The Battle and Massacre of Wormhout - 28th May 1940

Are you going to 'do' the Norfolks at Le Paradis next year ?

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I'm struggling to find the bigger picture in enough detail to photograph it. I've got two books and some files on it but what I've read so far isn't very revealing from a photographic point of view. I think I'll get Pooley's book and see if that adds anymore detail.

I started to look at this last year and fell at one of the first hurdles trying to find out where the SS crossed the canal and got slaughtered-I even joined Herr based forum and they couldn't help so I stopped looking and focused on Wormhout.

I'm thinking of doing Cassel and Hondeghem next unless someone has another suggestion?

Cheers
Andy

 

Excellent thread, Andy. Interesting to see the detailed German movements. Just curious to see if you came across any reference at all to the actual morale of the LSSAH troops at this point (I'm asking because I've recently been repeatedly stumbling over accounts of SS-T soldiers elsewhere being in a state of (seemingly) near panic at around this time - something I didn't really expect to see).

dave

 

Cheers Dave, I like to think I did the poor b***ards justice and that if anything they gave the SS a dam good bloody nose at Wormhout.

Ref LSSAH I've come across similiar in books and statements taken by members of Lt. Col. Scotlands team that after Poland they weren't too happy with the fact the battles weren't going their way, I can only put this down to better opposition. They appear to on the wrong end of Wehrmacht p**s taking too. I know quite a few Herr staff officers were sniggering and laughing at Dietrich when he finally turned up at his gaffers HQ covered in mud and pig s**t, even his boss (I think it was Guderian) made comment in his diary about his appearance. I don't think that the fact he was 'rescued' by the Wehrmacht after his SS failed to save him helped.

As for the battle at Wormhout with the loss of Dietrich and 2nd Bn's CO - Schutzek, who from what I can gather was quite liked and respected by his men, moral dropped and with no command and control the 2nd Battalions attacks floundered to the point where the SS were retreating and or digging in rather than advancing. To my mind from what I've read, they never really seemed to have any tactics as such in 1940, when attacking enemy positions-they just seem to advance in numbers and were made light work of by MG's at Paradis and Wormhout.

Kate would be a better person to talk to about the SS though regarding fighting ability and moral etc.

 

Andy, at my age I not sure if I have the right to be hateful towards these murderers, but I am and I hope hell gives them what they deserve. I was born and raised in Warwickshire and knew of this massacre at quite an early age having been told about it and given a book on it. I have also visited the barn and area and the cemetery, God rest therm.

 

An absolutely incredible and detailed account. I knew of the massacre but certainly didn't know of it in the detail you have described. Many thanks for all the hard work.

 

ANDY
As you know, I’ve just come back from France and although very close to Esquelbecq and Wormhout I deliberately avoided going there for two reasons, firstly the time available would not have enabled me to do real justice and secondly I’m not certain that a short visit would have been emotionally possible. They are, I believe, places that deserve a proper amount of time, not to be rushed. I did however visit Cassel or rather drive through rattling my teeth as we went over the cobbles. The stop there was very short as we had unwittingly chosen market day. Having read your post and I’ll probably be in trouble for saying this but it deserves a wider circulation than the forum. Have you considered sending a copy to a publisher or even one of the television documentary history programmes? Your research and the quality of your writing deserve that wider audience. My comments in no way reduce the forum’s value but there are undoubtedly many non-forum members who will find your work fascinating, moving, an epitaph to the brave and a condemnation of those who acted in such an illegal and cowardly way. Who knows, a more public airing of a well researched and well written piece might even bring some new members into the forum.

John Mallard.

 

BBC Documentary on the Massacre of Wormhout 1994

As British soldiers retreated from the Belgian border to Dunkirk, some had the misfortune to be captured in battle at Wormhoudt by the notorious Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler regiment. Over 80 were marched to a barn in the French countryside where they were massacred, reportedly under the orders of SS officer Wilhelm Mohnke. In this programme, veterans and witnesses share their unique stories of survival as reporter Penny Roberts visits the scene.


