British Tommies Beheaded by Germans and Similiar Stories from France

I'm currently Reading 'Dunkirk-The Men They Left Behind' and the author covers some of the war crimes committed against captured soldiers and the obvious two at Le Paradis and Wormhoult are covered in a little detail but he goes on to describe an incident at Colpaert Farm as one of the 'bloodiest'.

One of the surviving witness's, a Madame Ghoris reported that she saw a German unit, under the command of an Officer she knew as Oberleutnant von Pingsaft, find four British soldiers in a barn at Colpaert Farm. Of the four soldiers one was badly wounded and required two sticks to walk. Forced to March with their hands in the air and beaten with batons when they did not comply. At this point the locals were ordered into the houses so as not to witness what happened next. Madame Ghoris goes on to say that a short time later three Germans came into the house and asked for water to wash blood from their blood soaked hands and arms. The Germans told her they had just cut the four British soldiers heads off.

Denise Besegher was also in the house and she remembered one of the Germans was carrying a bayonet that was covered in blood along with his hands. He too asked for water, soap and towels to clean himself and told them that the four 'Tommies' had had their throats slit and made a gesture with his finger from one ear to another.

A local miller by the name Archille Boudry was forced to bury the bodies of British soldiers killed in earlier fighting around the farm. When Boudry noticed that one of the soldiers was still alive, he reported his findings to a German who was supervising the burial and he told Boudry to take the British soldiers watch from his wrist and carry on burying him.

Unfortunately the book does not quote a source for this account ofther than the French witness's nor is there an account of any witness's seeing the de-capitated bodies. Does anyone have anymore information on this incident?

Regards
Andy

 

In a way I hope not. Although the German soldiers oozing blood and bayonets are described as remarkably good mannered... "Asking" for water to clean their tools.

 

I wonder if Bernard Boutroy is a relative of the mis-spelt name Boudry?

I did a search for Colpaert Farm on google earth and it took me to a camp site (Amongst places in USA and Belgium) that appears to be owned by a Bernard Boutroy at 17 Route Château d'eau, 62179 Escalles, France which is west of Calais. This may fit as the author was discussing the fall of Calais prior to the account above.

Could be a Red Herring .....

Andy

 

This is bugging me now.... I've emailed the books publishers !

Hi,

I'm currently reading Sean Longden's Dunkirk - The men they left behind and in chapter two he describes a witness, several infact of an incident where some captured British soldiers are beheaded. I wonder if it is possible to enquire the source of the information?

I have searched on The National Archives with the help of a friend, posted some info on a WW2 Forum and tried various searches of google to no avail other than a possible location near Calais as to where the mentioned farm was/is.

Many thanks in adavance for any help you can provide on this matter.

Regards
Andy


I will of course keep you all posted

 

Two emails to publisher and sadly no reply. Is this the norm?

There's a few more incidents mentioned in the book but sadly no ref to a source. I'll post another one later tonight on the off chance someone can shed some light on them.

 

Andy,

If you can get a contact for the author then it is better than contacting the publishers, who are normally not interested unless there is a binding problem with the book, ie; pages missing etc.

Regards
Tom

 

I have found that writing to the Author via the Publisher to be successful when there was a need to make contact.

Having an Envelope to open seems to do the trick.

 

I contacted the publishers "Pen & Sword" when I wanted to get in contact with Neil Barber regarding his excellent book The Pegasus & Orne Bridges, the publishers couldn't of been more helpful, it's just a shame that Mr Barber couldn't be bothered with replying.

 

Private John Cain of the 2nd Battalion, The Manchester Regiment was in a Vickers Machine Gun outfit and taking part in the rearguard actions.

Around 0500hrs on 26th May 1940 he found his position over run by German tanks and Infantry. He was taken prisoner along with (Privates) Johnson, Phillips and Hodgkins who were also manning Vickers guns. A platton runner by the name of Maish was also captured. Some of the five men were wounded but with each others help made their way into a house.

The men were spoken to by a Unteroffizier called Karl Mohr. Cain appears to have got on the wrong side of him by refusing to tell Mohr his unit and only giving the German officer the 'big 3'. Mohr is quoted in the book as saying, 'We have means in the German Army'. Private Johnson heard Mohr and turned towards him only to be shot in the stomach by Mohr firing his rifle from the hip. Hodgkins jumped at Mohr (One can only assume he thought they were all going to be shot) and was shot by another German with a machine-pistol in the shoulder and forehead. Cain looked at the Germans as he was shot in the cheek.

Cain later regained conciousness to find his mates dead on the floor around him and a German medic tending to his facial wound. The German Medic told Cain the name and rank of the officer (Mohr) who had killed his mates and left him for dead.

Mohr was captured at the end of the war by Americans at Landau. The story ends with the british making efforts to bring him to the UK to face justice but it doesn't state the outcome.

Does anyone have anything to add to this?

Cheers
Andy

 

The answer again should be at Kew.

Three possibilities:- WO 235/471 - 691 - 744

 

Many thanks Brian for that email address.

