Memorial Execution 8 members of 2nd SAS 20 September 1944

Memorial in memory of 8 members of the 2nd Special Air Service (SAS) who were brutally executed by the Nazis on 20 September 1944.

In 1944, SAS paratroopers landed in the Vosges mountains to sabotage Nazi road and rail links as part of Operation Loyton.
However, a very large contingent of German troops were tipped off that the SAS were nearby, and assuming it was a larger group than it was, brought in sniffer dogs for the search.
Although the French Resistance provided food and shelter and refused to reveal the SAS group's hiding places, the British soldiers were eventually rounded up and held captive at Maison Barthélémy in Moussey.
On September 20, eight men in Sgt Terry-Hall's paratrooper group were wheeled into the forest of Les Moitresses in a truck, stripped of their uniforms and forced to stand in a freshly dug grave. They were then shot in the back of the head.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Danielle Meier