Execution of Nazi Commander who massacred 97 British Soldiers - Fritz Knöchlein

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  • Опубліковано 16 вер 2024
  • Fritz Knöchlein was born on 27 May 1911 in Munich, then part of the German Empire. On 30 January 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by President Paul von Hindenburg. The Second World War started on 1 September 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. During the invasion, Knöchlein led a unit of the SS-Standarte "Upper Bavaria," and after the Polish campaign, he took command of the 3rd Company in the 2nd Motorized SS Regiment, which was part of the 3rd SS Panzer Division "Totenkopf." The SS Division Totenkopf, also known as the Death's Head Division, was an elite unit of the Waffen-SS, the military branch of the SS. This division was strongly indoctrinated with Nazi Party ideology by its commander, Theodor Eicke. The German invasion of France through the Low Countries began on 10 May 1940, and one of the participating forces was the SS unit commanded by Fritz Knöchlein. The Battle of France was the SS Division Totenkopf's first major engagement of the Second World War, during which the Totenkopf soldiers fought fiercely throughout the campaign, suffering higher death rates than other German forces.
    Battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment and the 8th Lancashire Fusiliers, who were tasked with defending the French villages of Riez du Vinage, Le Cornet Malo, and Le Paradis. On 27 May, the Totenkopf troops, including Knöchlein’s 3rd Company, attacked the British at Le Cornet Malo, resulting in the deaths of 150 men from both sides.
    Meanwhile, the Norfolks had set up their headquarters at a farmhouse just outside Le Paradis. The company commanders had been informed by radio that their units were isolated and would receive no assistance. During the battle, the Germans under Knöchlein's command attacked the farmhouse with mortars, tanks, and artillery shelling, which destroyed the building and forced the defenders to relocate to a cowshed.
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 85

  • @davidcorbett62
    @davidcorbett62 Місяць тому +54

    My father fought as part of the BEF with the Royal Ulster Rifles. They fought the SS at a river crossing and beat them back but my father did say they were tough soldiers. He eventually got away via Dunkirk but returned on D Day and fought tight through France until he took part in the Crossing of the Rhine

    • @joemdee
      @joemdee Місяць тому +7

      All brave men. My mate’s father was also in Dunkirk and back on D Day with the Royal Ulster Rifles.

    • @honeybadger6313
      @honeybadger6313 27 днів тому +2

      Also an identical massacre at Wormhoute

    • @chazboyle9456
      @chazboyle9456 23 дні тому +3

      my dad and was in the RN seen some action but survived like your dad

  • @ashrakus
    @ashrakus 2 місяці тому +20

    Crazy guy, crazy period! This was madness. Thank you World History for great documentary.

    • @2155raulito
      @2155raulito 16 днів тому

      Crazy guy? Nazis were bloody fanatics none crazy amongst them.

    • @1960caroline
      @1960caroline 16 днів тому

      Crazy guy? Don't you mean EVIL!!!

  • @aliwhitwell
    @aliwhitwell 26 днів тому +19

    My wife's grandfather John Martin aged 36 was Regimental Sergeant Major in the Royal Scots. He was killed on 27 May 1940 defending the left flank of Le Paradis where he is buried in the local cemetery alongside those 97 of the Norfolk Regiment who were murdered by the SS. He was mentioned by Major J. Bruce of the Royal Scots in his report as having contributed great assistance and behaved with distinction during the fighting. We have visited the cemetery twice and the place where the 97 Norfolk Regiment soldiers were murdered. There is an excellent book detailing the massacre called " The Vengeance of Private Pooley". Well worth a read.

    • @GilbertdeClare0704
      @GilbertdeClare0704 21 день тому +6

      It has always touched me deeply, that every year at Arnistice Day, the relatives of a Private Fred Bradley of the Norfolk Regiment, still leave a small placard remembering him, on the War Memorial in front of the Norwich City Hall. "Always Remembered"

  • @renee1961
    @renee1961 2 місяці тому +22

    Good afternoon, World History. I hope you're doing well. Thank You, as ALWAYS, for your Very Important, Informative, and Excellent videos. My Absolute Favorite History Channel!🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

  • @honeybadger6313
    @honeybadger6313 27 днів тому +13

    Inters
    Tingly I was reading a book called Dunkirk about the retreat and rearguard. In Wormhout where the Royal Norfolks were captured the same thing happened
    . A German SS soldier was ordered to take part and he and a comrade refused point blank. He could not prevent it but it bothered him so badly that when he was captured by the British he immediately asked to see an officer and told his story so he probably was one of those who testified.

