Brilliant photos paul. I hadn't heard about this massacre before. Here's a more detailed description of it, including details of Fritz Knoechlein's trial.Le Paradis Massacre from http://mackillers.8m.com/paradis.html Glad you found them of interest - thanks for that link.
An interesting one among them - did he really get a DSO and MC in May 1940? Or maybe at least one is an earlier, pre-war award? Name: WATSON, RODNEY GEORGE Initials: R G Nationality: United Kingdom Rank: Major Regiment/Service: Royal Scots Unit Text: 1st Bn. Age: 36 Date of Death: 27/05/1940 Service No: 30704 Awards: D S O, M C Additional information: Son of Captain John Campbell Watson, formerly R.N., and Violet Mildred Watson; husband of Robina Alice Watson. Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead Grave/Memorial Reference: 1. B. 9. Cemetery: LE PARADIS WAR CEMETERY, LESTREM Army Number - Blank. T/Major Rodney George Watson, Royal Scots Award - DSO, Theatre - Not stated Gazetted - 22/10/1940 page 6114 Nothing stated in Honour The Armies, Honours & Awards to the British & Dominion Armies During WW2 for the MC.
Temp. Maj. Watson Royal Scots (RR) DSO Gazetted 22.10.40 (6114) for France with BEF. MC Gazetted 14.03.39 (1765) for Palestine. The Distinguished Service Order 1924-2008 & The Military Cross 1937-1993
(Achtung, Paul, we are still reading your old posts!) :icon_sleepy: Whenever I read (mostly on posts on this forum, it has to be said) about the 'various' worryingly unheard of massacres I cannot help thinking "why?" when the Germans were, at this stage, still winning?? Didn't they feel that they had made their point? Alright, some of the Brit units that held out for an annoyingly long time must have been a wake up call to them but actions seem hardly justifiable? My son can just about differentiate between generic 'goodies' and 'baddies' and the more I find out about secret stuff like this the harder it gets to stay objective, regrettably... Another case for amending the History National Curriculum I think, if there is such a thing...:smash:
The over riding pattern I seem to being seeing now is that they are relatively new units with little or no combat experience that are essentially thugs and murderers. I was reading yesterday that when the British (Franckforce) counter-attacked Rommel near Arras the Totenkopf (Responsible for Paradis) Rommel reported that they ran away. Rommel did beef up what was going on though stating he was under attack from 5 divisions when it was hardly two. I'm sure someone like Kate will be able to give you the techi answer to 'why' but untrained, ill disciplined and poorly commanded spring to mind. Cheers Andy
Here's his DSO. I think his MC is a bit too early for Kew. I've recently read that there were a couple of isolated incidents where some of the Royal Scots were executed by SS. T. troops. The Royal Scots were on one of the Norfolks flanks so its no surprise some of them were murdered. I wonder if Capt Watson was one of them?
Close up of memorial. Is it me, or is there a bit of copy missing from this? (see attached) All the copy on the memorial is centred except for this line as there appears to be space for some more words, although its not like that on the French translation below. Could it be 'by the SS'...? Matt
Took our Guests on a Dunkirk Tour last summer and made sure we visited Le Paradis. We walked from the point where the lads were searched and stripped of their equipment along the very same route they were taken by the SS towards the pasture by the side of the Barn. The walk was done in absolute silence, not due to any request to do so but because of the emotive nature of the place and the event. It's one that will live long in the memory.
On my last visit to Paradis (I think I've been 3 or 4 times now) we found the door where the CSM tried to surrender by waving a white flag out of it to be met by a hail of gunfire. The bullet holes in the wall are still there along with the bricked up firing loop holes used by the Company when defending the farm. We also walked Pooley and O'Callaghan's escape route to the farm only to be invited in by the owner and shown the pig sty where they hid for several days-That was a defining moment for me, truly amazing.
I've only been twice but will be there again in April. Personally, I found visiting Paradis a lot more emotionally powerful than Wormhoudt.
