Just to add, a series of murders by the 12th SS which seems to be always overshadowed by the Abbaye d'Ardenne:
The Canadian Investigation Unit (CIU) found that in a space of 10 days (7-17 Jun 44), 134 POW's were murdered by members of the 12th SS. The CIU suggested that "many more than 134" were similarly murdered after capture, however "certain proof" did not exist about these shootings.
Dring the battle at Putot-en-Bessen, the RWpgRif lost 256 men, killed, wounded and missing, in fact 118 taken prisoner.
Château d’Audrieu
The Canadian Front, 7-8 June 1944 (Map from C.P. Stacey, The Victory Campaign, Sketch 7).
The murder of Canadian POWs was not isolated to the 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade’s front. Troops from the 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade were also murdered at the hands of the 12th SS. These killings followed the fighting around Putot-en-Bessin. On the afternoon of June 8th, the 12th SS Division launched a fierce counterattack toward the positions of The Royal Winnipeg Rifles defending the village. The Winnipeg Rifles fought to hold the village but were pushed back. The German attack cut off three of their companies, A, B and C, leading to several Winnipeg Rifles soldiers being executed by the Germans near Putot. The details of their deaths are unclear as their bodies were found after Putot had been retaken by the Canadians later on the 8th.
Most of the killings took place at two locations. The first was the Château d’Audrieu.
Sturmbannführer Gerhard Bremer, commander of the 12th SS Reconnaissance Battalion, set up his headquarters in the chateau. When POWs started to arrive, Bremer, who spoke fluent English, questioned three POWs, Major Frederick Hodge (OC A Coy), Lance Corporal Austin Fuller, and Rifleman Frederick Smith. When they provided no information, they were executed. Rifleman David Gold, James Mclntosh, and William Thomas were also executed on the chateau grounds shortly after the first killings. At about 16:30, thirteen members of 9 Pl, A Coy RWpgRif were shot. Seven Canadian POWs were machine gunned near the chateau later in the day. In total, the SS murdered twenty-six Canadians at the Château d’Audrieu.
Road Junction near Fotnenay-le-Pesnel
After Putot, a relatively large number of prisoners, over 300, were taken by the Germans. Differing fates awaited each group, indeed each man. According to the interrogation of Lt Henne, the split into two groups of around 150 men. Presumably after interrogation they were split further, as one group of forty men were moved from LE-MESNILPATRY, where the headquarters of II./SS-PzGrenRgt.26 was located, before being sent further south, ie further behind German lines, towards the village of CHEUX. Escorted by their guards, the prisoners marched along small roads and dirt tracks before pausing just north of the road from CAEN to CAUMONT-L’EVENTE, just east of the small town of FONTENAYLE-PESNEL. At this point the track they were moving along intersected with the main road forming a minor crossroads. During this period there was a lot of German traffic moving along the main road towards CAEN. One vehicle stopped and an officer got out. He shouted at the escorts of the prisoners who were gathered in a group just west of the dirt track along which they had come. Several Germans approached the prisoners with machine pistols at the ready. They opened fire. Some men tried to flee to where the foliage was longer and thicker, most didn’t have any opportunity to escape. The bodies of those murdered were only discovered by chance on the 3 May 45. Lt Roger Cloutier had been tasked with the recovery of three men known to have been buried in the vicinity of the crossroads. After recovering these men with the aid of German POWs, Cloutier noticed the earth he was walking on was loose. He asked one of the Germans to dig a little and saw there was a body. Upon further investigation more bodies were found. Cloutier listed the names of 31 men, all buried in a disorganised fashion in a mass grave about 10’ long, 4’ wide and 3’ deep. Cloutier noted: “There was no evidence of careful or respectful burial and they looked just as though they had been pushed in by a bulldozer”. After exhumation, the men were identified, rolled in a blanket and then transported to the cemetery in BENY-SUR-MER, where they rest to this day. Despite a certain optimism by those investigating the crime that the perpetrators could be identified and brought to justice, no one was ever convicted of this, the largest group of many Canadian prisoners murdered in Normandy.
