Massacre in the Abbaye d'Ardenne
In the massacre in the Abbaye d'Ardenne near Caen on June 7th and 8th, 1944, 18 Canadian prisoners were executed by the Waffen SS during Operation Overlord . As a result, there were further killings of prisoners of war on both the Allied and German sides .
procedure
One day after the Allied landing in Normandy referred on June 7 standartenführer Kurt Meyer , commander of the 25th SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment of the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitler Youth" , his headquarters in the Abbaye d'Ardenne , a medieval abbey near the village of Villons-les-Buissons . Meyer ordered a counterattack against the Canadians of the North Nova Scotia Highlanders unit advancing in the Buron / Authie area, which was supported by tanks of the 27th Canadian Armor Regiment (the Sherbrooke Fusiliers). In the battle, which was victorious for the Germans, the Waffen-SS took numerous prisoners who were removed from the combat area. 27 prisoners were then executed between June 8th and 17th in the Abbaye d'Ardenne. The first executions took place on the night of June 7th and 8th when 11 Canadians selected from the group were shot; on June 8th, seven more Canadians were shot dead after questioning at Meyer's headquarters, all of them shot in the head one after the other. They all shook hands again before the execution. The main witness of the executions was the Polish SS soldier Jan Jesionek. Most of the bodies were not discovered until the spring of 1945. It is believed that two other Canadians were executed at the abbey on June 17th. The Abbaye d'Ardenne was abandoned a month later, on the night of July 8th to 9th, after a successful attack by Canadians of the Regina Rifles Regiment.
Legal processing
In total, soldiers of the "Hitler Youth" division killed 187 Canadian prisoners in the first days of the invasion alone, 156 according to other sources. Kurt Meyer had to answer to court for the executions in December 1945; although he denied complicity, he was sentenced to death, but that sentence was commuted to life imprisonment; The Canadian Major General Christopher Vokes, who himself had ordered the killing of two prisoners, but was prevented by his division commander, apparently influenced this reduction in sentences.
Commemoration
A memorial was erected near the abbey to commemorate the murdered Canadian soldiers, consisting of a wooden cross with a niche in which there is a statue of the Virgin Mary; a Canadian steel helmet is attached to the cross. Children from the village of Authie decorate the site with flowers every year. In 1984 a bronze memorial plaque was placed with the following inscription:
“On the night of June 7/8, 1944, 18 Canadian soldiers were murdered in this garden while being held here as prisoners of war. Two more prisoners died here or nearby on June 17. They are dead but not forgotten. "
“On the night of June 7th to 8th, 1944, 18 Canadian prisoners of war were murdered in this garden. Two other prisoners died here or nearby on June 17th. You are dead, but not forgotten. "
The result: more war crimes
In the battle area around Caen , however, the Canadians also shot German prisoners. According to Antony Beevor , as early as June 8th, members of the Canadian Inns of Court Regiment killed some German prisoners who refused to sit in an unprotected position on the hoods of Canadian vehicles, contrary to the Geneva Convention. In retaliation, the 26th Panzer Grenadier Regiment, also belonging to the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitler Youth", shot three Canadian prisoners.
In the period that followed, the battles between the SS “Hitler Youth” division and the Canadians, who repeatedly clashed, were fought with extreme severity. According to Beevor, on July 4th there was a battle for both sides over the village of Carpiquet west of Caen between the SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment 26 and the French-Canadian Régiment de la Chaudière. Beevor writes: “The few [German] prisoners were treated very brutally after the bitter struggle. [...] According to a Canadian source, the French Canadians of the Régiment de la Chaudière raged like berserkers at dawn. They cut the throat of every SS man they met, whether wounded or dead. '”Beevor also quotes an officer:“ On that day, prisoners were not taken from either side. ”
Beevor also refers to the battle for the road to Falaise on August 8th and 9th: Among the 1,327 German prisoners who were brought into the hinterland by the II. Canadian Corps, only eight SS men were from the SS div, which the Canadians hated . "Hitler Youth" was. Despite the SS soldiers who usually fight fanatically, this detail should give food for thought, said Beevor.
Individual evidence
- ^ Antony Beevor, D-Day. The Battle of Normandy, p. 199. C. Bertelsmann Verlag, Munich 2010, C. Bertelsmann Verlag. ISBN 978-3-570-10007-3 .
- ^ Antony Beevor, D-Day, p. 198.
- ^ Antony Beevor, D-Day, pp. 288f.
- ^ Antony Beevor, D-Day, p. 460.