Massacres and Atrocities of WW2

Does anyone know if there was anymore incidents in France during 1940 apart from Paradis and Wormhoult where British soldiers or Allies were murdered in significant numbers?

Cheers
Andy

 

Adam,

Thank you for the link.
Grim reading that really brings home the facts.

Regards
Tom

 

Have you ploughed through the original 'Massacres and Atrocities' site Andy?
Massacres and Atrocities of WWII in Western Europe

Cheers, I will be in a minute

 

Abbeville, France 1940

In Abbeville, France, twenty-two Belgian right wing political leaders were arrested by the French Police. Just before the German invasion the twenty-two men were taken to a public park in the town and shot. This must constitute Western Europe's first 'War Crime' of World War II and the first to be documented. After the shootings hundreds of the victims followers rushed to join the volunteer regiments of Germany's Waffen SS.

Massacres and Atrocities of WWII in Western Europe

Does anyone know if there is a memorial in Abbeville regarding this?

 

That site has missed the shooting of 80 townspeople in Oignies on 28 May 1940:

Oignies and 20th century wars

During the first world war, Oignies was occupied by Germans and bombardements were frequent. The city was destroyed in a large part and the mines were sacked.

From May 28th 1940 until September 2nd 1944 , Oignies was occupied by Nazis who, on the very first day of their occupation set 380 houses on fire, and shot 80 civilians ( May 28th 1940’s massacre).
During the 20th century, Oignies was twice visited by a Republic President. Georges Clémenceau in 1919, and in 1947, Vincent Auriol inaugurated the mausoleum and declared Oignies “martyred city”.

A fair proportion of the population were actually Polish immigrants (my great-aunt and family included) who became miners due to the lack of Frenchmen after WW1.

A British soldier was also murdered in the town, though his identity is a mystery. One of the Sherwood Foresters' officers buried in the town's cemetery has a surname that I think Ron G would be familiar with, so perhaps he was singled out; that's just idle speculation on my part, it must be said.

One of the main roads in the town is Rue des Quatre-Vingts Fusilles and here's the memorial:

 

Aerial slaughter in Europe reached a climax on 13-14 February 1945 at Dresden. The briefing for air crews misrepresented Dresden as "an industrial city of first-class importance." Dresden had always been a center of art and artists, one of Europe's most magnificent cities, itself a work of art; Dresden's "heavy" industry was the manufacture of porcelain shepherds and shepherdesses. Other industries, according to Kurt Vonnegut, held as a POW near Dresden, consisted largely of hospitals and cigarette and clarinet factories. Harris gave the city and its civilians an all-out scourging with 1,400 bombers carrying high explosives and incendiaries. The following day, 1,350 USAAF heavy bombers attacked the marshaling yards with high explosives. USAAF tactical fighters flew over in daylight and strafed survivors who had sought refuge along the river banks. Estimates of the dead vary from 35,000 to 135,000.

The raid on Dresden was neither a deliberate massacre or an atrocity. To group this action with the others in this thread is an insult to all Bomber Command and USAAF veterans. Dresden had been identified as a legitimate target as early as 1942. This city had been spared earlier raids simply because of the extreme range from British bases. Even a cursory review of the current research will dispel the myth that Dresden was not a worthy military target.

 

That site has missed the shooting of 80 townspeople in Oignies on 28 May 1940:
Oignies and 20th century wars

During the first world war, Oignies was occupied by Germans and bombardements were frequent. The city was destroyed in a large part and the mines were sacked.

From May 28th 1940 until September 2nd 1944 , Oignies was occupied by Nazis who, on the very first day of their occupation set 380 houses on fire, and shot 80 civilians ( May 28th 1940’s massacre).
During the 20th century, Oignies was twice visited by a Republic President. Georges Clémenceau in 1919, and in 1947, Vincent Auriol inaugurated the mausoleum and declared Oignies “martyred city”.

A fair proportion of the population were actually Polish immigrants (my great-aunt and family included) who became miners due to the lack of Frenchmen after WW1.

A British soldier was also murdered in the town, though his identity is a mystery. One of the Sherwood Foresters' officers buried in the town's cemetery has a surname that I think Ron G would be familiar with, so perhaps he was singled out; that's just idle speculation on my part, it must be said.

One of the main roads in the town is Rue des Quatre-Vingts Fusilles and here's the memorial:
Many thanks for sharing that.

