farmhouse against an attack by Waffen-SS forces in the village of Le Paradis. After running out of ammunition, the defenders surrendered to the German troops. The Germans machine-gunned the men after they surrendered, with survivors killed with bayonets. Two men survived with injuries, and were hidden by locals until they were captured by German forces several days later. After the war, Knöchlein was tried for war crimes by a British military court. He was found guilty, sentenced to death, and executed in 1949. Chasselay area murders Thereafter, the division worked together with Großdeutschland Division to carry out racially motivated murders of hundreds of captured black African members of the French Army. They murdered captured black soldiers on account of their race, which they believed to merit their separation and execution. For example, on 19 and 20 June 1940, Totenkopf and Großdeutschland together carried out a series of massacres of captured African soldiers in the Chasselay area, murdering about captured 100 Senegalese Tirailleurs. They are today buried in the Tata of Chasselay. Commanders SS-Oberführer Max Simon was the "official" commander (on paper) of the 3rd SS-Panzer Division from 26 February 1943 to 22 October 1943, but in reality it was SS-Oberführer Hermann Priess who commanded the division in the field during those dates. Organisation The main organisation structure of this SS formation was as follows: See also List of Waffen-SS divisions SS Panzer Division order of battle Waffen-SS in popular culture References Notes Bibliography External links Pride of the Fatherland: The Impact of Nazi Ideology on SS Division Totenkopf, Penn State baccalureate thesis 03 1939 establishments in Germany Military units and formations established in 1939 Panzer divisions of the Waffen-SS Panzergrenadier divisions of the Waffen-SS Military units and formations disestablished in 1945