Remains of five Nazi soldiers discovered

Remains of five Nazi soldiers killed on D-Day are discovered in France | Mail Online

The ghostly remains of five Nazi soldiers gunned down by the British on D-Day have been uncovered in northern France.

The grave was found on May 8th by an amateur historian investigating the battlefield around Bavent, seven miles north east of Caen.

The town is even closer to the fabled Pegasus Bridge, where the first troops to land on D-Day were from D-Company, 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, in a 6th Airborne Division glider.

It will now be up to archeologists to establish whether the newly discovered Germans died fighting airborne soldiers, or in a combined air and sea bombardment.

An exhumation will soon take place, with the soldiers likely to be buried in the German military cemetery at La Cambe , near Bayeux. Efforts will also be made to trace any surviving family.

 

it's good to hear that five more men will finally get a proper grave

 

agreed.

 

Here here, my sentiments exactly.

My only gripe about this story is that it is titled by the news agency: five NAZI soldiers..... instead of five GERMAN soldiers.... When will these damned reporters and such will get it straight? My Brother is the same way. Just because someone was a German-they are automatically a nazi :-(

 

that is so very true Carl, i can't count how many times i've seen titles of newspaper articles or information about television programs, where they describe the germans as "Nazi soldiers" ...... then after reading/viewing the actual contant, find no mention of party members/ss units in it.

I have to say - this really 'grinds my gears' as it puts a tarnish on all german soldiers and units, from the wehrmacht, KM and LW to the old WW1 vets, and is a real shame because it is educating people with wrong, narrow-minded information!

(I will stop ranting now)




.

 

That German/Nazi thing is a very delicate issue... No doubt that it was NAZI Germany the one that fought WWII. Those names can't be separated. And still, it is a generalisation.

I actually witnessed a very interesting episode which got me thinking. A lecture about the Holocaust by two Jewish survivors, a German and a Pole.

The German Jew, who fled Germany in 1938, at seventeen, for the USA. There, he later joined the Army and suffered some kind of trauma for being obligued to shoot his countrymen, Germans like him. Afterwards, he participated in the liberation of the camp his brother was in. The rest of the family had been murdered.

The Pole, a veteran of the Polish Army and an inmate in Auschwitz, saw 115 members of his family assassinated. He did no distinction between German and Nazi, thus severely upsetting the German...

Then I understood and wondered at the same time. There was NO distinction for the Pole. It was Germans under Hitler, Nazi or not, the ones who invaded Poland and killed his family! And of course there was a distinction for the German, who was raised a German in Germany, despite other Germans considering him and his family an 'alien'. He was a German and a Jew, not a Nazi!

I think it is very, very complex problem...

 

Andy and Carl,

I am on the same page as well... assuming their affiliation to the Nazi party is the first mistake. Following through with their ignorance is the second... great article, and like Slip said... curious to see if there are any family members still around

special

 

Friedrich,

complex problem is right... it's all on perspective I guess. It's clearly evident between the German and Pole. Thank you for sharing. Very interesting

special

 

Good old Daily Mail yet again - 'Nazis gunned down'. Reads a bit like those Commando war comics we all read as kids in the 1960s.....

But moving on from that, as others have quite rightly pointed out, it's fitting that the soldiers can now be buried correctly. The German War Graves Commission is very efficient - let's hope the fallen men can be identified.

 

Thanks Gents. I guess it is up to us here to "set-the-record-straight" for others. I got accused of being a nazi once-by an idiotic lady who worked at Barnes and Nobles Bookstore in Courpus CHristi-all just because the titles I was interested in purchasing--all had to do with the Waffen SS. anic:

 

This over-sensitivity is creeping. It did used to be that this misplaced label was only applied to Germans with an interest, now it seems more folk across a greater area are making it.

People seem to not only be willing to judge a book by it's cover, but also judge a reader by their bookshelves...

 

They did fight for the German government. They did have swastika's on their helmets and gear,they took part in the wars of aggression and many in the slaughter of civilians.