Quite amazing actually seeing the people being interviewed that I wrote about. Makes it all the more worthwhile.

Andy

 

The Battle and Massacre of Wormhout - 28th May 1940

 

BBC Wales remembers the Gunners.

 

I totally agree with Mallard..

Andy your information on this really does deserve a bigger audience. Not only that, this forum deserves some recognition too.

My dad served with the Royal Warwicks and would have been with the 2nd Battalion during this time. I knew very little about him until i just happened upon this site!!..
I for one am really glad i did.
Andy has helped loads with the info that i needed. Just reading the post and write up on Wormhoudt taught me loads.
The guidance he gave me to read in the right direction helped immensely too. Without him and his knowledge i would still be 'in the dark' about my dad and his regiment.
The rest of the crew who have helped me out too are fantastic. Nothing is too much trouble and even though i'm a tad basic at times, it doesn't phase them .
Just think... I may have missed this place and the people in it, if i hadn't searched well enough.. There are plenty out there like me..

Lets have more recognition for the ole place ;o)...

Thanks guys.. And fair play to you Andy for doing this. It's very much appreciated.

Rachel ;o)

 

Andy, A fine post my friend. As a family, we stopped off at Wormhoudt and Esquelbecq two years ago. I personally would recommend a visit to the barn to anyone and everyone who has a smidgeon of interest in World War Two. It is a place I first heard of whilst reading my first book on Dunkirk some seven years ago. Even my wife and daughter who dont usually share my enthusiam were moved by what they saw there and neither were aware of the massacre before we went. Later that same day we were at the Menin Gate where we all said loudly "We will remember them".

Interestingly, it was only whilst there I bacame aware of the involvement in the massacre of a French Soldier who was rounded up with the British. He is buried at the CWGC Cemetery at Esquelbecq - he too needs remembering.

and finally.... when I went to Wormhoudt, a friend of mine asked me to take a photo of one of the First World War graves in the cemetery. It belongs to a soldier called Philips, who was shot at dawn. Sad - very sad.

Andy, a fellow Loiner, my hat is doffed to you for this remarkable posting.

 

My first post (they may be more) I have gone through this entire thread, I knew something about it. However this account was very good and an update for me.
Are members of this forum aware that there are certain people who dress up and play act these disgusting characters that commited this outrageous act ?

 

Deleted

 

Thought I would remind members that this started 71 Years ago today as did the Massacre at Paradis. Two of the worst war crimes against British Forces in Europe during WW2.

 

What an excellent but also breath-taking account, Drew! First rate.

SS Leibstandarte and SS Der Führer regiments were active in the Netherlands just weeks before this event occurred. SS Leibstandarte, 15./SSLAH in particular, saw some action in Holland too, but performed quite poorly. On the first day they were the only German outfit (SSLAH) that totally missed out on opportunities when the German 10.AK was aiming for a quick overrun of the Dutch IJssel-line (roughly between the cities of Arnhem and Kampen, behind the river IJssel). The SSLAH, with the Wünsche company as a storm troop ahead, wasn't able to gain any of the crossing points and even managed to miscalculate an opportunity so that the bulk of the regiment was wrongly directed on the first day. Eager to perform, Sepp Dietrich grew most frustrated over this first failed effort in the Netherlands campaign. In the two days after the regiment only found itself engaged in some skirmishes with Dutch (traditional) cavalry and light AFV's, during which most contacts were brief and not at all distinguishable to still the hunger of the SSLAH. On the third day the regiment was directed back in order to make a front swithc to the south of the Netherlands, where it was attached to 39.AK (by then comprising 9.PD, 254.ID and the remnants of the 7th Air Corps). It caused a lull in the SSLAH action. On the 13th one or two elms of the regiment fought a brief battle at the bridge of Keizersveer (Geertruidenberg), but saw it detonate in front of the point formations. Only on the 14th SSLAH saw some mild action again, when it was point formation for one column of the 9th Panzer Division crossing burning Rotterdam in the general direction of the Hague. Obviously, the Dutch capitulation intervened before any serious action could be picked up again. It must have been quite frustrating to Sepp Dietrich and his gung-ho pose.