I've emailed the authors agent and he's forwarded my message onto the author tonight.

Andy

 

To say I'm pleasantly surprised is an under statement.
I got an email today from the author after emailing his agent. Sean Longden sent me the following:

Thanks for getting in touch regarding the reported killing of POWs. I have searched back through my notebooks and can pinpoint the source of the story:

National Archives TS 26/137 'War Crimes - German Cases in Suspense'

The incident reportedly happens at Colpaert Farm in Winnezeele (near Lille?)

I hope that helps.

Best Regards

Sean Longden



I'm currently Reading 'Dunkirk-The Men They Left Behind' and the author covers some of the war crimes committed against captured soldiers and the obvious two at Le Paradis and Wormhoult are covered in a little detail but he goes on to describe an incident at Colpaert Farm as one of the 'bloodiest'.

One of the surviving witness's, a Madame Ghoris reported that she saw a German unit, under the command of an Officer she knew as Oberleutnant von Pingsaft, find four British soldiers in a barn at Colpaert Farm. Of the four soldiers one was badly wounded and required two sticks to walk. Forced to March with their hands in the air and beaten with batons when they did not comply. At this point the locals were ordered into the houses so as not to witness what happened next. Madame Ghoris goes on to say that a short time later three Germans came into the house and asked for water to wash blood from their blood soaked hands and arms. The Germans told her they had just cut the four British soldiers heads off.

Denise Besegher was also in the house and she remembered one of the Germans was carrying a bayonet that was covered in blood along with his hands. He too asked for water, soap and towels to clean himself and told them that the four 'Tommies' had had their throats slit and made a gesture with his finger from one ear to another.

A local miller by the name Archille Boudry was forced to bury the bodies of British soldiers killed in earlier fighting around the farm. When Boudry noticed that one of the soldiers was still alive, he reported his findings to a German who was supervising the burial and he told Boudry to take the British soldiers watch from his wrist and carry on burying him.

Unfortunately the book does not quote a source for this account ofther than the French witness's nor is there an account of any witness's seeing the de-capitated bodies. Does anyone have anymore information on this incident?

Regards
Andy

 

To say I'm pleasantly surprised is an under statement. I got an email today from the author after emailing his agent.

It's pleasing to hear that there are some author's out there who are willing to discuss their work! If only Neil Barber had been that caring!

 

Just before the fall of St Valery and the collapse of the 51st Highland Div. there were many reports of German Doctors armed with weapons more than for the use of personal protection and reports of German ambulances being used to move German troops to the frontline prior to engaging the British.

It appears that as well as the Germans using the emblem of the Red Cross to their advantage they also so little regard for what the emblem stood for when confronted with British field ambulances.

In Sean Longdon's Dunkirk he says that a ambulance transporting wounded men from the Warwickshire Regiment were murdered when it came under attack from German Soldiers. The stretcher bound men were left inside and the doors were locked by the Germans who then proceeded to set fire to the ambulance and burn the men alive.

I wonder if this incident is linked with the Wormhoult massacre being of the same regiment? Perhaps these were some of the wounded with the chaps that ended up in the barn.

 

I'm currently Reading 'Dunkirk-The Men They Left Behind' and the author covers some of the war crimes committed against captured soldiers and the obvious two at Le Paradis and Wormhoult are covered in a little detail but he goes on to describe an incident at Colpaert Farm as one of the 'bloodiest'.

One of the surviving witness's, a Madame Ghoris reported that she saw a German unit, under the command of an Officer she knew as Oberleutnant von Pingsaft, find four British soldiers in a barn at Colpaert Farm. Of the four soldiers one was badly wounded and required two sticks to walk. Forced to March with their hands in the air and beaten with batons when they did not comply. At this point the locals were ordered into the houses so as not to witness what happened next. Madame Ghoris goes on to say that a short time later three Germans came into the house and asked for water to wash blood from their blood soaked hands and arms. The Germans told her they had just cut the four British soldiers heads off.

Denise Besegher was also in the house and she remembered one of the Germans was carrying a bayonet that was covered in blood along with his hands. He too asked for water, soap and towels to clean himself and told them that the four 'Tommies' had had their throats slit and made a gesture with his finger from one ear to another.

A local miller by the name Archille Boudry was forced to bury the bodies of British soldiers killed in earlier fighting around the farm. When Boudry noticed that one of the soldiers was still alive, he reported his findings to a German who was supervising the burial and he told Boudry to take the British soldiers watch from his wrist and carry on burying him.

Unfortunately the book does not quote a source for this account ofther than the French witness's nor is there an account of any witness's seeing the de-capitated bodies. Does anyone have anymore information on this incident?

Regards
Andy

I received some official files from Brian (ADM199) via Kew yesterday and after reading them regarding this incident (The interviews and statements) it appears that it was all 'Hearsay' as no one 'actually witnessed' the incident.

I'll re-check the statemnets and post them if anyone is interested in reading them?

Regards
Andy

 

Some of the file pages related to the alledged beheading of British Soldiers: