Fritz Knoechlein

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Fritz Knöchlein
27 May 1911(1911-05-27) — 21 January 1949 (aged 37)
pictured on May 27 1941
pictured on May 27 1941
Place of birth München
Place of death Hamburg (Executed)
Allegiance Flag of Nazi Germany Nazi Germany
Service/branch Waffen SS
Years of service 1934-1945
Rank SS-Obersturmbannführer
Commands held 3rd SS Division Totenkopf
16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS
Battles/wars World War II
Awards Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
German Cross in Gold
EK I
EK II

Fritz Knöchlein (May 27, 1911 in Munich - January 21, 1949) was a SS Obersturmbannführer during the Second World War who was subsequently convicted and executed for war crimes

Contents

[edit] Biography

Fritz Knöchlein joined the SS in 1934. Upon the formation of the 3rd SS Division ("Totenkopf") (then organized as a motorized infantry division) at the SS training area near Dachau[1] he was promoted to the rank of Hauptsturmführer and appointed to the command of No. 3 Kompanie, 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.[2]

[edit] Massacre

Main article: Le Paradis massacre

It was in his capacity as a company commander that he gained notoriety, being responsible for the 27 May 1940 massacre of British prisoners-of-war at Le Paradis in the Pas-de-Calais. Ninety-nine members of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment who had surrendered to his unit in a cattle shed were stood in front of the barn wall, and Knöchlein ordered two machine-guns turned on them, 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.

[edit] Eastern Front

After the French campaign Knöchlein was appointed commander of 5. Kompanie, and to command of an antiaircraft artillery battery in the Totenkopf Division flak battalion.. He served in this capacity on the Russian Front until the summer of 1942 when he was promoted to Sturmbannführer and appointed commander of the I. Abteilung of the 3. Regiment, Totenkopf Division, and in October 1943 became commander of I. Abteilung, No. 36 Regiment, of the newly formed 16th SS Panzer Grenadier Division ("Reichsführer-SS"). He was promoted to Obersturmbannführer and appointed commander of a Norwegian SS volunteer unit, the No. 23 Panzergrenadier Regiment ("Norge") of the 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division ("Nordland") from March 14, 1944 to January 1, 1945.[3] Knöchlein received the following decorations during the war: the Iron Cross First and Second Class; the German Cross in Gold (15 November 1942)[4], and the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (November 1944).[5]

[edit] Trial

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

The accused Fritz Knochlein, 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. Knöchlein's defence attorney, Dr. Uhde, claimed that Knöchlein had not been present on the day of the battle, and challenged that the British forces had used the illegal dumdum 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.

[edit] Summary of his military career

Dates of rank


Notable decorations

[edit] References

  1. ^ Mitcham, Samuel W., Jr. Hitler's Legions: The German Army Order of Battle, World War II.
  2. ^ "Ritterkreuzträger Fritz Knöchlein," http://www.ritterkreuztraeger-1939-45.de/Waffen-SS/K/Knoechlein-Fritz.htm
  3. ^ "SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 23 'Norge'," http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/PanzergrenadierregimenterSS/PGRSS23.htm
  4. ^ Patzwall
  5. ^ "Ritterkreuzträger Fritz Knöchlein," http://www.ritterkreuztraeger-1939-45.de/Waffen-SS/K/Knoechlein-Fritz.htm
  • Patzwall, Klaus D. and Scherzer, Veit. Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 - 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II. Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, 2001. ISBN 3-931533-45-X.
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