SS Der Führer, also attached to 10.AK as a stormtroop to the 207.ID, saw plenty of action though. It got its baptism of fire at the old fortress Westervoort (near Arnhem), that formed the most southern defensive point of the Dutch IJsselline and more particular, the entrance of the Grebbeline approach in the sector Wageningen-Rhenen (known as the Grebbeberg defence). After the Dutch had managed to destroy the bridges in time, the SS was ordered to force a maritime crossing and did so, suffering quite considerable losses but gaining a small bridgehead around 1000 hrs (10 May 1940). Next the balance of the first battalion was quickly shuttled across by rafts and other devices, after which the 15./SSDF managed to enter (undefended) Arnhem before noon. To make a long story short, SS Der Führer reached Wageningen in the evening of the 10th. Opposite that small city lay the Grebbeberg, the southern extremity of the main Dutch defence-line in the heart of the country. The sector was defended by an infantry division that could rely on a mere 60 arty pieces and a well entrenched defence of 1 km depth.

On the 11th the SSDF started the offensive against the Grebbeline with a 2-1 formation. The Dutch forward defences, basically containing less than one battalion of poorly supported infantry, would be defeated in a two-stage effort, whereas the SS applied massive war-crimes to gain the upper hand. Numerous accounts of plain execution of surrendered trench crews occured, as well as the old abuse of POW's to pull light guns towards their own standing defences. More Dutch were killed after their surrender then before, during the actual defence of their positions.

Although the next days of the battle for the Grebbeberg would see more SS war crimes, only few are truly documented. One particular is still in research today, but a recently disclosed account of a veteran has enlightened much of the details. A troop of a mortar company had been caught by the SS on the 13th, including at least nine men and an officer. They were forced out of a house, when a German officer came down and accused them of firing on a German medical transport. It mattered little to the SS men that the men were totally unarmed. A senior NCO from another outfit, also caught in one of the houses was simply pushed on the street, shot in the back and got the 'coupe-de-grace' by the German officer. Next the other ten were mowed down on the spot. One survived though, and lived to tell. His stories faded away in the aft-war dis-interest of the events that related to a lost battle. His story was however not lost entirely and popped up years later in a paper-interview about the three-days' battle of the Grebbeberg. Nontheless, one source is no source, and as such the event remained open for interpretation. Recently though, our foundation (best known from Welcome [War over Holland - May 1940: the Dutch struggle]) have found another eye-witness to the events, that served as a stretcher aid to SS medics. He more or less confirmed all 'juicy' details of the event that the first source had revealed, although he could add the NCO detail and a time table. The likelyness of contaminated sources is quite low and therefore we have found this new issue of straight out crimes. A third event even included about 30 men, a full platoon, that was found killed in an orchyard, with remarkably identical wounds in back and head. Since not a single eye-witness is known, it is still marked as a probable war-crime, but it certainly bears the signature of a straight out execution by the SS all over it. Though, without eye witness accounts, it should always be filed as a probable, we feel.

Estimates are that around 60-80 Dutch military were killed from SSDF crimes during the battle of the Grebbeberg (11-13 May 1940). Although to some extent it is appreciated that storm-troops, also out of a tactical concept, may be less keen on taking prisoners, most of the crimes were not committed in action but shortly after or during battle-pauses. The signature of revenge is born on quite a few of the events, like the annihilation of two squad trenches (after serious SS loses in the battle before) and the murder of about ten mortar men shortly after an SS battalion commander and his badly shaken up party - encircled by Dutch defenders - had been freed by fellow SS men, who witnessed their BC being badly wounded and so many of their comrades KIA.

