SS troops did not take part in the thrust through the Ardennes and the river Meuse . Instead , the '' SS-Totenkopf '' was summoned from the army reserve to fight in support of '' Generalmajor '' Erwin Rommel 's 7th Panzer Division as they advanced toward the English Channel . On 21 May , the British launched an armored counterattack against the flanks of 7th Panzer Division and '' SS-Totenkopf '' . The Germans then trapped the British and French troops in a huge pocket at Dunkirk . On 27 May , 4 Company , '' SS-Totenkopf '' perpetrated the Le Paradis massacre , where 97 men of the 2nd Battalion , Royal Norfolk Regiment were machine gunned after surrendering , with survivors finished off with bayonets . Two men survived . By 28 May the '' SS-Leibstandarte '' had taken Wormhout , from Dunkirk . There , soldiers of the 2nd Battalion were responsible for the Wormhoudt massacre , where 80 British and French soldiers were murdered after they surrendered . According to historian Charles Sydnor , the " fanatical recklessness in the assault , suicidal defense against enemy attacks , and savage atrocities committed in the face of frustrated objectives " exhibited by the '' SS-Totenkopf '' division during the invasion were typical of the SS troops as a whole
Wormhoudt massacre
Wormhoudt massacre
Schutzstaffel