ran out of ammunition. Knochlein ordered the prisoners lined up against a barn wall and machine-gunned. Two soldiers, Privates Albert Pooley and William O'Callaghan, survived by pretending to be dead under the bodies of their comrades. They hid in a pig sty for three days before being captured by regular Wehrmacht troops who treated them as legitimate prisoners. Their testimony after the war led to Knochlein's conviction and execution for war crimes in 1949.
May 27, 1940
86 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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