SS-Ostubaf. Fritz Knöchlein

[Max Williams]

Fritz Knöchlein issued the order to murder the POWs from the Norfolk Regiment in 1940 at Le Paradis. For this crime he was tried and executed in 1948. He was a holder of the Knights Cross, the German Cross in Gold and the EK1. His SS-Nr. was 87881 and his NSDAP number was 157016. Date of birth 27 May 1911. Does anyone have photos that relate to him, his trial or this crime please? Any more information would be welcome.
Many thanks.
Max

[Max Williams]

Another photo of him, this time during his attachment to Totenkopf.
Max

[Juha Hujanen]

These 2 pics are from Pallud-Blitzkrieg in the West.Then And Now.

/Juha

[Max Williams]

Another photo taken at the Creton Farm, site of the massacre. The first grave of the British victims.
Max

[Georg_S]

Hello Max,

Remind me later that I shall scan photos from "Totenkopf im Westen"
I have the book given to members of the T as "Erinnerung" of the Western Campaign,
In that book it´s some photos of the La Paradise incident, including the
photo of the Dead Commandant which (Goecke) started the massacre
and also a SS Doctor standing over some dead "Tommies" killed during the
fighting.

Best regards,

Georg

[Edward L. Hsiao]

Gentlemen,

I believe that Fritz Knochlein was probably the scapegoat of this crime and his trial was not conducted in a fair manner. Some sources had said that.


Edward

[Max Williams]

Gentlemen,

I believe that Fritz Knochlein was probably the scapegoat of this crime and his trial was not conducted in a fair manner. Some sources had said that.


Edward

What sources please?
Max

[danyb]

hello georg !


infos of the knochlein trial here:


http://stephen-stratford.co.uk/pooleys_revenge.htm


danyb

[Georg_S]

Thanks

//Georg

[LV]

What position did Knöchlein hold when the Le Paradis massacre took place? His position seems to vary in different sources and I've seen at least the following: commander of either the 3. or 4. Kp./2. TIR or acting battalion commander II./2. TIR.

[Landsberger]

Gentlemen,

I believe that Fritz Knochlein was probably the scapegoat of this crime and his trial was not conducted in a fair manner. Some sources had said that.


Edward

Anecdotal evidence to the contrary is found in Alfred Naujock’s recounting to Gunter Peis in
The Man Who Started the War, Odhams Press Ltd., 1960

When Naujocks gets himself captured in the Ardennes in November 1944, Knoechlein seems to be the first thing his captors want to talk about.

Naujocks recounts:

“Paradis……who in the SD did not know of that day in May 1940 when Fritz rounded up those prisoners in a barn and shot them while the final attack on Dunkirk was going on? It was one of the few times that the SS secrecy oath had been invoked, he remembered. There had been a hell of a panic in Berlin when the report was made and Fritz had been given a reprimand, but it had been a verbal one; they didn’t want anything on paper.”

Some of the hard boiled noir detective style of the book is worth sharing

“OK,” opened the Captain, “what’s your story?”

The German folded hid arms across his chest. “I am permitted,” he said slowly, “to give my name, rank and number. You have those already from my papers there. However, I might as well say now that I am not Gunner Alfred Gerber, but Major Alfred Helmut Naujocks, Sicherheitsdienst, Berlin.”

Graziano said nothing, but stared hard into the man’s face, groping with his right hand for a cigarette. He fished one out of his tunic and lit it, still not shifting his gaze.

“Think you’ll get fancy treatment?”

Naujocks shrugged. “I am merely stating a fact. Your opinion is your affair.”

Again the American considered. Deserters frequently claimed to be someone special to ensure that they were sent back as soon as possible. Understandably, they did not want to be recaptured by their own side, if they could help it. But there was traffic in false papers for scuttling Nazis able to pull enough strings. Graziano knew that well enough. And this might be one of them.

He pulled out from under a pile of files a hard-backed black folder, flipped through the pages and stopped at the one indexed “S.” Looking up, he said, “Ever been in France?”

“Many times.”

“Lille?”

Naujocks thought, “Yes.”

“The name Knoechlein mean anything to you?”

“Yes.”

“Remember the Paradis affair?”

“I was not there.”

“I didn’t ask that. You weren’t there, no one was. A hundred British prisoners were shot down in cold blood by the fairies.” Graziano’s voice had hardened. “Knoechlein a friend of yours?”