Where they members of the Nazi party? Not all,but the soldiers in the Wehrmacht did fight to serve the interests of the Nazi Party.

NO matter how you label them, the fact is that they waged aggressive war on nation's that were guilty of nothing, but of location.

 

You know what REALLY sucks? My father's mom (my grandmother) was half German, half British during WWII. AND, she lived in Britain. Sucked for her. She was quarantined, I believe.

 

This kind of thing happens here in Brazil too. You have to be really cautious when dealing with anything refering to Nazi Germany. I mean anything.

 

May they rest in peace, as they are no longer enemies. Death men deserve a decent grave, whether friends of foes, especially after all those years.

 

One can only imagine how many more of such graves exist.

 

Well said-just earned 27 reps and--that's why I make it a point to NOT be p.c-ever. :-D Loons like that lady NEED to be put into their place ;-)

 

Okay, here is another one who is lumping in all of the men and women who served in the WEHRMACHT-lumping indiscriminately the ones who served honorably-with those who were scum-of-the-Earth-which is TOTALLY wrong. Apparently you have never met any WWII German Vets-like I and so many here have.

So-I am also making an assumption here that in your opinion-EVERY man who served in a Waffen SS Combat unt-that somehow these men will be confused with the scum who ran Concentration Camps and such. You just CANNOT do that and still be correct. What's next? lumping in all Uboat vets into the same catagory (which as far as I knpw-has NEVER been proven beyond any reasonable doubt-that allegedly ONE Uboat Commander took it upon himself to machinegun survivors of a ship being torpedoed. This so-called and VERY aleged incident-has never been proven as fact-and if it ever does become a fact-you still cannot lump in every man and woman who served in the wartime Navy-(aka) the Kriegsmarine, in with this alleged batch of men-and only around 40-50 men out of a possible some 40,000 men who served on uboats and in which some 30,000++ were killed in action. How DARE you-especially when you do not speak with any great factual knowledge and also since YOU-do not know any uboat vets-I happen to know many-and several were either Recipients of the German Cross in Gold, and or also Recipients of the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross-which is the WWII equivillent to the Imperial Pour le Merite.

Also, for a chance to not get future chewings out-do NOT lump in all Waffen SS veterans in with scum like the trash that served in the Dirlwanger Brigade or other trashy units such as they are/were.

Do not get my wrong-nor confused-I do NOT and never will concur with the killings of innocent Soldiers and Civilians-as well, do not confuse yourself and think for even a split second that I am defending those wo do not deserve to be defended-scum like Mohnke and others-deserved nothing more than to be shot out of hand. However, I am and have been friends with several Waffen SS RKTs and other Vets-and you cannot place these men who served honorably and bravely-in with the gutter trash from the Dirlwanger and Kaminsky Brigades as well as most of the ones who staffed Concentration Camps and such.

Not that I m bashing you for your opinions based on lack of factual knowledge on such things-but-I will to my dying day-I WILL always defend those men who do not deserve to be compared with scum such as those few examples I named above. I personally know way toomany WWII German Veterans who do not deserve to be lumped in together with nazis and war criminals.

For sake of avoiding future chewings outs not only from me but from potential others-open your eyes to reality and do some research on matters such as these. I also hope you realize that many who served in the various branches of the Wehrmacht-which covers the German Army (Heer) the German Navy (Kriegsmarine) the German Airforce (Luftwaffe) and the German Waffen SS (Armed SS) and not to be confused with the Allgemeine SS (General SS) and the ones who wore the black uniform. Also, many members of the General SS-also served with honor-even though many of their Comrades-did not.