It must be said that the regular Heer behaviour during the brief campaign in the Netherlands had been by the book and the rules, one or two incidents put aside (also on the Dutch side!). The SS though, proved that once the battle stress rose, their tendency to bend the rules or plainly break them, was more than average. If war-crimes occur of the magnitude committed during the Battle of the Grebbeberg, or the events at Le Paradis and Wormhoudt, one is tempted to conclude that the SS apparently tended to cross the lines far more rapidly than the regular German army. On the other hand, it has to be said, that particularly in the Netherlands, the SS had been tasked with the hardest of missions and goals. And it is quite well known that the intense battle-stress tends to blind-fold even regular soldiers, who were not washed in the ideologic bath the average Waffen-SS soldier of the first generation got. Moreover, the accounts of fair battle by Waffen SS members in the Dutch campaign are plenty. I think it is fair to say that on the larger scale it were incidents, however of serious and dramatic character and, as said before, with a hint to the future, showing that the temptation to commit war-crimes by core SS units seemed to be evident.

 

British Prisoners of War (Wormhoudt) (Hansard, 28 June 1988)

 

Since this Thread is more concerned with the massacre than the battle thought you might be interested in the stories of two of the Cheshire Regiment survivors of the massacre. Both soldiers have been mentioned on the sister thread but here is their full written story:
Pte Humphreys.
Pte Joseph Humphreys got in touch with Regimental H.Q. of the Cheshire Regiment to say that he had been present at the massacre at Wormhoudt. Humphreys was transferred to the 22nd from the Manchester Regiment in November of 1939, and in January of 1990 he told his story 'in a calm and concise way, without exaggeration but with obvious emotion to an officer of the Regiment.

The withdrawal continued to Dunkirk where Pte Humphreys' section spent a few days resting before being ordered into the town itself. They had hoped to be evacuated from Dunkirk but this was not to be the case. As they reached a water trough in the centre of the town, the platoon commander, Lt Glasspool, received orders that they were to go back to fight a rear-guard action.

The Company moved back from Dunkirk and established themselves at Wormhoudt on the 27th May Lt Glasspool sited the gun positions and told Pte Humphreys' section to dig in at the base of a hedge in an open field facing out towards the supposed enemy positions. They began digging but on the suggestion of Pte Stubbs, who was an experienced regular soldier, moved their gun pit to the far side of the hedge where they had a much better position. By dusk they had dug in and camouflaged the position. They settled down to await the arrival of the enemy.

All was quiet until the following morning at dawn when the Germans opened an attack with some heavy mortar fire. Pte Humphreys' section could see numbers of Germans in the distance, moving around with civilians whom he took to be the fifth columnists they had all been warned about. The last order the section had received from Lt Glasspool was to stand and fight to the "last man, last round".

( Lt Glasspool then obviously went off to see to other positions and was never seen again).

Sgt Weston, the Section Commander, decided that they were being surrounded and the position was becoming untenable. He ordered the men to disable or destroy their guns as best they could and withdraw. The gun firing mechanisms were removed and the section withdrew, using the ditch at the base of the hedge as cover.

The little group worked their way up the ditch and quickly became mixed up with both Cheshires and other troops who were all withdrawing under fire. The enemy maintained a heavy fire. It was a desperate situation and inevitably they were surrounded and outnumbered and forced to surrender. The Germans disarmed and searched them but did not take their possessions.

The prisoners were marched back to the edge of Wormhoudt where they were shut into a brick cow shed. There followed a speech from a German officer which included the usual 'for you the war is over, if you behave you will be treated well'. Eventually about 40 men gathered in the cow shed where they had a brief rest.

