After my visit to the Memorial Park at Wormhoudt which was the site of a German SS massacre of British and French soldiers on the 28th May 1940. I visited the small village of Le Paradis in the commune of Lestrem. This was to look at the site of another German SS massacre of British Soldiers which took place the day before on the 27th May 1940.
Again, during the retreat to Dunkirk in May 1940 certain infantry divisions were assigned positions to slow the German advance and to grant time for the evacuation at Dunkirk. The outer perimeter was many miles from Dunkirk. Le Paradis is forty-four miles from Dunkirk.
The soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, the Royal Norfolk Regiment had become detached from their unit. They occupied Druiez Farm in the village of Le Paradis when it was attacked by SS units of the German 3rd Company 1st Battalion 2nd SS Totenkopf Rifle Regiment.
There were three different surrenders on this day which did not include four men and a driver who went by car to blow up a nearby bridge, thus slowing the German advance. The car was packed with explosives and ammunition. They came under machine gun fire as they approached the bridge and the four men bailed out leaving the Driver to turn and return to the farmhouse. Just as the car sped away, it exploded due to German gunfire. Lance Corporal Mason led the men and as they were under heavy oncoming gunfire, he asked the men to stay put while he swam up the canal to see if they could exit into a ditch and escape. In the time he had gone two of the men were shot and killed. When Mason returned, he told Farrow, the remaining soldier, to follow him up the canal as he had found an exit. They swam under water coming up for breath occasionally. They found the ditch exit yet came under fire again and Mason was shot in the shoulder with his bone protruding out of the skin. They were approached by a German soldier who shouldered his rifle to finish the two men off. The gun either jammed or was out of ammunition. Farrow was then clubbed by the butt of the rifle. Then a German Officer shouted, and the two men were taken in a POWs.
Druiez Farm also has a large barn or shed, where most of the Norfolk Soldiers and some 1st Royal Scots were held up. They were out of ammunition. The Farmhouse also housed men of the 2nd Battalion The Royal Norfolk’s. These men left the house dived into a ditch. The group were mainly officers and were captured in the ditch. They surrendered and were not part of the massacre which was about to occur.
Back at the barn, it was agreed that they would have to surrender to the oncoming Germans. Guns were put out of use. There were only two witnesses to this as only two of the men survived the ordeal. The first surrender attempt began with a white towel being hung outside of the barn. As the men left the barn with raised arms, the Germans opened fire killing between three and twelve men (This depends on the testimonies of the surviving two soldiers) Chaos ensured as the men rushed back into the barn. The second surrender attempt had a similar thread with between ten and twelve more men gunned down while they left the barn under a white surrender sign.
The remaining soldiers in the barn were taken captive. They were searched and the wounded were attended to by the British medical staff. They were then marched along the road, being hit with the buts of German soldiers’ guns passing them by. They marched to Louis Creton’s Farm. They are all lined up outside the farm’s exterior wall and murdered by machine gun and rifle fire. Then those who lay wounded were bayoneted and some finished off at point blank range with German officer pistols. A total of ninety-seven men were murdered at Creton’s Farm. Amazingly two men managed to survive. Private Bert Pooley and Bill O’Callaghan. Both shot and laying under comrade’s bodies while those above were bayonetted. The next day, they managed to find a nearby barn, although this still had SS soldiers in it, so moved into a pigsty. Bert was particularly badly injured and was cared for by Bill. They remained in the pigsty for three days eating old potatoes and drinking dirty puddle water. They were then found by Madame Duquenne-Creton, who with considerable risk to her family looked after the two men. It was then agreed they would hand themselves into The German Wehrmacht 251st Infantry Division who transferred them to hospital. Bill remained the rest of the war as a POW and Bert was returned to the UK due to his injuries in 1943.
Bert informed the authorities in the UK of the massacre, but it was not believed. He did not confirm Bill’s names as he was worried the information may reach the Germans while he was still in captivity. Once Bill returned after the war confirmation was sought.
After the war, the men’s evidence prompted the British authorities to investigate the massacre. SS Obersturmbannfuher Fritz Knochlein , the commander of the company identified as the perpetrators was arrested in 1947. He was tried for War Crimes in October 1948 and executed by hanging in January 1949.
Amazingly the massacre was caught on camera. Herbert Brunnegger was a 17-year-old SS soldier and took the photo below of the doomed Royal Norfolk’s being marched to their death outside the barn at Creton’s Farm.
Then a blurred photo taken most likely by a local French man or woman took this shot just after the massacre. (A huge risk to capture this scene as the SS remained in the village all day.)
The local French people were forced to bury the bodies next to the farm. These were then exhumed in 1942 and transferred to the local cemetery. Only fifty of the ninety-seven could be identified. This now forms part of Le Paradis War Cemetery.
The Creton Farm is privately owned, and you are not allowed to enter the land next to the Farm wall. While I was there the owner’s daughter appeared at the window and waved us onto the land next to the barns, so we could pay our respects and take some photos of the plaques which adorn the walls.
This is another very thought-provoking village to visit which illustrates the evil of the SS Divisions. The sacrifices made here and all along the Dunkirk perimeter enabled much needed time so that 338,000 men could return home or leave their fallen France.