Fritz Posted April 14 Author Share Posted April 14 Norway, April 1940 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz Posted April 26 Author Share Posted April 26 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz Posted May 3 Author Share Posted May 3 Today’s item of interest is one of the most poignant German posters that was put up in Jersey during the whole of the Occupation. It was announcing the execution of Francois Scorned by firing squad. Not only did it tell of his execution but it served as a massive warning to the Islanders as to what might happen to them if they were to attempt to escape. Below is some additional information from the internet which might be of interest. Francois Scornet was one of a group of 16 young Frenchmen who, inspired by a radio broadcast by exiled French leader General Charles de Gaulle in 1940, set sail in an open boat from the north-Brittany port of Dourduff on 13 December 1940 aiming to reach England and join the Free French forces. Some had not even told their parents that they were leaving. Their escape was beset with bad weather which destroyed their navigational equipment and when they eventually sighted land, they mistook the Guernsey coast for the Isle of Wight and sailed into Vazon Bay jubilantly yet foolhardly singing the Marseillese. They were arrested by German troops and sent to Jersey where they were eventually tried by a German war court. Scornet was identified as the ringleader and, together with three others, was sentenced to death. In the event only Scornet was executed and the other members of the party had their sentences reduced to life imprisonment and were sent to prison in Caen and then to camps in Germany. On 17th March 1941 Francois Scornet (21) was taken from the Grand Hotel where he had been held. He was loaded into a lorry together with a German firing squad, a French priest and a coffin. At St Ouen’s Manor he was tied to a tree and was executed shouting ‘Vive La France’. Scornet’s parents were sent for to witness his execution and Catholic priest Pere Mare was asked to administer the last rites as the unfortunate young Frenchmen was put before a firing squad for ‘wilfully supporting England in the war against the German Empire’. In the final letter he was allowed to write to his parents he said:”I believe the end of my existence has come. I will die for France, bravely facing the enemy.” Scornet was buried in Almorah Cemetery in St Helier but following the Liberation his remains were exhumed and on 18 September 1945 a solemn mass was celebrated at St Thomas’ Church by Pere Mare, attended by island dignitaries, becore the young Frenchman’s remains were returned to Brittany for burial in his native town. Quelle: Channel Island Military Museum 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz Posted May 13 Author Share Posted May 13 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz Posted May 13 Author Share Posted May 13 Erwin Rommel studies a map with his staff officers in North Africa in August, 1942 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz Posted May 14 Author Share Posted May 14 Oberst, später Generalmajor Hans Herbert Witthöft. Kommandeur 86. Infanterie-Division, XXI. AK, General der Sicherungstruppen Heeresgruppe B, Befehlshaber Venetianische Küste 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz Posted May 29 Author Share Posted May 29 Engelbert Endras (U-46) and Erich Topp (U-552) with French girls in the Scheherazade club. - France, 1941 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz Posted June 26 Author Share Posted June 26 Obermaschinist Rudolf Zolk, Besatzung U 123, Kapitänleutnant Hardegen 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz Posted June 29 Author Share Posted June 29 Am Nachmittag des 4. Mai 1945 begann der letzte Fliegerangriff des WWII in Europa durch die Britische Marine (Operation Judgement). 44 Grumman Avenger und Wildcat Flugzeuge griffen den Marinestützpunkt der deutschen U-Bootwaffe in Kilbotn / Norwegen an. Sie versenkten das Stützpunktschiff "Black Watch", das Versorgungsschiff "Senja" und das U-Boot "U-711", das 2h davor aus dem Operationsgebiet Murmansk in Kilbotn eingelaufen war. 32 Mann von U-711, die bereits auf das Stützpunktschiff übergesetzt hatten, starben bei der Versenkung der "Black Watch". Die restlichen 11 Mann (inkl. dem Kommandanten, OLtzS Hans-Günter Lange), die auf dem Boot verblieben waren, konnten zwar das U-Boot losmachen, aber seine Versenkung nicht verhindern. Diese 11 Mann waren die einzigen, die von der Besatzung von U-711 gerettet wurden. Das U-Boot U-427, das ebenfalls aus dem Operationsgebiet Murmansk (schwer beschädigt) nach Kilbotn eingelaufen war (laut KTB um 15:25h am 3. Mai 1944) hatte trotz dieser Beschädigungen noch am gleichen Abend kehrt gemacht (ohne anzulegen) und war nach Narvik weitergefahren. Mein Vater, der Kommandant von U-427, Carl Gabriel Gudenus, erzählte mir, dass er diese Entscheidung, die offenbar sein Leben und das seiner Mannschaft gerettet hat, aus einem "Gefühl" heraus getroffen hatte, ohne sie wirklich begründen zu können. Christoph Gudenus 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz Posted June 29 Author Share Posted June 29 Musée de l'Armée, Paris 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz Posted July 10 Author Share Posted July 10 3. SS-Totenkopf probably 1940/41 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz Posted July 31 Author Share Posted July 31 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz Posted August 6 Author Share Posted August 6 Kurt Bischof, 1924-2013 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz Posted August 10 Author Share Posted August 10 Arnheim, September 1944, photo by Leutnant Erwin Seeger 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz Posted August 15 Author Share Posted August 15 Oberfeldwebel Oberfeldwebel Karl Bauer (1914-1966) aus Mergelstetten von der Füsilier-Kompanie 541 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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