“Captain Fritz Knoechlein,” the German replied calmly, ”was in the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the SS Death’s Head Division. That is my knowledge of him.”

Graziano snapped the folder shut, wrote a brief note on a pad and slipped it into Naujock’s army pay-book. Staring at the name, “Gerber, A” on the tattered cover, he said, “You’ve got a lot of talking to do, brother. I’d start thinking fast.”

To the guard who had stood silently at Naujock’s back during the brief exchange, he said, “Hand him over to Sergeant Tracy; arrange transport to Caen.”

As the two men left, tramping up the stone staircase into the daylight above, he picked up a field telephone, turned the handle and spoke, asking for Combined Intelligence HQ.

“Major Richards, please.” He introduced himself. “I’m sending you a guy who calls himself Naujocks” – he spelt the name – “picked up with false papers, or he says they are……..SD apparently…..yes…… no he doesn’t……worked out everything already, I’d say……I think you’ll like to have him anyway…….yes, sir, priority, I’ll do that.”

He put the phone down, stubbed out his cigarette and placed all Naujock’s scraps of paper in a new folder, carefully marking it ‘Paradis.’

Paradis. They certainly wanted to hang every SD man who was within a hundred miles of that business.”

[Michal78]

Post-war photo of Fritz Knochlein.
Michal

[gabber113]

Hi guys,

first post here Was looking for any leftovers of Hitler but no luck so far.
Regarding this post, in the German Wikipedia (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massaker_von_Le_Paradis)
Knöchlein excused his actions because he said the enemy used illegal ammunition.
"Judge-Advocate said that whether the British had used illegal ammunition or abused a flag of truce was irrelevant" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Paradis_massacre
Question is: Did they use that illegal ammo? http://www.dave-cushman.net/shot/303hist.html

cheers, Andreas

[ZB37(t)]

I have studied the files dealing with the massacre at Paradis (NOT Le Paradis incidentally, which has become a misnomer) in the British National Archives for many years. Regarding Knoechlein being made a scapegoat, in October,1946, Theodor Emke was brought to the London Cage for interrogation. On 27 May, 1940, he was the commander of the 2-gun section of No.4 (MG) Kompanie, 2 TIR, which carried out the shooting. In his declaration he stated categorically that Fritz Knoechlein gave the order for the guns to fire and that his manner had been overbearing and domineering throughout. Knoechlein was no scapegoat but the man identified as responsible from the start of the investigation.

On the morning of 27 May, 1940, Knoechlein's No.3 Kompanie had been held up at Le Cornet Malo for 3 and a half hours by 1st Battalion, The Royal Scots. No.3 Kompanie suffered 12 dead and 27 wounded and Knoechlein was furious and spoke of revenge. After the village had been taken, 17-21 members of The Royal Scots were found hiding in a hayloft having run out of ammunition. A German witness stated that they were taken to SS Battle HQ where "they all had to bite the dust". A mass grave containing the bodies was found after the war. All had been shot in the head or back of the neck.

Regarding the question of Dum-Dum ammunition being used by the British. An armourer sergeant attached to No.3 Kompanie stated that nearly all the 12 German dead had head shots and the wounds were large. In his opinion they were caused by normal bullets slightly flattening themselves before penetrating the steel helmets and not by Dum-Dum ammunition. I hope this helps to clear up some of the myths surrounding the Paradis Massacre. ZB37(t)

[ZB37(t)]

Following on from my post yesterday, Colonel Hans Friedemann Goetze was the Commanding Officer of 3rd Totenkopf Infantry Regiment and was thus nothing to do with 2nd Regiment. After he was killed, his men, unlike those of 2nd Regiment, behaved with discipline and took many prisoners of 1 Royal Scots in the village of Paradis when ithe eastern part had been taken. Goetze was a well-liked and popular C.O. and it is to the credit of his men that they behaved correctly and didn't look for revenge.

Knoechlein was the senior SS officer present at the shooting of the men of 2 R.Norfolk and other British Units. As well as being No.3 Kompanie commander , he was the deputy commander of 1st Battalion, 2nd TIR and therefore could have stopped the shooting if he had wished. His failure to do so confirms his guilt. Hopefully, this will silence the Paradis Massacre apologists!

ZB37(t)