The group was then taken out of the cow shed at gunpoint and marched across a ploughed field. Some of the German soldiers told the prisoners "not to worry" as they were going to a prison camp and had nothing to fear. After the brief march across the field, the prisoners were herded into a small wooden and corrugated iron barn or shed in the field. They had not been in the barn for more than a few moments when the enemy called for five men to come out. Five men went out and were lined up by the Germans and shot dead. There was consternation inside the little barn. Another five were called for Humphreys could not remember whether it was 5 or 3 men who went) and were also lined up and shot. A third 5 were called out and shot dead. No one moved when the next 5 were called. The enemy shooting party were obviously infuriated by this refusal to obey orders. They fanned out around the barn and those near the door threw in stick grenades. When the grenades went off the Germans began firing into the shed through the openings and through the wooden and tin sides of the shed.

Those inside dived to the ground and attempted to protect themselves as best they could. People huddled together in the centre of the barn. The noise inside was terrible - mingled with the detonation of grenades and the gunfire were the cries of agony of the wounded, the curses of those who were still defiant and the prayers of those who expected to die Humphreys says he remembers all those round him saying the Lord's Prayer over and over again. The firing continued for some time and Humphreys found himself in the centre of the barn under a pile of his dead and wounded comrades. He lay still, face down, under the bodies for some time after the firing had stopped and does not know whether any Germans subsequently re-entered the barn.

At this point he realised that he had sustained shrapnel wounds in the left leg.

After a while Humphreys climbed out from under the bodies because he could hear Tug Wilson, one of his section, crying out for help. He couldn't see where Wilson was and found himself with two other men who got up next to him. They were Londoners but he was not sure which Regiment they were from. The three men found an opening in the tin wall of the barn and crawled out. There was no one there and the three decided to get away and try to get some help for those who were still alive. They got into a ditch next to the barn. The ditch was full of water and heavily overgrown with brambles. The three men crawled away from the barn for about 300 yards and stopped to take stock of the situation. On looking out over the edge of the ditch they could see a farmhouse a short distance away across the fields. The two Londoners were all for going across to the house for help and argued that it seemed to be all clear. Pte Humphreys did not agree and after a brief discussion the Londoners left the ditch whilst Humphreys remained in cover. They set off at a trot across the fields towards the house and had not gone far when they were cut down by bursts of automatic fire. Two German soldiers appeared from the direction of the farmhouse and came towards the two dead Londoners. Pte Humphreys, on seeing their approach, wormed his way deep into the brambles in the ditch and lay perfectly still.

The two Germans inspected the ditch after checking the two bodies but did not discover Humphreys.Humphreys remained motionless in the ditch and soon lost consciousness. When he came to he had rolled into the bottom of the ditch and was almost totally submerged in muddy water. It was now dark and he decided to try to get away and rejoin the retreating British forces. He crawled up the ditch until he came to a road, crossed the road and took cover in a field on the far side. In the distance he could see the lights of a town (which turned out to be Cassel). He made off towards the lights hoping to find someone to help those who were wounded and still lying in the barn.

At dawn he realized that he must have spent most of the night unconscious in the ditch. He travelled cautiously throughout the next day going across country and making best use of cover. He did not see any Germans all day. He finally arrived at Cassel where he noticed a tank on a street corner on the outskirts. Not being able to make out what sort of tank it was (and therefore whether it was German or British) he skirted round the town and approached it from the other side where he found British soldiers who turned out to be Cheshires.

He was taken to the unit's Company Commander (he thinks it was probably A Company) and after a brief interview was sent with a sergeant as a guide to see the Brigadier. He explained what had happened in the barn and how he had got away but the Brigadier said that they were withdrawing that evening and there was nothing that they could do to help. Pte Humphreys remembers him saying: "You're very lucky but I'm sorry, we're moving out at midnight". Pte Humphreys went back to the Cheshire Company where he was fed and given a rifle and a steel helmet. He moved off that evening with the Company. There were a number of stragglers from other units attached to it. The following day they came under another heavy attack and after a brief fight were ordered to split up into small groups and make for Dunkirk. The situation soon became confused with small groups of soldiers heading in all directions to get away as best they could.

