Image: Memorial to Canadian prisoners of war executed in the garden of the Ardenne Abbey, in the Calvados region of Normandy in France.
Abbaye d'Ardenne Massacre
As total of 156 Canadian prisoners of war are believed to have been executed by the 12th SS Panzer Division (the Hitler Youth) in the days and weeks following the D-Day landings.
A total of 20 Canadians were executed near Villons-les-Buissons in the Abbaye d'Ardenne on June 7-8, 1944, a massive collection of mediaeval buildings, where Kurt Meyer, Commander of the 25th Panzer Grenadier Regiment (of the 12th Panzer Division), had established his headquarters.
Image: Pictures of some 16 of the 20 Canadian soldiers executed by SS Colonel Kurt Meyer at the Abbaye d'Ardenne in Caen.
Due to the heavy and intense fighting in the area, the abbey soon was overflowing with prisoners captured during and after the fighting. A total of 20 Canadian POWs were randomly chosen and sent to the chateau adjacent to the abbey, with the remainder of the prisoners were moved to Bretteville-sur-Odon.
Image: Private Charles Doucette, of the North Nova Scotia Highlanders, was among the first men to be murdered at the Abbey d'Ardenne.
Image: The Abbaye d'Ardenne.
The 20 executed Canadians were:
North Nova Scotia Highlanders
•Private Ivan Crowe
•Private Charles Doucette
•Corporal Joseph MacIntyre
•Private Reginald Keeping
•Private James Moss
•Private Walter Doherty
•Private Hollis McKeil
•Private Hugh MacDonald
•Private George McNaughton
•Private George Millar
•Private Thomas Mont
•Private Raymond Moore
27th Canadian Armoured Regiment
•Trooper James Bolt
•Trooper George Gill
•Trooper Thomas Henry
•Trooper Roger Lockhead
•Trooper Harold Philp
•Lieutenant Thomas Windsor
Kurt Meyer would be placed on trial for the Abbaye d'Ardenne executions in December 1945 and of course he denied any knowledge of any summary executions. He would be found guilty and sentenced to death -- a sentence that would later be commuted to life imprisonment. He served only eight years in a New Brunswick penitentiary, and, on September 7, 1954, was released, much to the great anger of many veterans. He died of a heart attack seven years later.
Image: North Nova Scotia Highlanders along the Orne-Vaucelles, July 18, 1944
Image: Tanks and personnel from the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitlerjugend" in formation, March 1944.