    • @liverpoolscottish6430
      @liverpoolscottish6430 20 днів тому +2

      Wormhout massacre involved the Royal Warwickshire Regt- not the Norfolks.

    • @honeybadger6313
      @honeybadger6313 18 днів тому +3

      @@liverpoolscottish6430 yes your right my mistake

  • @mnpo8987
    @mnpo8987 21 день тому +17

    An ss commander complaining about how he's being treated as a prisoner...oh, the irony.

    • @hansgruber650
      @hansgruber650 4 дні тому

      Did his captors sign the articles of the Geneva Convention? If so he should not have to ask to be treated accordingly.

  • @paulbeesley8283
    @paulbeesley8283 2 місяці тому +32

    12:55 "....the English hangman Ted Roper."
    A case of nominative predetermination there.

    • @sampsonroofing7377
      @sampsonroofing7377 28 днів тому +2

      We have heard much about the inept American hangman, Sergeant Woods.

    • @kylemendoza8860
      @kylemendoza8860 14 днів тому

      If the case of truth being stranger than fiction. 😅😅

  • @fasthracing
    @fasthracing 26 днів тому +6

    Film footage bears little resemblance to the story line.

  • @jonathannixon8652
    @jonathannixon8652 2 місяці тому +9

    11:43 He was 37,I'm 44 and and look 20s . I find it interesting how so don't age while others look way older than their official age.

    • @lesgriffiths8523
      @lesgriffiths8523 Місяць тому +3

      Perhaps his long combat history might have been a factor.
      Les Griffiths

  • @geraldnesbitt2123
    @geraldnesbitt2123 29 днів тому +9

    My uncle Jim Knight was captured at Dunkirk sent to a POW camp The Nazis wanted to send him to a coal mine He refused and was tortured physically and mentally After his release came back to Ireland He had a very special medal for bravery too young to recall what one but when I asked he said I ran faster than the Germans

  • @angelabushby1891
    @angelabushby1891 27 днів тому +6

    That survivor has just recently died

  • @Eric-the-Bold
    @Eric-the-Bold 29 днів тому +6

    A lucky Escape .My Irish father in law Edward ,came over to the UK and joined up, with his mates . He was posted to France in Febuary 1940, as part of the Royal Engineers,General Construction Company building an airstrip at Grévillers. 10th May bombed, then three companies were off to Boulogne on 17th May. 21st May Two officers plus ten OR`s [Edward] plus two lorries were sent off North to obtain trenching materials. Nb did they think it was WW1? Later they made their way via Le Paradis, and were told to leave Hazebrouck, as they were not front line troops , and make there way to Dunkirk, they joined up with other RE`s 26th May 1940, Not making trenches the Tanks were on there way? No transport was available until 1300 hours, when they embarked in a small drifter (small fishing boat) . Edward back to France 17th July 1944,

  • @sanjosemike3137
    @sanjosemike3137 Місяць тому +6

    I have not heard any stories or charges of German officers being "tortured" in confinement at any English prisons after the War. Maybe it happened in "isolated" circumstances, but I have never heard it. In Russia, German prisoners were treated very badly. Not always because they were being "tortured" but mainly because there was no food to feed them. But there wasn't much food for Russian civilians after the war either.
    I think it is possible he was lying about the torture. Even as he explained it, it was NOTHING compared to the concentration camps who murdered millions, including enemy combatants. Ultimately, he was FIGHTING for a very, very criminal Reich. If the Allies also committed atrocities (and likely they did), they were isolated occurrences and were NOT combat policy.
    The American hangman who hung the prisoners of the war-crimes trials was not expert and botched them. So some things happened that were not always according to the rules of war.
    Correct me if you think I am wrong.
    Sanjosemike (no longer in CA)