Humphreys and a group of about eight Cheshires hid in a small Nissen hut. A Frenchman came into the hut and said that he would go and find them some food, but they did not trust him, so they moved off straight away into a nearby high sided lane. Shortly after scrabbling into the lane they were surrounded by a squad of Germans using motorbike and sidecar combinations and forced to surrender.

The group was taken to a nearby field where there were a number of Bren Gun carriers being driven around by laughing Germans who were thoroughly enjoying themselves. They were put into the back of a truck and driven to a nearby town. The following day the prisoners were loaded into another truck and driven off. After a while the truck-load encountered a huge column of prisoners. The group was taken off the truck and fallen in with the column. After some three weeks of marching and truck journeys Pte Humphreys arrived at STALAG 8 in Lamsdorf where he spent most of the rest of the war.

Pvt Harbour

The following was written by Pte F. Harbour (died 1954) in a letter he wrote to the investigating committee of the War Crime.
'On the 28th May 1940 I was travelling in a 30 cwt truck which was driven by Sgt Thompson, with 19 other soldiers when we were ambushed. Tanks cut us off from both sides of the road. They set the truck on fire, only two of us survived intact, the others including Ptes McKenzie and Williams were burnt to death. The driver was badly wounded. He with about eight others were placed in front of the cowshed into which I was placed. I found between fifty and sixty other British inside. A German officer and SS troops arrived shortly after. He came to the shed and said (in English) are you ready, after which he ordered his troops to fire on us. They used tommy guns and stick bombs. When they ceased firing, all who were left alive were ordered to come out in batches of 5 only. On emerging, after marching seven paces they were fired on and shot in the back. The Germans used Tommy Guns which were used from a position near the door out of which our men had come. One batch stopped and lit cigarettes before going forward, knowing it would be their last.

I was going out with a batch but was pulled back as I made six. On getting back a Gunner said, we are not going out without a fight, when they called for the next batch nobody would move. The Germans then started spraying us with Tommy guns and throwing Stick bombs in. They then left us all for dead. On May 31st two German A.A. gunners found us by accident, they reported having found us and shortly after the German Red Cross took care of us. They first of all asked us where our arms were and when we told them what had happened to us they said that is the SS they are not our sort. I must say that we got fair treatment from the German Red Cross'.

In a supplementary note, written on the 23rd June 1944, Harbour adds:-

'Privates McKenzie and Williams were burnt to death in the truck that was driven by Sgt Thompson of my Regiment (D6 lorry of D Company). They were my friends previous to being taken by the Germans. Pte Daley1 [R Warwicks] 'and Sgt Thompson were the only other survivors. Sgt. Thompson was badly wounded in the leg when the Germans fired on the truck. Daley and I pulled him out and dressed his wounds, as best we could. The Germans then came and told us to carry him across a field to the barn. On arrival we found about 70 other British, mostly of Daley's Regiment' [ Royal Warwicks]. 'Sgt Thompson was killed when the Germans fired on us'.

In a further note, written in August of 1944, Pte Harbour listed a further survivor Pte J Robinson.

Note - Humphreys was in 13 Platoon, as were Harbour (ex reservist with Lincoln Regiment) and Lance Sargeant Thompson (ex-reservist with Green Howards). Pte Robinson was in 15 Platoon (possibly South Section on Cassel Road)
McKenzie and Williams have never been identified.


PS I have never seen Pte Wilson mentioned as a barn victim.

 

Thanks for this marvellous detailed account. I am doing my family tree and was researching my wife's uncle Stanley Moore. I new he was killed in the war but not exactly how. This has filled in a lot of gaps.
Well done.

Brumbrum

 

who was the ss officer in charge of this criminal act

 

who was the ss officer in charge of this criminal act

I take it you never read all of the first 29 posts then?