Paratroops in concentration camp

Discussion in 'The Holocaust' started by wtid45, Dec 1, 2009.

  1. wtid45

    wtid45 Very Senior Member

    I might be wrong but im sure I read of some British Para's being put onto a Concentration Camp, and then Murdered anyone else know anything about this, I tried a web search and found nothing regards. Jason
     
  2. airborne medic

    airborne medic Very Senior Member

    Two items come to mind....the engineers from the Freshman raid in 1942.....spent some time in a Norwegian CC...I'd be cheeky now and say look in Striknig Back for details and Sgt Tex Banwell of the 10th Btn who was so much trouble to the Germans he ended up in a camp which I can't recall at this moment....does this help?
     
  3. wtid45

    wtid45 Very Senior Member

    I looked to see if you were on when I posted this and then up you pop:D But no it was not the the Freshman guys or Tex Banwell but if memory serves they were from a Parachute Battalion.And as for the Striking back book I better get my order in with Santa;)
     
  4. englandphil

    englandphil Very Senior Member

    Lieutenant H. Michael A. Cambier (156 Battalion) and Lieutenant Raymond Bussell (3rd Battalion) ?

    the following was written by Philip Reinders

    Lieutenant Michael Cambier
     
  5. wtid45

    wtid45 Very Senior Member

    Having trawled the net some more I found this, Josef Kisch, SS Gruppenfuhrer, official at Mathusen, sentenced to death by US court at Dachau on 15.9.47 for the murder of Allied Paratoops.
     
  6. englandphil

    englandphil Very Senior Member

    wtid45 and Slipdigit like this.
  7. wtid45

    wtid45 Very Senior Member

    Lieutenant H. Michael A. Cambier (156 Battalion) and Lieutenant Raymond Bussell (3rd Battalion) ?

    the following was written by Philip Reinders

    Lieutenant Michael Cambier
    Phil, Not the one I had in mind, had not heard of this before and me an Arnhem nut in the words of Drew! thanks. Jason
     
  8. wtid45

    wtid45 Very Senior Member

    The trial documents can be viewed here

    P

    http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/dachautrial/513.pdf
    Phil, I owe you reps when it lets me! looks like this is the one and reading the link I know why, some 16 years ago I read a book on Mauthusen and reading the transcript in your link reminded me of that. The part about the Paratroops is there, and I remember to this day the Quarry incident and the prisoners having to carry the stones up the 180+steps cheers for the help mate all the best, Jason
     
  9. englandphil

    englandphil Very Senior Member

    Phil, I owe you reps when it lets me! looks like this is the one and reading the link I know why, some 16 years ago I read a book on Mauthusen and reading the transcript in your link reminded me of that. The part about the Paratroops is there, and I remember to this day the Quarry incident and the prisoners having to carry the stones up the 180+steps cheers for the help mate all the best, Jason

    No problems Jason, only problem is, is that Geoffs search engine is not coming up with any Bitish Para's being killed between 1st and 7th Sept 44

    P
     
  10. wtid45

    wtid45 Very Senior Member

    A bit of detective work is required me thinks;)
     
  11. Pike

    Pike Senior Member

    I've also read somewhere about Paratroops being in Dachau and being used to break in German Army boots by walking in circles before their transfer to Mauthausen.

    I'm pretty sure it was the book on Mauthausen by a French chap,and i seem to recall he was in Mauthausen himself.
     
  12. wtid45

    wtid45 Very Senior Member

    Hi Pike Im not going mad then:unsure: if we both read it in what must be the same book it must be true just need to find more details about the date of death.
     
  13. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

    Commandos executed at Oranienburg from a raid on a Power station in Norway.

    Regards
    Tom
     

    Attached Files:

  14. Pike

    Pike Senior Member

    Hello Wtid45,

    No your not going mad,iv'e been racking my brains today trying to recall where i read this story.
    The only things i can remember is that the book was published soon after the war ended,1948/50 or so,the book had photos of the Mauthausen SS gaurds in court.

    I'm pretty sure the British figure in the story in either 1942 or 43,i had a little look at Authors who have wrote about Mauthausen and did'nt recognise the name despite French authors names coming up.
    I think there was about 60 men involved,they died in two groups over 2 days due i think to cruelties committed on those steps.
     
