Fritz Knöchlein

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Fritz Knöchlein
Fritz Knöchlein.jpeg
Birth date 27 May 1911(1911-05-27)
Place of birth Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire
Death date 21 January 1949 (aged 37)
Place of death Hamelin Prison, Hamelin, Allied-occupied Germany
Allegiance  National Socialist Germany
Service/branch Flag Schutzstaffel.png Waffen SS
Years of service 1934–1945
Rank SS-Obersturmbannführer
Service number NSDAP #157,016
SS #87,881[1]
Commands held SS Division Totenkopf
SS Division Reichsführer-SS
SS Division Nordland
SS Volunteer Division Nederland
Battles/wars World War II
Awards Iron Cross
German Cross in Gold
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Friedrich "Fritz" Knöchlein (27 May 1911 – 21 January 1949) was a German officer of the SS and Waffen-SS, finally SS-Obersturmbannführer and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in World War II.

Life

Fritz Knöchlein II.png
Fritz Knöchlein III.jpg

Fritz Knöchlein joined the SS in 1934. He took part in the Poland Campaign as company commander in the SS-Totenkopfstandarte I "Oberbayern". Upon the formation of the SS Division Totenkopf (then organized as a motorized infantry division) at the SS training area near Dachau, he was promoted to the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer and appointed to the command of the 3rd Company/I. Abteilung (of which he was also the deputy commander), 2. Regiment ("Brandenberg") of the Totenkopf Division and fought as part of the division during the Battle of France in May–June 1940.

It was in his capacity as a company commander that he gained notoriety, allegedly being responsible for the 27 May 1940 massacre of British prisoners-of-war at Le Paradis in the Pas-de-Calais during the Battle of Dunkirk. Ninety-nine members of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment who had surrendered to Knöchlein's unit in a cattle shed were stood in front of the barn wall for using illegal ammunition, and had two machine-guns turned on them, allegedly followed by bayoneting and shooting any apparent survivors. Two of the prisoners, privates Albert Pooley and William O'Callaghan, managed to escape the massacre, but the remaining 97 were hastily buried along the barn wall.

In 1942, the bodies were exhumed by the French authorities and reburied in a local cemetery which eventually became the Le Paradis War Cemetery. During this time, Albert Pooley made it a personal mission to hunt down Knöchlein and bring him up on charges of war crimes after the war.

Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Knöchlein’s Knight’s Cross recommendation reads as follows…

“On the night of the 29 to 30 October 1944, strong Russian forces launched a surprise enveloping attack towards the west with the aim of bypassing the road junction at Preekuln. By doing this, they would break out of a decisively important frontline sector. Recognizing the significance of this move, SS-Obersturmbannführer Knöchlein made the decision to confront this danger on his right wing with a small number of cobbled-up men along with a concentration of his mobile anti-tank units. By launching a surprise night attack, the oncoming crisis was rectified. The enemy also suffered such heavy losses that they were unable to execute a similar maneuver in this sector during the entirety of the following day. During this time, SS-Obersturmbannführer Knöchlein (a hard and determined SS man and regimental commander) repeatedly demonstrated the highest willingness to do his duty. He provided the leadership during this decisive 24 hour period, overseeing all the necessary countermeasures. I thereby would like to submit SS-Obersturmbannführer Knöchlein for the high award of the Knight’s Cross to the Iron Cross.”

Post-war

After the war, the married officer and father of four children was arrested in Hamburg, deported to the MI19 “London Cage” interrogation center in October 1946, tortured there and charged with alleged war crimes at Le Paradis in 1940. In August of 1948, he was formally arraigned on charges of war crimes, to which he pleaded not guilty. His trial began in No. 5 Court of the Curiohaus, Altona, on Monday, 11 October 1948 – and both Albert Pooley and William O'Callaghan were called to testify against him. Knöchlein's defence attorney, Dr. Uhde, stated that Knöchlein had not been present on the day of the battle, and challenged that the British forces had used the illegal dumdum bullets.

Knöchlein agreed that the massacre had occurred, but stated that he had not been present at Le Paradis, that the British used illegal expanding bullets banned by the Hague Convention, and that the British had lured his men to the farmhouse with a white flag before gunning them down. Finally, he accused his jailers of subjecting him to physical and mental torture. However, witnesses identified him as being present and the prosecution rejected the accusations made by Knöchlein. The Judge-Advocate said that whether the British had used illegal ammunition or abused a flag of truce was irrelevant; the German troops still had absolutely no right to execute prisoners of war without a fair and proper trial.[2][3]

Death

Upon being found guilty, he applied for clemency indicating that he had a wife and four children that depended on him, but was sentenced to be hanged, a verdict that was carried out on 28 January 1949.

"The Guardian" reported in 2005 that SS-Obersturmbannführer Fritz Knöchlein was starving because he was not given food. He was prevented from sleeping for days and nights, was only allowed to wear pajama bottoms, and the guards kicked at him at every opportunity. He was forced to walk in circles for hours, pushed down stairs, beaten with a club and tortured with cold water. Many of his fellow prisoners, according to secret files viewed by "The Guardian" in 2005, had to do everything by crawling, addressing the guards as "sir", enduring the worst humiliation and violence, many begging to finally be killed. The conditions in the “London Cage” were comparable to those in the Bad Nenndorf torture prison of the CSDIC, another site of Allied war crimes.

Promotions

  • 19.6.1934: SS-Mann
    • Police standby (Polizeibereitschaft) in Ellwangen
  • 24.4.1935: SS-Junker
  • September 1935: SS-Standartenjunker
  • 25.2.1936: SS-Standarten-Oberjunker
  • 1.4.1936: SS-Untersturmführer
    • 1.4.1936 Platoon leader in the 1st Company/III. Bataillon/SS-Standarte "Deutschland"
    • 1.10.1936 IV. Bataillon/SS-Standarte "Deutschland"
  • 20.4.1937: SS-Obersturmführer
  • 8.1.1939: SS-Hauptsturmführer
    • 16.6.1939 SS-Aufklärungs-Abteilung (SS-VT)
    • 1.7.1939: Adjutant of the 18. SS-Standarte
    • September 1939 Company commander in the SS-Totenkopfstandarte I "Oberbayern"
    • 2.11.1939 Commander of the 3rd Company/SS-Totenkopf-Regiment 2 (mot.)/ SS-Division Totenkopf
    • Commander of the 5th Company/SS-Totenkopf-Regiment 2 (mot.)/ SS-Division Totenkopf
    • April 1941: Battery commander in the SS-Flak-Abteilung 3
  • 21.4.1942: SS-Sturmbannführer
    • Commander of the I. Bataillon/SS-Infanterie-Regiment 3 "Totenkopf"
    • 29.11.1943 Commander of the III. Bataillon/SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 36/16. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "Reichsführer SS"
  • 14.3.1944: SS-Obersturmbannführer

Awards and decorations

References

  1. ↑ Westemeier, Jens (2013). Himmlers Krieger: Joachim Peiper und die Waffen-SS in Krieg und Nachkriegszeit. Paderborn, Germany: Ferdinand Schöningh, 662. ISBN 978-3-506-77241-1. 
  2. ↑ The Le Paradis massacre https://dirkdeklein.net/2017/05/27/the-le-paradis-massacre/
  3. ↑ Le Paradis massacre, Wikipedia, version at 13:18, 20 February 2019 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Le_Paradis_massacre&oldid=884247971
  4. ↑ Knöchlein, Friedrich 'Fritz' (Waffen SS)
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