Helmet from Le Paradis massacre returned to Norfolk

Some 97 men, mostly from the Royal Norfolk Regiment, were executed by the Germans in May, 1940.

They surrendered at a farm in northern France after running out of ammunition as they tried to stem the enemy advance.

A picture of the surrender at Le Paradis taken by a German soldier (Image: Public Domain) Instead of being taken prisoner, they were lined up against a wall and machine gunned by their captors.

Almost 75 years later, a farmer clearing out a barn at Le Paradis, where the atrocity happened, found two soldiers' helmets.

Now one of the items has been presented to the Royal Norfolk Regimental Museum in Norwich Castle.

Dennis O'Callaghan, son of one of the two survivors of the massacre; Kate Thaxton, curator of the Royal Norfolk Regimental Museum in Norwich and Biddy Fisher, who brought the helmet back from France pictured at the handover (Image: Peter Steward) John Head, a member of the Norfolk-based Le Paradis Commemoration Group, said: "If the helmet did not belong to one of the two survivors, O'Callaghan and Pooley, it would have belonged to one of the Norfolk soldiers who were among the 97 who died that day.

"It's the only thing that's returned home from the Norfolk soldiers who did not return.

"It's a piece of living history. It's a tremendous artefact. It means so much to Norfolk."

Dennis O'Callaghan, son of one of the two survivors of the massacre, with the helmet (Image: Nick Smith, LPCG) Dennis O'Callaghan, who lives near King's Lynn, is the son of one of the two men who survived the massacre, Bill O'Callaghan, who passed away in 1975.

He said his father never spoke about what had happened at Le Paradis and described seeing the helmet and holding it as "very emotional".

"It was actually at the massacre site, so we know it was worn by one of the soldiers who were killed in the massacre," said Mr O'Callaghan, 78. "It's very moving."

Helmets placed around the mass grave, where the soldiers were originally buried (Image: Public Domain) Helmets were placed around the mass grave where the soldiers' bodies were buried after they were killed.

They were later exhumed and laid to rest in the village cemetery.

Le Paradis was the scene of fighting during both world wars, when British soldiers wore similar "tin" helmets.

The helmet from Le Paradis, worn by an unknown soldier who died in the massacre (Image: John Head, LPCG) Mr Head said Norfolk-based military historian Neil Storey had examined the helmet and said a chin strap modification marked it down as 1930s issue, while a faded fragment of yellow marking came from the insignia of the Royal Norfolks.

MASSACRED IN COLD BLOOD

The Le Paradis massacre happened during the Battle of France as the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was retreating through the Pas-de-Calais region before the Dunkirk evacuation.

Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, the Royal Norfolk Regiment, had become isolated from their unit at a farm when they came under attack by the German Waffen-SS.

The barn where the soldiers were shot (Image: Public Domain) Some 99 British soldiers were lined up against a wall and shot, after having their ID tags removed.

But two survived the shooting. Private William O'Callaghan and Private Albert Pooley hid until they were captured by another German unit and taken to a military hospital.

British authorities first learned of the massacre in 1943, after Pte Pooley was repatriated. 

The soldiers' graves in the cemetery at Le Paradis (Image: Public Domain) Pte O'Callaghan spent the remainder of the war in a prison camp before being freed in 1945.  

Both acted as witnesses when German commander Fritz Knöchlein, who ordered the massacre, went on trial for war crimes. He was convicted and hanged in 1949.

Some 50 of the 97 dead have been identified. They lie buried in the churchyard at Le Paradis.

In 2021 a memorial stone was erected at Norwich Cathedral to commemorate the dead.