There are many documented stories of German civilians lynching allied airmen whose planes were shot down. Without getting into the politics/debate over the bombings and my is... did British civilians ever lynch German pilots shot down over England? What about Soviet citizens during Typhon when many planes were shot down over Moscow? Anyone have the answer? I have not seen this subject discussed anywhere and am curious to know if there are any articles/documents/books etc which discuss whether this happened or not?
Found this on another forum, but it is old and has no documentation. It is a place to start however. http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=38195 by Peter on 15 Dec 2003, 21:25 Hi this is a part of a thread I started back in January On 20 May 1940 a Messerschmitt Bf110 of 9 Staffel Zerstorergeschwader 26 was shot down by French fighters near Luchy, France. Its pilot, Uffz Wilhelm Ross (born 27 Jan 1917 at Duisburg) and gunner both baled out, the gunner landed injured and both were captured by French soldiers and civilians. The Pilot was pushed around a little and then shot in the head and killed. On 26 Aug 1940 a Heinkel He111 of 4 Staffel, Kampfgeschwader 55 based at Chartres in France was shot down by RAF fighters and was crash landed by its wounded pilot Leutnant Albert Metzger on the beach at East Wittering in Sussex. Metzger couldnt get out of the bomber due to wounds but his crew Uffz. Rudolf Schandner (Observer), Fw. Julius Urhahn (Flight Mechanic), Uffz. Rudi Paas (Radio Operator) and Flgr. Rudolf Fessel (Gunner) climbed out to surrender to A Company, 2nd Battalion, Duke of Cornwalls Light Infantry. They were all shot dead on the beach. On 15 Sep 40 a Dornier Do17Z of 1 Staffel, Kampfgeschwader 76 was shot down over London, it crashed on Victoria Station after some of the crew baled out. Oberleutnant Robert Zehbe (born 9 Dec 1913 Kiel) landed by parachute in Kennington, London. He was captured and beaten to death by a mob of civilians.
The Victoria Station Dornier incident is now well-known and there must have been others. Emotions ran high at the time and such incidents were obviously 'hushed up' during the War.
from reading books I think the Germans, either pilots, or normal soldiers were very much taught not to let the Soviets get you alive or bad things will happen. I donĀ“t know how many made suicides, or how many pilots were killed when caught, wonder if there any stats out there...
Plenty of undocumented cases out there as I have read many. Many of the allied civilians were definetely under the impression they were the last line of defense from the invaders . During the BOB home front, fear was a constant.
There were some cases of mob rule. A|t least one of the books on the battle of Britain mentions a Polish RAF pilot being lynched. However, the majority of Luftwaffe aircrew who bailed out over Britain seem to have been treated in accordance with the Geneva convention. .
I'm sure the East Wittering incident happened because the crew opened fire on the approaching British troops.
The Americans on most occasions documented captured the Luftwaffe pilots alive to gather Intel if they could and were sent to prison camps. Those of undocumented incidents I fear the worse. But a few may have been shootouts. But I would assume that if Germans would have landed in America we may have done the same thing. I only say this because non-veteran civilians have no concept of military strategy nor intelligence gathering.