Canadian war crimes?
Canadian war crimes?
Read this in the Wiki entry for 12th HJ. " in retaliation for what Canadian soldiers did to three captured German officers by tying them to their vehicles. Two were subsequently shot and killed while passing through the lines; the third one managed to crawl back to his lines where he subsequently died 3 days later. ". Do we have any other details of this?
Re: Canadian war crimes?
This incident is described in this thread by Robwssob - 'Canadian orders 'take no prisoners'. http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... y#p1830885
Re: Canadian war crimes?
Were the officers from the 12hj? If so then its understandable. They killed hundreds of Canadian pows.
Re: Canadian war crimes?
The Officers concerned were from the Panzer Lehr Division which was not an SS Division. The incident was reported to have happened on the morning of June 8th. This is how it was recorded at the trial of Bernard Siebken a Btln commander of the Hitler-Jugend Division who stood trial post war for the killing of 3 prisoners at his Btln HQ at Le Mesnil Patry on June 9th - it was the defence's assertion that the survivor of this incident managed to get back to Siebken's command post to relay what had happened and that the killing of the 3 Allied POWs would have been done in reprisal. (Other evidence points to this order having been given to Siebken by his Regimental Commander, Wilhelm Mohnke, what is not clear is whether he needed the excuse of this incident to carry out a reprisal):
" A more serious instance of Allied violation of the rules governing the treatment of prisoners of war was cited by the defence counsel. A new witness - Count Clary-Aldrigen, formerly Regimental Adjutant in the 130th Armoured Artillery, Panzer-Lehr Division - was brought into the witness stand. This witness told the Court that on the morning of the 8 June 1944 he was taken prisoner by an armoured car patrol of the Inns of Court Regiment along with his Regimental Commander, Col. Luxenburger, one of the Btl Commanders, Major Hubert Zeissler and six other ranks. When the German officers refused to allow themselves to be used as a human shield for the British armoured cars during their drive back to the Allied side through the German lines, Col Luxenburger though seriously disabled (he had lost an arm in the Great war) was beaten unconscious by two British officers, and then bleeding all over, tied to one of the armoured cars. As the armoured cars moved off they opened fire on Count Clary, Major Zeissler*and the other German soldiers, killing them all, according to the witness, except Count Clary, who was shielded by the dead body of one of his comrades lying on top of him. While driving through the German lines from the rear, the armoured cars came under fire and the vehicle carrying Col. Luxenburger was hit by a German anti-tank gun. The Col. was wounded and died shortly afterwards. Count Clary, meanwhile regained consciousness and crawled in a severely wounded condition in the direction of the village of Le Mesnil-Patry where he was found...." {*from the divisional records , it appears that Zeissler also survived as he was recorded as alive some months later}
(Source 'Hitler's last General' Sayer and Botting p203/204)
I have no knowledge of any charges being brought against the Officers of the 'Inns of Court Regiment' for this violation. Although broadly accepted by many that SS troops were treated more harshly on surrender than Heer Divisions, there are no recorded incidents of mass killing of SS troops at that time. On the other hand, records show that there were multiple instances carried out by the HJ Division during the first days after the invasion.
There is a document which I have just received which adds to this particular story. Later that same day, the Recon Btln of the Hitler-Jugend who were at that time assigned to the Command of the Panzer Lehr Division, installed themselves in the Chataeu Audrieu. During the day a number of Canadian and British prisoners were brought, questioned and immediately executed. In July 1944 a relation of the owner of the Chateau gave evidence on what she saw that day. During her testimony she recalled that a wounded member of the Hitler-Jugend Division had arrived later that night terrified that he would be shot on capture and that he was placing them in danger of being shot by the British too. He told the witness about the shooting of a Col. as follows:
(source: British National Archives WO219/5045-044)
This seems to be connected to the incident above, if it was, it would mean that the story of what had happened that morning had swept rapidly through the lines of the German forces and it would appear that this SS soldier was convinced that he was in danger. Further evidence given showed that he asked for his SS insignia and papers to be destroyed by the witness.
There is also reason to believe that the HJ troops may have been told prior to battle that the Allies took no prisoners, whether this was because it was believed to be true or that Senior Officers felt that this would make the young soldiers fight more ferociously to the death is unclear but it has been discussed at length in the 'Canadian orders 'take no prisoners' thread.
" A more serious instance of Allied violation of the rules governing the treatment of prisoners of war was cited by the defence counsel. A new witness - Count Clary-Aldrigen, formerly Regimental Adjutant in the 130th Armoured Artillery, Panzer-Lehr Division - was brought into the witness stand. This witness told the Court that on the morning of the 8 June 1944 he was taken prisoner by an armoured car patrol of the Inns of Court Regiment along with his Regimental Commander, Col. Luxenburger, one of the Btl Commanders, Major Hubert Zeissler and six other ranks. When the German officers refused to allow themselves to be used as a human shield for the British armoured cars during their drive back to the Allied side through the German lines, Col Luxenburger though seriously disabled (he had lost an arm in the Great war) was beaten unconscious by two British officers, and then bleeding all over, tied to one of the armoured cars. As the armoured cars moved off they opened fire on Count Clary, Major Zeissler*and the other German soldiers, killing them all, according to the witness, except Count Clary, who was shielded by the dead body of one of his comrades lying on top of him. While driving through the German lines from the rear, the armoured cars came under fire and the vehicle carrying Col. Luxenburger was hit by a German anti-tank gun. The Col. was wounded and died shortly afterwards. Count Clary, meanwhile regained consciousness and crawled in a severely wounded condition in the direction of the village of Le Mesnil-Patry where he was found...." {*from the divisional records , it appears that Zeissler also survived as he was recorded as alive some months later}
(Source 'Hitler's last General' Sayer and Botting p203/204)
I have no knowledge of any charges being brought against the Officers of the 'Inns of Court Regiment' for this violation. Although broadly accepted by many that SS troops were treated more harshly on surrender than Heer Divisions, there are no recorded incidents of mass killing of SS troops at that time. On the other hand, records show that there were multiple instances carried out by the HJ Division during the first days after the invasion.
There is a document which I have just received which adds to this particular story. Later that same day, the Recon Btln of the Hitler-Jugend who were at that time assigned to the Command of the Panzer Lehr Division, installed themselves in the Chataeu Audrieu. During the day a number of Canadian and British prisoners were brought, questioned and immediately executed. In July 1944 a relation of the owner of the Chateau gave evidence on what she saw that day. During her testimony she recalled that a wounded member of the Hitler-Jugend Division had arrived later that night terrified that he would be shot on capture and that he was placing them in danger of being shot by the British too. He told the witness about the shooting of a Col. as follows:
This seems to be connected to the incident above, if it was, it would mean that the story of what had happened that morning had swept rapidly through the lines of the German forces and it would appear that this SS soldier was convinced that he was in danger. Further evidence given showed that he asked for his SS insignia and papers to be destroyed by the witness.
There is also reason to believe that the HJ troops may have been told prior to battle that the Allies took no prisoners, whether this was because it was believed to be true or that Senior Officers felt that this would make the young soldiers fight more ferociously to the death is unclear but it has been discussed at length in the 'Canadian orders 'take no prisoners' thread.
Re: Canadian war crimes?
It should be noted that the allegation mentioned in post number one was against the British Regiment 'Inns of Court' and not Canadian troops, therefore the title of the thread is misleading.