Oignies and Courrières massacre

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Modern-day view of the town hall in Oignies

The Oignies and Courrières massacre was a mass killing of French civilians perpetrated by German forces in the mining village of Oignies and nearby town of Courrières, both in Nord-Pas de Calais, on 28 May 1940 amid the Battle of France. Depending on sources, the number of killings is reckoned at 114[1] or 124.[2]

The unit responsible for the atrocity was the 487th Infantry Regiment[3] of the 267th Infantry Division.[4] Altogether, it is thought a total of 500 French civilians were murdered by German forces in Nord-Pas de Calais in May 1940.[5]

Massacres[edit]

Oignies and Courrières were located in the Nord-Pas de Calais coal mining basin east of the city of Lens. The two towns were separated by the Deûle canal with Oignies on its western side and Courrières a short distance on the east. At the time, Courrières was best known in France as the site of a massive 1906 mining disaster in which 1,200 miners had been killed.[6]

Courrières[edit]

German forces reached Courrières on 24 May and attempted to cross the Deûle to reach Oignies. There was only one surviving bridge between the two towns known as the Pont de la Batterie.[6] The sector was held by the French 106th Colonial Infantry Regiment and 11th Zouaves Regiment [fr] as well as a British unit, the 2/5 Battalion, Sherwood Foresters.

As they attempted to cross, German forces came under unexpectedly heavy attack from Moroccan and Senegalese troops who successfully beat back several attempted crossings on 24 and 26 May.[6] German forces decided that their failure was due to local civilians at Courrières passing information to the French and possible attacks by alleged francs-tireurs.[6]

Modern-day view of the Église Saint-Piat in Courrières, dating to 1534. The bell tower survived the burning in May 1940.[7]

Although most of the civilian population were sheltering in cellars and basements, German soldiers massacred four local civilians on the street on 27 May.[6] Early on 28 May, they took roughly a dozen civilians hostage and sought to use them as human shields to protect German artillery pieces near the bridge.[8] The same day began systematically burnt the town. The historian Jean-Marie Fossier writes that "Groups of soldiers went street to street. Methodically, they threw incendiary grenades into the houses."[8] According to post-war estimates, 951 buildings were totally destroyed and 220 partially destroyed out of a pre-war total of 1,605.[9] Three schools, the town hall, several other civic buildings, and the historic local church were among the buildings destroyed.[8] Several civilians were shot, bayonetted, or died in the fire.[8]

Between 38[1] or 46[9] were killed executed by German forces in Courrières. 22 of these were inhabitants of the town, while the remainder were refugees caught up in the Exodus. The historian writes "In one courtyard, nearly 20 men were gathered. Several were retirees. One had been wounded by a bullet. There were also several Algerians. They were made to dig a large pit after a pretend judgment." They were then killed with machine-gun fire and buried. Later excavation suggested that some had been buried alive.[8]

Oignies[edit]

Entering Oignies on 28 May, the historian Fabrice Virgili writes that "as soon as the German soldiers surrounded the area, executions, pillaging, and destruction followed. Eighty inhabitants, including ten women, were killed, shot for the most part, and the village was practically destroyed." A number of women were raped.[10] The Polish priest Jean Chodura was killed, as were several Polish mineworkers killed in Oignies and nearby Ostricourt.[11] Many of those killed with aged and invalids.[12] The historian Jean-Marie Fossier write: "In each street, the same scenes were repeated. Houses were gone through from top to bottom, the people thrown violently into the streets, beaten with blows. The men were sometimes the machine-guns or bayonetted infront of the horrified eyes of women and children; others were taken and everwhere were found tortured corpses."[12] Moroccan and Senegalese soldiers were also killed, with some found decapitated.[12]

The victims at Oignies were largely local residents who accounted for 70 of the dead. Aside from four unknown individuals and some refugees from the surrounding region, there were also a number of prisoners of war.[13]

70 local inhabitants in Oignies were killed in addition to refugees from nearby towns, four unknown individuals, French, North African, and British prisoners of war.[13] 400 buildings were burnt at Oignies.[4][14]

Commemoration[edit]