    • @stevebarlow3154
      @stevebarlow3154 Місяць тому +5

      @sanjosemike3137 I think it very unlikely that Knochlein was tortured. He was sent to an English country house that was deliberately made comfortable and relaxed in order that senior German officers would talk freely. Every room and virtually every tree in the garden was bugged and listened in to by a large number of German speakers (mainly Jews escaped from the Nazis) in the basement of the country house!
      There was a rogue senior MI5 (Security Service) officer who set up a secret interrogation centre where German prisoners were treated roughly. His activities were discovered and he was thrown out of MI5 and the interrogation centre closed down. I don't know if he was prosecuted for his illegal activities.

    • @waynec9444
      @waynec9444 25 днів тому

      @@stevebarlow3154 You have seen too many movies.

    • @stevebarlow3154
      @stevebarlow3154 25 днів тому +2

      @@waynec9444 Do a bit of research, both those stories are true. I'm not sure if either have featured in a film, but both have been mentioned more than once in TV documentaries.Both are also mentioned in the book 'British Interrogation techniques the Second World War' by Sophie Jackson.

  • @hans-1940
    @hans-1940 10 днів тому +1

    Well, this isn't the whole story. In his book, Herbert Brunnegger describes the fighting that preceded the massacre. The Royal Norfolk and the Royal Scots Regiment probably used a fighting style that was not exactly the fine English way.
    1. An English pilot flew a reconnaissance aircraft with a German national insignia over the German positions several times a day and directed the English artillery.
    2. English riflemen shoot from the roofs of the place we attacked and cause considerable casualties.
    The wounded lie behind their weapons with terrible wounds.
    When we try to care for the wounded, we find that they have small bullet holes going into their bodies and hand-sized wounds coming out of their bodies. Due to the use of dumdum bullets, which are banned under international law, the wounded were usually unable to be saved. They bled to death under our hands.
    3. When a group advances through a small forest, they penetrate an enemy position. The English surrendered after a short melee and asked for care for two wounded men lying under blankets. As the group moved on, the supposedly wounded men threw hand grenades at the soldiers who had spared them.
    4. The wounds caused by special ammunition and the reports from the wounded sober us and make us see the enemy in a new light.
    5. A comrade told me the following: A group of English soldiers surrendered from a stable building by waving a white flag, whereupon the fire was stopped. As the Germans approached without cover, they were machine-gunned from the other side of the stable.
    6. When the fierce battle for the La Bassee Canal and Le Paradis is over, the English wave white towels and surrender. The surviving Englishmen emerge from their positions in barns, attics and cellars. When we think the village has been cleared of the enemy, unexpected machine gun fire starts falling. An Englishman had reoccupied a machine gun that had previously been abandoned and opened fire again. Three of my comrades died.

  • @richardshiggins704
    @richardshiggins704 10 днів тому +1

    One does not mess with a hangman with the name of Roper !

  • @johnzajac9849
    @johnzajac9849 22 дні тому +1

    "Leaving less for tomorrow."

  • @alexclement7221
    @alexclement7221 Місяць тому +2

    6:03: "The BRITISH captives....". That's a FRENCH captive.

  • @sugarkane4830
    @sugarkane4830 28 днів тому +5

    Oh dear God can’t listen to this AI. It’s dreadful.

  • @johnfitzpatrick4007
    @johnfitzpatrick4007 Місяць тому +4

    Why do they always get mixed up with England and Britain.

    • @richardhebden5603
      @richardhebden5603 28 днів тому +1

      Mainly because the Germans made no distinction. They would hardly if/ever refer to Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. We were all simply Englanders as far as they were concerned.

    • @johnfitzpatrick4007
      @johnfitzpatrick4007 28 днів тому +1

      @@richardhebden5603 Wrong,because the English media and hierarchy have always projected it round the world that England is Britain.Same with royalty..