Anymore 1940 incidents against the British Expeditionary Force?

 

As correctly stated on the site linked above, the massacre in Vinkt was committed by a Wehrmacht unit (225. Inf. Div.); a day after that the 267. Inf.Div. shot 114 inhabitants in Oignies and Courrières. It was both their first operation in May 1940. The "Totenkopfdivision" killed about 264 civilians (some of these were however killed "in action").
(Lieb, Konventioneller Krieg, p. 15f.)

 

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CEFALONIA MASSACRE ( September, 1943)
Almost unknown outside of Italy, this event ranks with Katyn as one of the darkest episodes of the war. On the Greek island of Cefalonia, in the Gulf of Corinth, the Italian ‘ACQUI DIVISION' was stationed. Consisting of 11,500 enlisted men and 525 officers it was commanded by 52 year old General Antonio Gandin, a veteran of the Russian Front where he won the German Iron Cross. When the Badoglio government announced on September 8, 1943, that Italian troops should cease hostilities against the Allies, there was much wine and merriment on Cefalonia. However, their German counterparts on the island maintained a stony silence and soon began harassing their Italian comrades, calling them 'traitors'. The German 11th Battalion of Jäger-Regiment 98 of the 1st Gebirgs (Mountain) Division, commanded by Major Harald von Hirschfeld, arrived on the island and soon Stukas were bombing the Italian positions. The fighting soon developed into a wholesale massacre when the Gebirgsjäger troops began shooting their Italian prisoners in groups of four to ten beginning with General Gandin. By the time the shooting ended four hours later, 4,750 Italian soldiers lay dead all over the island. But that was not the end for the Acqui Division, some 4000 survivors were shipped to the mainland for further transportation to Germany for forced labour. In the Ionian Sea a few of the ships hit mines and sank, taking around 3,000 men to their deaths.
The final death toll in this tragic episode was 9,646 men and 390 officers. Major Harald Hirschfeld was later killed by a bomb splinter during the fighting at Duklapass in Warsaw in 1945 after he was promoted to Lieutenant General. General Hubert Lanz, commander of the Gebirgsjäger troops, was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials. He was released in 1951. In the 1950s, the remains of over 3,000 soldiers, including 189 officers, were unearthed and transported back to Italy for proper burial in the Italian War Cemetery at Bari. Unfortunately, the body of General Gandin was never identified. In 2002, the investigation into this massacre was reopened in Germany and ten ex-members of the 1st Gebirgs Division, of the 300 still alive, have been investigated and may be charged. The youngest is 81 and the oldest is now 93. There is no Statute of Limitations for murder


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Join Date: May 2005
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 8,926



CEFALONIA MASSACRE ( September, 1943)
Almost unknown outside of Italy, this event ranks with Katyn as one of the darkest episodes of the war. On the Greek island of Cefalonia, in the Gulf of Corinth, the Italian ‘ACQUI DIVISION' was stationed. Consisting of 11,500 enlisted men and 525 officers it was commanded by 52 year old General Antonio Gandin, a veteran of the Russian Front where he won the German Iron Cross. When the Badoglio government announced on September 8, 1943, that Italian troops should cease hostilities against the Allies, there was much wine and merriment on Cefalonia. However, their German counterparts on the island maintained a stony silence and soon began harassing their Italian comrades, calling them 'traitors'. The German 11th Battalion of Jäger-Regiment 98 of the 1st Gebirgs (Mountain) Division, commanded by Major Harald von Hirschfeld, arrived on the island and soon Stukas were bombing the Italian positions. The fighting soon developed into a wholesale massacre when the Gebirgsjäger troops began shooting their Italian prisoners in groups of four to ten beginning with General Gandin. By the time the shooting ended four hours later, 4,750 Italian soldiers lay dead all over the island. But that was not the end for the Acqui Division, some 4000 survivors were shipped to the mainland for further transportation to Germany for forced labour. In the Ionian Sea a few of the ships hit mines and sank, taking around 3,000 men to their deaths.
The final death toll in this tragic episode was 9,646 men and 390 officers. Major Harald Hirschfeld was later killed by a bomb splinter during the fighting at Duklapass in Warsaw in 1945 after he was promoted to Lieutenant General. General Hubert Lanz, commander of the Gebirgsjäger troops, was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials. He was released in 1951. In the 1950s, the remains of over 3,000 soldiers, including 189 officers, were unearthed and transported back to Italy for proper burial in the Italian War Cemetery at Bari. Unfortunately, the body of General Gandin was never identified. In 2002, the investigation into this massacre was reopened in Germany and ten ex-members of the 1st Gebirgs Division, of the 300 still alive, have been investigated and may be charged. The youngest is 81 and the oldest is now 93. There is no Statute of Limitations for murder


