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Wormhout massacre

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    Wormhout massacre
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    KilroyTrip.fr
  • ID
    2093.2206

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Wormhout massacre
Wormhout massacre

The so-called Wormhout Massacre or Plaine au Bois Massacre is a war crime perpetrated by the Waffen-SS against 80 French and British prisoners of war during the Battle of France in May 1940. It actually took place on the territory of Esquelbecq.
During the British Expeditionary Force's retreat to Dunkirk, the 48th Division held the road from Bergues to Hazebrouck via Wormhout and Cassel to delay the German advance. Lacking ammunition and armored support, the British units at Wormhout were overwhelmed by the advance of German soldiers, the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, SS Regiment supported by armor from the 3rd Panzer-Regiment. Having exhausted all their ammunition, the British troops surrendered, believing they were being imprisoned in compliance with the Geneva Convention.
After their surrender, the soldiers of the Second Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment , the Cheshire Regiment , and the Royal Artillery as well as a French soldier in charge of a military depot were taken to a barn at La Plaine au Bois near Wormhout in Esquelbecq on May 28, 1940.

Once the hundred or so men have entered the barn, soldiers from the 2nd Battalion of the SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler Regiment hurl hand grenades into the building killing and injuring a large number of occupants despite the sacrifice of non-commissioned officers Jennings and Moore who throw themselves at the grenades. The grenades don't kill everyone, thanks in large part to the courage of these two British NCOs, Sergeant Moore and CSM Jennings, who sacrifice themselves to shield the explosion and shrapnel with their bodies. After realizing there are survivors, the SS ask two groups of five to come out. The men come out and are shot down; Gunner Brian Fahey survives these shots without the SS knowing it at the time. When the SS demand that a third group of prisoners come out to be executed, the British refuse to come out. That's when the SS fire their weapons into the barn.

Some British soldiers manage to escape while a few others, like Fahey, are left for dead. 80 men are killed in this massacre. After a few days, Fahey and the others are discovered by Wehrmacht soldiers combing the area for the killed or wounded. the survivors are then taken to a hospital. They are treated before being sent to a prison camp in occupied Europe. Some of them, badly mutilated, would be returned to their homeland before the end of the war.
Photo credit Klaod an Duigou-Kadbzh

 
Wormhout massacre
Crédit photo Klaod an Duigou-Kadbzh.
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Wormhout massacre

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