    • @forsdykemontague1017
      @forsdykemontague1017 27 днів тому

      @@johnfitzpatrick4007In Germany today they call us all Englanders or “Island Monkeys” 😂

  • @stevensteptoe682
    @stevensteptoe682 29 днів тому +6

    Awful computerised voiceover. It's a "No!" from me.

  • @gonzalesfrederic6213
    @gonzalesfrederic6213 8 днів тому

    The UK, and France, declared war on Germany, not the opposite. So...

  • @the_grand_tourer
    @the_grand_tourer 29 днів тому +3

    The AI VO is f'in awful on this channel, totally over the top, really bad grammar and punctuation ...so bad I watched with audio off and read the subtitles.

    • @TheRunereaper
      @TheRunereaper 21 день тому

      Yep. Sounds like recordings of Lord Haw-haw.

  • @TheGhostofCarlSchmitt
    @TheGhostofCarlSchmitt 2 місяці тому +3

    that part about KZ-officers being trained in Braunschweig seems suspicious, since they, along with the rest of KZ-personnel were being trained in Dachau before being transferred to other camps.

  • @allanxxxxxxxx
    @allanxxxxxxxx Місяць тому +13

    The person/bot is awful telling this story

    • @the_grand_tourer
      @the_grand_tourer 29 днів тому +4

      F'in awful isn't it totally over the top !!

  • @janlindtner305
    @janlindtner305 2 місяці тому +6

    👍👍👍

  • @Marcfj
    @Marcfj 20 днів тому

    Read up on the Biscari Massacre and the Laconia Incident.

  • @FrankOdonnell-ej3hd
    @FrankOdonnell-ej3hd 26 днів тому

    oh that poor dear forced to march in circles and doused with cold water. If he'd simply confessed to everything from the start there's a chance he might have been given a life sentence instead of the death penalty as terrible things always happen in war. But possibly he actually believed his orders were justified and that he acted rightly. ⚛

  • @louisdemarco7417
    @louisdemarco7417 23 дні тому +1

    Rep what you sow SS

  • @richardwoolley2792
    @richardwoolley2792 Місяць тому +11

    This voice is real turn off

  • @richardvanbesauw1229
    @richardvanbesauw1229 16 днів тому

    History is written by the victors

  • @davidsigalow7349
    @davidsigalow7349 2 місяці тому +4

    Hangmen also die.

  • @neilmarsh1904
    @neilmarsh1904 17 днів тому

    Good information but your presentation stinks. Either narrate or put text on the screen, but not both.

  • @atharvatoskar1633
    @atharvatoskar1633 29 днів тому +7

    _How many British commanders like Colonel Reginald Edward Harry Dyer [Jallianwala Bagh massacre] & Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener [concentration camps 2nd boer war] were punished for their atrocities in the British colonies?_

  • @andrewkonopko707
    @andrewkonopko707 14 днів тому +1

    Change this voice, or no more clicks.

  • @lesgriffiths8523
    @lesgriffiths8523 Місяць тому

    " Totenkopf" has an umlaut over the " o".......The " o"should sound like " er"
    Les Griffiths

    • @IntrinsicSV
      @IntrinsicSV Місяць тому +1

      Never seen Totenkopf spelt with an Umlaut. if it did the O would be pronounced oe not er. My name should have an umlaut but we dont use it in the UK

  • @Aron-79
    @Aron-79 10 днів тому

    🪖🇷🇺🫡⚓️

  • @popcornhead3479
    @popcornhead3479 2 місяці тому +1

    It's berg not borg

    • @KohalaLover
      @KohalaLover 2 місяці тому +7

      The narrator has perfect pronunciation & diction, as always.

  • @alexandraglammer6771
    @alexandraglammer6771 2 місяці тому +3

    ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

  • @dernvader6876
    @dernvader6876 2 місяці тому +1

    I know this is off the subject, but I just found a couple of almost 2" hairs on my lower back, its really crazy. Right above my just say no to crack. Such a crazy place to find a few long hairs, they aren't that thick, like they aren't pube-like or anything, maybe slightly whispy, but they are long! Why are they so freakishly long?

    • @waynec9444
      @waynec9444 25 днів тому +1

      Maybe you are turning into an ape?