"The Dishoek Affair" Topic

"…After the amphibious landing near Westkapelle on November 1st, 1944, the following day, Zoutelande had been liberated on 2 November by 48 RM Commando. Actually 47 Commando under Lt. Col. Phillips should have taken over already before Zoutelande but they were very much divided during the landings and ended up at the wrong positions. Therefore they took over only after Zoutelande, advanced favorably, apart from some resistance by snipers and some more serious resistance at the ‘dragon's teeth' at Valkenisse. It was there that a few losses occurred.
Around 17:00 the attack was launched on the W11 in the Dishoek area. [W11 was one of a series of German fortified coastal batteries. FB]. The resistance here was that heavy that allies had to withdraw to a platform where before a searchlight had been mounted. There they spent the night. Several dead and wounded had resulted from the attack. During the night two counterattacks from German patrols took place but were rebuked. Around 08:30 in the morning of November 3rd, the assault was resumed. The battle raged until approximately 11:30 after which the last Germans surrendered.

In "De Wete" of 1981 (issue nr. 4) Mr. W.P. Roose presents a photograph of a grave of 13 Germans. Followed by a report of an investigation that has been based mainly on eyewitness reports of Dutchmen who lived in the Dishoek area at the time and from people that were involved in the matter because of their professional occupation. Mr. W .P. Roose draws the conclusion from this research that the Germans had been killed by their own people in order to end the battle.
A couple of years later H. Houterman and H. Sakkers publish their own vision in their book "De Atlantikwall in Zeeland en Vlaanderen". They accuse 47 RM Commando of the shooting of the Germans because of their frustration at the confused amphibian landings, the non-liberation of Zoutelande and the suffered losses and casualties during the heavy resistance in the battle for the W11. They launch however a weakly reasoned case, nothing indicates that there has been a profound investigation.

But, dear reader, this does not concern a cheap detective-paperback in which an amateur ventilates his self made theories. It concerns a shooting incident of killing 13 Germans that had surrendered and were disarmed. This is in flagrant conflict with the Convention of Geneva and therefore a very serious accusation. Only in 2001 the British provided an answer. Because "De Atlantikwall in Zeeland en Vlaanderen" has only been published in Dutch they were only very late informed about the accusations and also they did not want to endanger their good relations with the Walcheren inhabitants. Later on the accusations became more specific by the introduction of an anonymous witness and Lt.Col. Phillips became personally attacked. The book by J. Forfar "From Omaha to the Scheldt" has been published in English only and coincidentally because the Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant (PZC) [ The Provincial Newspaper] dedicates an article on 12 January 2002 to the book, its existence becomes known here. That article however does not comment on the contents of the book with which the author defends himself in chapter 15 against the accusations by H. Houterman and H. Sakkers.
I will list the arguments used in both books item by item hereafter and provide the relevant comment. In order to not repeat the titles of the books I will use H/S for the book of H. Houterman and H. Sakkers and J/F for the book of J. Forfar. In J/F a letter by H. Houterman has been included in which he presents an anonymous witness…"
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