Post
by Laurent » 25 Apr 2002 12:02
"French" Africans in Silesia ? Hardly possible according to what I know.
After French defeat in 1940, most if not all of the Black POWs stay in France, serving of labour force for the various German forces. AFAIK, Hitler has no desire to see black people in Germany. Most of these POW worked on airfield construction/repair and then on the Atlantik Wall, and a proportion of them fell under Allied bombs. Most of them were liberated in 1944.
In WWI, colonial formations of the French Army were used on the first assult wave during many battles, such suffering very heavy losses. It is a know fact that a soldier just having lost buddies will not always take prisonners, a good example of this being Omaha Beach. Also in the confusion of an assault and when battle continues, POW were sometimes seen as an handicap, as you have to send troops with them to the rear. So orders 'don't take prisonners' may apply on some cases.
The fact is that in the vast majority of cases, Black troops take POWs. But German soldiers believe the contrary and veteran tell the tales to their sons before WWII.
After the war, a part of French occupation troops in Germany were colonial troops, a fact often used by nazi propaganda until 1940, depicting the black soldiers as killers, rapers and thefts.
In 1940, Germany won the campain in May, trapping the BEF and most of the best French units in Lille and Dunkirk, and forcing Dutch and Belgians to surrender.
Second offensive begins on 5 June on the Somme river, followed on the 9 by a second offensive on the Aisne, and then on the 15 by a force crossing of the Rhine. A fact that has little place in history books is that the majority of German and French casualties occur during this part of the campain !
The front was far more wider and German infantry was far more commited and in some places suffer big losses as French units continue to fight even if Panzer were on their rear, a new fact compared to June.
On the French side, most of the units remaining were active colonial troops or reservist divisions. The first fight of course better and inflict big losses to German units, the cause for most warcrimes that happen in this part of the campain.
On 17 June, Marechal Petain, who had just been given the power in France, made a radio allocution, saying 'It is necessary to stop the fight'. Not well chosen words, what he wanted to say was preparing France to accept the defeat, most understand that the fight must stop immediatly, amongst them many soldiers of both sides.
So when after the date, German soldiers thinking the war was over were fired on by French units and suffer heavy losses, there were cases of executions by furious soldiers.
Main executions of POWs occur in June on the Somme (tens of Black POWs), at Rouen (121 Arabian and Black), on the Eure-et-Loir (at lest 50 Africans of 26 RTS), on east of France (several cases after 17/6, between 5 and 10 POW, only one case Black) and near Lyon (more than 100 black soldiers killed after surrendering on 20-21/6).
On the Eure case, after the killings, German officers try to prove that the African soldiers had killed and mutilated French civilians, that were actually victims of a Luftwaffe raid. Under pressure, the prefect of the aera, Jean Moulin, refuses to sign anything and commit suicide. He was saved at the last moment and then became a leader of Gaullist Resistance, before being arrested in 43, dying under torture soon after that.
In the east of France, there is at least one case where Black soldiers were accused to have killed and mutilated a German NCO. French officers who see the corpse say that all wounds seen on the corpse were battle wounds but that didn't save their soldiers.
African officers were not unusual in the African regiments of French Army in 1940. One is well known for having been killed by a German soldier in captivity after he refused to be sent with the soldiers and tried to join the other (white) officers of his regiment. Something not compatible with Nazi doctrina...
Laurent