Legendary Member



Join Date: May 2005
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 8,926



CEFALONIA MASSACRE ( September, 1943)
Almost unknown outside of Italy, this event ranks with Katyn as one of the darkest episodes of the war. On the Greek island of Cefalonia, in the Gulf of Corinth, the Italian ‘ACQUI DIVISION' was stationed. Consisting of 11,500 enlisted men and 525 officers it was commanded by 52 year old General Antonio Gandin, a veteran of the Russian Front where he won the German Iron Cross. When the Badoglio government announced on September 8, 1943, that Italian troops should cease hostilities against the Allies, there was much wine and merriment on Cefalonia. However, their German counterparts on the island maintained a stony silence and soon began harassing their Italian comrades, calling them 'traitors'. The German 11th Battalion of Jäger-Regiment 98 of the 1st Gebirgs (Mountain) Division, commanded by Major Harald von Hirschfeld, arrived on the island and soon Stukas were bombing the Italian positions. The fighting soon developed into a wholesale massacre when the Gebirgsjäger troops began shooting their Italian prisoners in groups of four to ten beginning with General Gandin. By the time the shooting ended four hours later, 4,750 Italian soldiers lay dead all over the island. But that was not the end for the Acqui Division, some 4000 survivors were shipped to the mainland for further transportation to Germany for forced labour. In the Ionian Sea a few of the ships hit mines and sank, taking around 3,000 men to their deaths.
The final death toll in this tragic episode was 9,646 men and 390 officers. Major Harald Hirschfeld was later killed by a bomb splinter during the fighting at Duklapass in Warsaw in 1945 after he was promoted to Lieutenant General. General Hubert Lanz, commander of the Gebirgsjäger troops, was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials. He was released in 1951. In the 1950s, the remains of over 3,000 soldiers, including 189 officers, were unearthed and transported back to Italy for proper burial in the Italian War Cemetery at Bari. Unfortunately, the body of General Gandin was never identified. In 2002, the investigation into this massacre was reopened in Germany and ten ex-members of the 1st Gebirgs Division, of the 300 still alive, have been investigated and may be charged. The youngest is 81 and the oldest is now 93. There is no Statute of Limitations for murder

 

above story, Dr I work with here at the hospital, his dad was one of the survivors of this

 

Thought I'd add a link and a brief outline of what happened after stumbling on a brief mention of the incident in another war crime file thanks to Brian (ADM199).


In the early morning of 28th May 1940, or thereabouts, Corporal Bell and the murdered men were surprised while in a barn belonging to deserted farmhouse just inside the Forest of Nieppe where they had taken shelter for the night having become isolated during the previous day's fighting.


They were paraded in single file, Corporal Bell being near the middle. They were then marched for a short distance further into the forest when they were shot by the officer and members of the guard with the exception of Corporal Bell, who threw himself down anticipating the firing by a moment of time.

Me and Rob (Ramacal) visited the area in January and photographed the graves and the what we think was the site of the murder in the forest. Click the link below for further details.

British Soldiers Murdered at Forêt de Nieppe

 

Oradour-sur-Glane 10 June 1944

I remember Oradour from a family holiday to France, back in the mid-1970s. I was 14 or so at the time - too young to be able to take in the full awfulness of what had happened, but certainly old enough to understand the facts.

We visited the site of the massacre, but my lasting memory of Oradour is of the subdued and sombre atmosphere that pervaded the village. The shadow of this terrible atrocity still loomed large, and (not surprisingly, I suppose) the shockwaves of 30 years earlier had not died down.

