May 27th, 1941

Fritz Knoechlein (1911 in Munich - January 28, 1949) was SS Obersturmführer. 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ... January 28 is the 28th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) is a common year starting on Saturday. ... SS or ss or Ss may be: The Schutzstaffel, a Nazi paramilitary force Steamship (SS) (ship prefix) The United States Secret Service A submarine not powered by nuclear energy (SS) (United States Navy designator), see SSN A Soviet/Russian surface-to-surface missile, as listed by NATO reporting name Shortstop...

After the outbreak of war in 1939, he was posted as a Company Commander to Dachau on the formation of the SS 'Totenkopf' Division. He served through the Western Front campaign as Commander of No. 3 Company of the SS 2nd Infantry Regiment. poo ... SS-Division Verfügungstruppe SS-Division Deutschland SS-Division Reich SS-Division Das Reich 2. ...

It was in this capacity that he gained notoriety, being responsible for the massacre of British POWs at Le Paradis outside Pas-de-Calais. 99 members of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment who had surrendered to his Regiment in a cattleshed were stood in front of the barn wall, and Knochlein ordered two machine-guns turned on them. 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. Geneva Convention definition A prisoner of war (POW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. ... Pas-de-Calais is a département in northern France named after the strait which it borders. ... The Royal Norfolk Regiment, orignally formed as the Norfolk Regiment, was a regiment of the British Army. ...

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 Knoechlein and bring him up on charges of war crimes after the war. This article is about the year. ... A war crime is a punishable offense, under international law, for violations of the law of war by any person or persons, military or civilian. ...

After leading 5th Company, the regiment was dissolved later in 1941, and he became Battery Commander of an Anti-Aircraft Battery in the same division. He served in this capacity on the Russian Front until January of 1942, and then became Battalion Commander of the newly-formed No. 36 Regiment, 16th Panzer Grenadier Division. American troops man an anti-aircraft gun near the Algerian coastline in 1943 Anti-aircraft, or air defense, is any method of combating military aircraft from the ground. ... The Eastern Front of World War II was the theatre of war covering the conflict in central and eastern Europe from June 1941 to May 1945. ... 16th Infantry Division 16th Motorized Infantry Division Windhund 16th Panzergrenadier Division Windhund 16th Panzer Division 116th Panzer Division Windhund Created as 16th Infantry Division in 1935. ...

In April 1944, he became a Regimental Commander, and remained in command of a regiment fighting the Russians until the capitulation.

Knoechlein was decorated with the Iron Cross three times, first in France in May 1940; with the German Cross in 1942 for fighting in Russia; and in 1944 with the Knight's Cross again in Russia. A stylized version of the Iron Cross, the logo of the German Armed Forces The Iron Cross (German: Eisernes Kreuz) is a military decoration of the Kingdom of Prussia, and later of Germany, which was established by King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia and first awarded on 10 March 1813. ...

After the War

In August of 1948, he was formally arraigned on charges of war crimes, to which he plead not guilty.

The accused Fritz Knoechlein, a German national, in the charge of the Hamburg Garrison Unit, pursuant to Regulation 4 of the Regulations for the Trial of War Criminals, is charged with committing a war crime in that he in the vicinity of Paradis, Pas-de-Calais, France, on or about 27 May 1940, in violation of the laws and usages of war, was concerned in the killing of about ninety prisoners-of-war, members of The Royal Norfolk Regiment and other British Units.

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. Knoechlein's defence attorney, Dr. Uhde, claimed that Knoechlein had not been present on the day of the battle, and challenged that the British forces had used the illegal Dum-dum bullets. 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 January 28, 1949. Altona is the westernmost district of the city of Hamburg in Germany, on the right bank of the Elbe. ... October 11 is the 284th day of the year (285th in leap years). ... Dum Dum is a group of small towns to the north west of Kolkata (Calcutta) in West Bengal state in India, and the location of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, formerly Dum Dum Airport. ... January 28 is the 28th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...