Not all nazis were scumbags. I knew several and was friends with a few of them. These Vets served with honor in various units and on ships in the Army-Navy and Waffen SS. To the best of my knowledge-I have never known any Luftwaffe Vet that had been a nazi at onetime or another-and had only known ONE man who served in the Kriegsmarine-uboat arm of that branch of service-who had at onetime been a member of the nazi party-but on entering service with the navys submarine arm-had to quit the nazi party-or he could not have served with the uboat arm of the wartime navy. This man was Uboat Ace and Recipient of not only the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross-but also the Oak Leaves (which means that he was a double recipient of this highest combar bravery award) and also a recipient of the Swords (making him a triple recipient of the Knights Cross) as well as a Diamonds recipient-making him as being only 1 of 27 men-who won the equivillent of being awarded the Knight Cross-four times. One does NOT win this award once-let alone FOUR times-if one is A) A war Criminal, B) a coward.

Thats about all I have to say about this for now.

Have a nice and sun-shiney day.

PS, I am the Great reat great Nephew to a few Civil War heroes, one of which was a General who commanded Union Forces and whom eventually became President of these United States, Great great great Cousin of a Confederate Colonel, Grandson of a man who got his American Citizenship fighting as a Doughboy in France in WWI, and then serving as a Merchant Marine SHips Captain in WWII, Son of a Man who served in both WWII in the Army Aircorps as a Ball Turret Gunner in B-17s-then also served in the Korean War in an Airforce Weather Detachement-and also who singly-handedly captured about a dozen or so, Chinese Soldiers who had been on the same small hill as his detachment was on-whose sole duty was that of detecting and forecasting weather conditions in Korea, Nephew os a man who served in the Army and whose most famous commanding officer was Simon Bolivar Buckner, Nephew of a US Navy Captain who served in the South Pacific, Nephew of a man who served in the Army's 101st Airborn Division who saw action starting with their jump on D-Day-then later during Operation Market Garden-then served in Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge-where he was wounded-recovered an saw action in Germany before the end of the war, and finally, Cousin to a man who served and fought in the Vietnam War. I only posted this part because I don't want you to erroronously think that I believed in what Hitler and his henchmen believed in. I loathe what they stood for. However, as many men I am frend s with or had corresponded with, I WILL defend these men till the date I pass away on-whenevethehellthatis? My best living friend in Germany is a WWII Uboat veteran and Recipeint of the German Cross in Gold-Herr Karl Kaiser-who God willing-will turn 90 come this September. I look at this man and feel for him-exactly as if he was one of my Grandfathers-or a surrogate Father-if the least. This man lost his only Son-due to an automobile accident many years ago-and I try to do things for him-like a Son should do for their Grandfather-or-Father. Because of this-if you wish to hate my guts or call me a nazi-then erroniously do so. It will never make me sway my thoughts and feelings towards these vets/friends of mine.

i might have had other relatives who served in WWII-but I do not know who they could have been?

 

Given that a third of the Waffen SS' original core of men came from Eicke's Totenkopfverbände or from the Leibstandarte (which after the 'Night of the Long Knives' already had quite a bit of blood to answer for) and afterwards from the lines of police and Allgemeine SS... Given that the concentration, labour and extermination camps' personnel was incorporated to the Waffen SS in 1942, that convalescent soldiers from the Waffen SS did 'guard' duties in the camps...

Why? Because Das Reich's men didn't rape anyone at Oradour makes them better than the men of the Dirlewanger brigade at Warsaw (which, by the way, it might interest you, medal-buff, got Dirlewanger himself a Knight's Cross)?

Again, Carl, you seem to think that there was such a clear, distinctive line between the two, when there wasn't, at least until the massive expansion of the Waffen SS after 1943. Do you know that Allgemeine SS and security forces (Gestapo, SD, Kripo et al.) had the Felgrau uniforms of the Waffen SS from late '41 onwards and held ranks in the Waffen SS too?

And all may be reduced to the many men who didn't take part in any kind of attrocity, which is true and admirable, and yet they fought 'honourably and bravely' to make Hitler's dream a reality (a criminal war of agression). The longer those men held their ground, the more Soviets, Americans and British they killed, the longer Himmler and Eichmann could have their trains rolling.