73 years ago today 97 members of the British Expeditionary Force were executed after being captured by German forces. It seemed fitting that today, on Memorial Day, these largely forgotten men should be remembered.
Yeah,and the man behind this was Fritz Knochlein.Those 99 BEF soldiers[2nd Batt-RNR] were ran out of their ammo,surrendered..but the way the Waffen SS unit Totenkopf treated with their machine guns,a shame.. not only this,they made local French men to bury the bodies in a shallow mass grave.And Fritz rewarded in '49. But the way two Privates,Pooley and O'Callaghan survived even on raw potatoes..before being re-captured,made me salute their courage.. What I learnt once about 3rd SS Division Totenkopf,that was so notoriously indoctrinated with the Party ideology and high fanatic;fought so recklessly throughout the campaign ,suffered by much higher death rates comparing other German Forces.
I only recently even learned that this massacre had occurred, it's astonishing how little is known about it. I read about it in Hugh Sebag-Montefiorie's excellent history book Dunkirk - fight to the last man. It wasn't the only massacre at the time either. I'd hate this to come across as shameless self-promotion, but I wrote this event into the story of my novel Blood and Blitzkrieg and gave the hero and his side-kick the roles of Privates Pooley and O'Callaghan. Knochlein is in it of course, re-cast as one 'Hauptsturmfuhrer Richter'. He survived the war and was later executed for war crimes, so he got his just desserts. That's my best attempt at helping people remember these forgotten men. My apologies in advance if this offends anyone.
Whatever it takes to sell a copy. As a fellow author, I can sympathize with your efforts. Good luck with your novel.
Hey Watson, perhaps we should form a mutual admiration society and buy each others' books? What's yours about and where can I find it?
How about a swap? Am always looking for a new addition to my signed editions collection. Here's a link for mine.http://www.amazon.com/Watsons-Reall...=8-1&keywords=watsons really big WWII almanac Watson
That's an incredibly impressive piece of work, that I will find immensely useful as a research tool. I'm afraid mine is merely a self-published e-novel so I can't send you a signed version! Very happy to do a swap if you like. How best to do that?
Thanks for the compliment. It's also available on e-book through Amazon, so maybe it would be easier if we just bought our own copies. Nice talking to you and good luck with your book. Watson
