Wormhoudt massacre

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The Wormhoudt massacre (or Wormhout massacre) was an atrocity against soldiers hors de combat in World War II that occurred on Tuesday 28 May 1940 when the German Infantry Regiment Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler under the command of Sepp Dietrich, and allegedly specifically the 2nd Battalion controlled by Hauptsturmführer Wilhelm Mohnke, killed approximately 80 British prisoners of war (POWs). The murdered men were soldiers from the 2nd Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment, the Cheshire Regiment, and Royal Artillery as well as French solders in charge of a military depot in a nearby farm.

The British soldiers had formed part of the rearguard of the 48th Division of the British Expeditionary Force retreating towards Dunkirk for evacuation. They had fought until overrun by the Germans, at which point they had been taken prisoners. They were taken to a barn a short distance from Wormhout and Esquelbecq. The SS threw a number of stick-grenades into the barn which caused many deaths and wounded others; the survivors were brought out five at a time and shot one by one. 15 men survived the massacre, and were eventually found by a regular German Army unit. Their wounds were treated before they were imprisoned in a prisoner of war camp.

Wilhelm Mohnke was alleged to be the perpetrator, but was never brought to trial. The case was reopened in 1988 after a campaign by British Member of Parliament Jeff Rooker, but a German prosecutor came to the conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to bring charges.