  15. englandphil

    englandphil Very Senior Member

    Do to an excellent lead from Ramacal, I think you will find that these were some of the casualties, not paratroopers, but all attached to SOE.

    JONES, SYDNEY CHARLES
    BLOOM, MARCUS
    NORMAN, GILBERT MAURICE
    NEWMAN, ISIDORE
    CLEMENT, GEORGE

    All executed at executed Mauthausen, Austria 6th or 7th Sept 1944

    Phil

    Launch the attached and put executed Mauthausen into search

    http://www.specialforcesroh.com
     
  16. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    Phil, I owe you reps when it lets me! looks like this is the one and reading the link I know why, some 16 years ago I read a book on Mauthusen and reading the transcript in your link reminded me of that. The part about the Paratroops is there, and I remember to this day the Quarry incident and the prisoners having to carry the stones up the 180+steps cheers for the help mate all the best, Jason

    Mauthausen Concentration Camp was the destination of a number of captured British and Dutch SOE agents who were to disappear in accordance with Hitler's Nacht und Nebel decree.
    .
    The majority were Dutch SOE agents who went to their deaths at Mauthausen due to a complete breakdown of security of the SOE Dutch Section.All found themselves captured by German Securty Police, still in their parachute harness instead of being safely received by the Dutch Resitance.

    The ploy was worked by the playing back, by the German Abwehr of SOE agents wireless communications back to Britain under the guise that it was the agents themselves.Due to security checks being ignored, Dutch agents were led into captivity and death,in successive numbers without the knowledge of the Dutch SOE.It finally came to end when two agents,escaped from captivity and made their way to Switzerland.But valuable time was lost because the Germans themselves after first falsley denouncing them as common criminals, then declared that they were double agents.The account of their escape and ordeal is worth reading.

    The counter intelligence operation was one of the most successful that the Abwehr had conducted during the war and was managed by Hermann Giskes who coded the operation Operation North Pole but sometimes also referred to the "English Game".

    Of the others, there was Gilbert Norman,the deputy to Francis Suttill (Prosper) of the Prosper network which was penitrated by the SD, owing to a number of reasons, still controversial.Norman as others in the Prosper network were victims of the SD tryanny and deceit.Suttill was assured during his interrogations when captured, that, in exchange for the naming of arms dumps within the network,those captured agents would survive as POWs.It was an assurance not kept and the majority were subjected to the Nacht unt Nebel decree and early death by special treatment in concentration camps.

    Also at Mauthausen,there was about 6 Jewish parachutists who were on British covert operations in the Czeckosolvakia region and were captured.This group also fell to the Nacht und Nebel decreee but while the SOE group were murdered in September 1944,these 6 were murdered on a different date.

    Overall, it was murder most foul and is an example and typical of the special treatment handed out by Nazi illegal organisations to their defenceless victims.
     
  17. wtid45

    wtid45 Very Senior Member

    I hate to burst your bubble guys but I know about the SOE people,(thanks though:)) the book me and Pike read definitly mentioned British Paratroops as in Regiment and im sure there was a reference to a battalion.
     
  18. englandphil

    englandphil Very Senior Member

    The quarry wall was nicknamed 'Parachutists Wall' by the guards, as they liked to see Parachutists without parachutes fall into the quarry when thrown off the edge.
     
  19. wtid45

    wtid45 Very Senior Member

    I think im gonna have to find the book it would seem the only way to solve the query:unsure: but I will keep looking and thanks to everyone for thier contributions so far much appreciated :)
     
  20. Pike

    Pike Senior Member

    I'm pretty sure wtid and myself have both read the same book,i do recall quite a few Dutch being cruelly treated and being pushed,forced off the edge of the quarry.

    But according to the book i read the British died after being forced up and down the steps carrying heavy rocks,i'm also pretty sure that somewhere in the region of 26 men died in the second group,
    The book was full of eyewitness accounts of cruelties to all prisoners and especially the torments of the SS gaurds telling groups of prisoners they would be killed one at a time,it could have been weekly,or monthly,theres quite a bit of detail on the last year or so as a prisoner who worked with the camp records saved a lot of prisoner records etc.

    The only authors name it could have been from a list of Mauthausen authors iv'e looked at,is Evelyn Le Chene...i'm not 100 per cent sure thats correct but i don't think its any of the other 35.

    Best of luck wtid.
     

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