Normandy massacres

[10] As the Germans began their counterattack near the villages of Villons-les-Buissons and Anisy, elements from the North Nova Scotia Highlanders and the Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment were advancing southward, and initially did not encounter any resistance.[11] Meyer spotted tanks from the Sherbrooke Fusiliers from his nearby advanced command post at the Abbaye d'Ardenne, and ordered his forces to launch their attack two hours ahead of schedule to exploit the exposed Canadian flank; himself fearing being outflanked.[27] The Canadian defenders tried to buy time for reinforcements to arrive, but by 1:30 PM they were completely surrounded and unable to communicate with the outside world; only a few men managed to escape the trap and reach friendly lines.[36] Six of them were killed together in the kitchen of a French home, while another two were a Canadian Army medic wearing a red cross armband (signifying his status as a noncombatant), and his patient.[37] The executions were temporarily halted after Major Leon M. Rhodenizer, who commanded A Company of the North Nova Scotia Highlanders, appealed to the SS soldiers in German.Brown's body was found several weeks later, close to where the trio had initially stopped; a single stab wound from a bayonet pierced his heart.[39] The column of Canadian POWs continued their journey into captivity, eventually being herded into the courtyard of the Ardenne Abbey, where Meyer had an advanced command post.[51] Roughly an hour later, the column was intercepted by an SS staff car, and an officer angrily shouted at the man in charge of the escort, before barking a series of orders.[51] Three soldiers who were cut off behind German lines during the battle at Putot-en-Bessin were captured at around midnight on June 9; all three were wounded and found lying in a field near the 2nd Battalion's headquarters.[59] After the interrogation was finished, the prisoners were stripped of their identification tags, brought to a bomb crater 300 yards (270 m) away from the headquarters, and executed within full view of Mohnke and his Adjutant.[62] In the nearby village of Norrey, soldiers of the Regina Rifles managed to successfully repel the German armour onslaught, preventing Meyer's and Mohnk's regiments from linking up.[65] The next murders occurred in six separate instances on June 11, when the Canadian Army launched a large tank attack close to the village of Le Mesnil-Patry.[69] Many Canadian tank crews who surrendered to soldiers of the 12 SS Panzer Division suffered similar fates, with some being executed right after being captured, while others were beaten severely first.to the four men, and opened fire at the same time; one man was shot in the head and died instantly, another lay in agony on the road for five hours before perishing, and the other two escaped without being injured.[72] Historian Howard Margolian argues in his book Conduct Unbecoming that two additional massacres could potentially be attributed to the 12th SS Panzer Division, despite no bodies being located.On July 4, officers at the Canadian Military Headquarters in London (CMHQ) decided to formally protest to the 21st Army Group that the file "had been badly handled", and lobbied for a court of inquiry to be convened "at the earliest possible moment."[78] However, such a step was not taken until General Eisenhower — Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe — heard about the murders and ordered the creation of a court of inquiry on July 8.[78] On August 20, 1944, General Eisenhower approved the creation of a permanent standing court of inquiry to investigate the atrocities, after it became clear that these executions were not isolated and unrelated from one-another.[80] The court investigated 25 instances of war crimes during its seven months of existence; five cases involved Canadian victims, and three of these entailed the 12th SS Panzer Division's atrocities during the Battle of Normandy.[82] The court further recommended that due to the criminal behaviour that was common among the 12th SS Panzer Division's officers, Kurt Meyer, Wilhelm Mohnke, Gerhard Bremer, Karl-Heinz Milius, and Siegfried Muller be charged with denying quarter to the enemy, and failing to prevent violations against prisoners by the men under their command.[83] At that same time however, on April 1, 1945, the Supreme Allied Headquarters shut down the standing court so that America could investigate its own cases, due to political pressure following the Malmedy Massacre.[87] He also met with members of staff for General Harry Crerar, commander of the First Canadian Army[87] After Macdonald's efforts, the CMHQ recommended to the government that Canada should create its own war crimes investigatory body.In order to validate Jesionek's credibility, the CWCIU team questioned him in trial-like conditions, and Macdonald took him to the Abbey to reenact the events of June 8, 1944; he succeeded on both tests without issue.[91] These interviews were of limited value; many survivors of the Normandy massacres did not get a good look at the perpetrators, while many SS men still felt bound by their loyalty oaths or were unapologetic altogether.[101] This decision was met by outrage in Canada, as members of the public, Canadian Legion branches, the media, and the Conservative opposition ridiculed Prime Minister William Mackenzie King's government about the verdict.[105] The Chief of Staff claimed that this was because: ...After a year and a half of investigating, including six months by this large and expensive unit [the CWCIU], we have so far succeeded in bringing one single German to trial, and we are not all sure that we are going to be able to hang him.[106] Eleven of its staff members formed a Canadian contingent in the British war crimes investigation unit, but they were not assigned any cases related to the Normandy massacres.[108] Officials at the Department of National Defence spent months looking for a box that was thought to contain bullets from the bodies of the murdered soldiers, live German ammunition, finger prints, and other important forensic evidence; they were ultimately unsuccessful in their search.[113] Canadian society was divided between supporters of clemency who felt that Meyer could play an important role in a new German or European military to counter the Soviet Union, or questioned the fairness of his trial, and opponents who did not want him let off the hook for the Ardenne Abbey murders.[115] He joined the Waffen SS Veterans Association, found a job selling beer to Canadian soldiers stationed in Germany, and remained unrepentant for the crimes that he and his men committed.