 

Large files:

Malmedy Hearings US Senate - Volume I 1949





Malmedy Hearings US Senate - Volume II 1949



Malmedy REPORT US Senate - 1949

 

Has anybody came across a some kind of register with all the SS and Wehrmacht units involved in war crimes during the war?
I got that idea after I watched BBC's Panorama about some re-enactment event in UK. They estimated that around 90% of re-enactors there were in SS or Wehrmacht uniforms. I asked myself a question if these guys ever checked if they actually dress themselves as criminals and murderers. So, I realized it could be useful to have a register of all units, the crimes they comitted, places, dates, etc.
Anybody interested?

 

Germans, not such bad blokes?

Hi, not sure if this is the correct thread to put in my twopenth, but here goes.

I took my grandson to a re-enactment display at Spetchley Gardens last week end and we had a great time watching the medieval crafts men, the Napoleonic and the English and American Civil War demos.

I took him round the WW2 displays and ended up looking at a group of German WW2 re-enactors -and then I think I just lost it!

But why, I ask myself, after all I spent 18 years in Germany and many of my friends married German lasses. However, when a person at least 15 years younger than me dressed in an SS uniform tells me that not all Germans were bad blokes. Perhaps it's because I've read too much of the victors propaganda, or maybe my father and uncles who were in the WW2 RAF, told me lies about what they went through, or maybe what I found out in my research into grandfather withdrawing to St Valery and subsequent capture has polluted my understanding of a former great nation who rose to power on the back of murder, torture, anti semitism and just being plain bad bastards.

Maybe there wer some who were not bad blokes, but not enough of them, not enough.

 

Maybe there wer some who were not bad blokes, but not enough of them, not enough.

John:

As a quick read will show you, this is a controversial thread about a delicate and very unpleasant subject. Easy generalizations about it are tempting, but dangerous.

I would put it this way: while troops of all armies committed atrocities, atrocity was inherent in the Nazi system, and also in the military-imperial ideology of the Japanese. These systems did not guarantee that individual soldiers would commit atrocities, but they made it much more likely and they guaranteed that soldiers who committed them would not be punished.

A great many German servicemen were "just soldiers obeying orders." They fought hard, as all normally patriotic men do in wartime, but they did not always or often kill or abuse civilians, Jews, POWs, etc. However, when such men were ordered to commit atrocities they usually obeyed. This was often due to the disciplined obedience you find in every army, as well as the fear of punishment for disobedience. (If you doubt that, check similar cases in other armies, including those of the Allies.) Many of these men were indeed decent; some were sincere Christians, and a fair number suffered from bad consciences.

However, a large number of German troops enjoyed committing such crimes and often did so casually, without or even against orders. This was due to German nationalism and racialism generally, and Nazism specifically. The sadism that lurks beneath the surface in most men also played a part, and Nazism deliberately tapped into this. The SS were the worst offenders (naturally so, given their high level of ideological commitment), but the Heer, Luftwaffe, and Kriegsmarine were also highly Nazified and became more so as the war went on.

Yet I would caution all not to condemn "the Germans" en bloc. There are far too many cases of German resistance (both active and passive) to Nazism and atrocity to justify such wholesale racial condemnation--which was, in any case, a Nazi tactic. You can find such examples at every level of the German armed forces, from general down to private soldier. Many of these noble men and women (including SS camp guards) are remembered by the Jews in Yad Vashem's Garden of the Righteous. I often think of Captain Hermann Boettcher, a German political refugee who won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery in the Pacific. I have some German blood myself, and I am not ashamed of it.

Fascism, let us remember, was a world-wide political disease, like Communism. The Germans suffered worst from it, but Britain had William Joyce and we had Lindbergh. Who knows what we would have become if those men had triumphed.

 

This recent release, although from an academic viewpoint, makes for interesting reading.

Soldaten: On Fighting, Killing and Dying: The Secret Second World War Tapes of German PoWs

 

The trouble with trying to come to terms with the atrocities and murders, is the scale of it all. Hundreds of killings and atrocities. And a huge number of Concentration camps around Germany Poland and elsewhere around Europe..
It is fair to say that we got with the ordinary German soldier. Better than our ally the French...Orador being the sort of atrocity that can never be foregiven.

Sometimes I read abut the British committing atrocities...That may be so.But in all honestyI never witnesseda single act..Nor did I ever hear of one.....

That does not imclude the heat of battle, where we were doing our best to kill. Even then the taking of another mans life is best not remembered or recalled.

For life is a precious gift. a great priviledge.... given only once. To take that is a monstrous acr..But sadly has to be in war time, where it is fight or die