WW2: The Texel Uprising

Warfare

In the dying days of the Second World War, a group of Georgians rose up against their German overlords on the Dutch island of Texel. Thousands of Georgians served in the Soviet forces during World War II and when captured and given the choice to “starve or fight”, some took up the German offer to don Wehrmacht uniforms.

When the opportunity arose in April 1945, these Georgians rose up and slaughtered their German captors, seizing control of the island. In just a few hours, they massacred some 400 German officers using knives and bayonets to avoid raising the alarm. Dan is joined by author Eric Lee to hear how he uncovered this little known story, about the retaliation ordered by Hitler and about the end to the slaughter when Canadian forces landed on the island 12 days later.