By late May 1940, hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers found themselves trapped in an ever-shrinking pocket around the French port of Dunkirk. Relentlessly harassed by both ground and air, they engaged in a bitter fight to hold the Dunkirk perimeter, ultimately saving more than 300,000 men from death or capture. Those remarkable feats achieved in one of the most famous episodes of WW2 did not come for free. Thousands of men lost their lives or liberty, and hundreds more, unfortunate enough to fall into the hands of the notorious SS would be killed even after the fighting had stopped. This is the story of one such group, who fell victim to the SS Totenkopf Division in what became known as the ‘Le Paradis Massacre’.

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Le Paradis Massacre website - (http://www.leparadismassacre.com/)
A fantastic and highly detailed set of resources covering the events of 27th May 1940, including:

Multiple Veteran Accounts
War Crimes Trials Affidavits and Cross-Examination Files
Battalion War Diaries
Various related images and military records


Written References:
C. Jolly, The Vengeance of Private Pooley (1956)
R. Lane, Last Stand at Le Paradis (2009)
J. Murland, The Battle for the Escault 1940 (2016)
B. Shape, Massacre & Murder in Le Paradis (2012)



General Sources:
Imperial War Museum Sound Archive (IWMSA)
US National Archives (NARA)
War Diaries of the Battalions (NMP)
British Newspaper Archive (BNA)
The National Archives, Kew (TNA)
Google Earth Pro & Web Versions
Maptiler Pro (Desktop Version)
Bundesarchiv (Images)
- Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-720-0303-22 / Vennemann, Wolfgang / CC-BY-SA 3.0
- Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1980-072-33 / Voigt / CC-BY-SA 3.0
- Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-009-0869-12A / Schröter / CC-BY-SA 3.0
- Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-065-2302-20 / Koch / CC-BY-SA 3.0
- Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-720-0303-21 / Vennemann, Wolfgang / CC-BY-SA 3.0
- Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1977-143-11 / Woscidlo, Wilfried / CC-BY-SA 3.0
- Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-055-1570-06A / Weber, Robert / CC-BY-SA 3.0
- Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-054-1531-11 / Eckart / CC-BY-SA 3.0
Credits:
Research: Dan Hill
Script & Narration: Dan Hill
Editing: Shane Greer
Voiceovers: Hugo Salter
Thumbnail Design: Linus Klassen
Image Optimization: Linus Klassen
Music & Sound Effects: Epidemic Sounds