Modern-day view of the mausoleum at Oignies

The officer accused of instigating the massacre was Hauptmann Horst Kolrep. He was brought before the Tribunal at Metz in October 1950.[15] Three other men, Ferdinand Holscher, Hans Kurt Höcker, and Paul Hemmers, were tried in absentia. All four individuals were convicted and Kolrep was sentenced to death. Holscher and Höcker were both sentenced to death, while Hemmers received a 20-year sentence.[15] Kolrep was executed by firing squad on 1 June 1951. Despite requests by the French government, the West German government refused to extradite the three officers convicted in absentia.[16]

The atrocities at Oignies and Courrières were not the only massacres of French and Belgian civilians committed in the course of the campaign in May and June 1940. Across Nord-Pas de Calais, the SS Panzer Division Totenkopf perpetrated a number of massacres of 92 people at Aubigny-en-Artois and 45 at Vandelicourt both on 22 May, and a further 48 at Beuvry on 24 May.[1] Across the Belgian frontier at Vinkt, Wehrmacht troops of the 225th Infantry Division murdered 86 civilians on 27 May.[1]

The victims in Oignies are commemorated by a mausoleum inaugurated in 1947 by the French President Vincent Auriol who also declared it a "martyr town" (ville martyre).[17] A major road was renamed rue des 80 fusiliés.[18]

At Courrières, a memorial was inaugrated in 1964.[9] The town was also awarded the Croix de Guerre with Palms in 1948.[9]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Lieb 2007, p. 518.
  2. ^ Le Maner, Yves (1994). "L'invasion de 1940 dans le Nord-Pas-de-Calais". Revue du Nord. 76 (306): 479. doi:10.3406/rnord.1994.4921.
  3. ^ Shepherd, Ben (2016). Hitler's Soldiers: The German Army in the Third Reich. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 77. ISBN 9780300219524.
  4. ^ a b Leleu, Jean-Luc (2001). "La division SS-Totenkopf face à la population civile du Nord de la France en mai 1940". Revue du Nord. 342 (4): 831. doi:10.3917/rdn.342.0821.
  5. ^ Le Maner, Yves (1994). "L'invasion de 1940 dans le Nord-Pas-de-Calais". Revue du Nord. 76 (306): 479. doi:10.3406/rnord.1994.4921.
  6. ^ a b c d e Fossier 1977, p. 29.
  7. ^ "Eglise paroissiale Saint-Piat". Plateforme ouverte du patrimoine. French Ministry of Culture. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  8. ^ a b c d e Fossier 1977, p. 30.
  9. ^ a b c d Stévenot, Frédéric (20 February 2021). "Courrières (Pas-de-Calais), mai 1940" (in French). Le Maitron. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  10. ^ Virgili, Fabrice (2016). "Les viols commis par l'armée allemande en France (1940-1944)". Vingtième Siècle. Revue d'histoire. 130 (2): 103–120. doi:10.3917/ving.130.0103.
  11. ^ Fossier 1977, pp. 30–31.
  12. ^ a b c Fossier 1977, p. 31.
  13. ^ a b Fossier 1977, p. 33.
  14. ^ "A Oignies, le mythe perdu du lieutenant Keith Davenport" (in French). Le Monde. 19 October 2002. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  15. ^ a b Fossier 1977, p. 35.
  16. ^ "1940, la bataille de France au jour le jour : 29 mai, le naufrage tragique du Crested Eagle à Zuydcoote". France 3 Hauts-de-France (in French). 2020-05-29. Retrieved 2024-04-28.
  17. ^ Stévenot, Frédéric. "Oignies et Courrières (Pas-de-Calais), 28 mai 1940". Les Fusillés 1940 - 1944. Le Maitron. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  18. ^ "Oignies: les gardiens de la mémoire du massacre du 28 mai 1940" (in French). La Voix du Nord. 27 May 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2021.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Lieb, Peter (2007). Konventioneller Krieg oder NS-Weltanschauungskrieg? Kriegführung und Partisanenbekämpfung in Frankreich 1943/44. Munich: R. Oldenbourg. ISBN 978-3-486-57992-5.
  • Fossier, Jean-Marie (1977). Zone interdite : Nord-Pas-de-Calais. Paris: Éditions Sociales. ISBN 9782402417006.

Further reading[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oignies_and_Courrières_massacre&oldid=1221147106"