The Valour and the Horror

The rules of war are explicit, once a soldier surrenders, he may not be harmed. Yet in June 1944 many Canadian prisoners of war are known to have been shot by small gunfire to the temple, in other words, killed in cold blood. In the case of the murders at Abbaye d'Ardenne, eye-witness accounts prove beyond doubt that the 20 men shot were prisoners, not fighting combatants and not shot in the midst of an attempt to escape. Their bodies were buried in 5 shallow unmarked graves.

"None of the graves had been marked by crosses or any sort of marker until found by the Vicos, nor were there even the usual mounds of earth piled on the graves; indeed, the excess earth had been dispersed.... In various other areas around the Abbaye, the graves of German or Allied soldiers were evident; all were clearly marked and had a mound of earth on top. Only for the graves in the park were there such obvious efforts made at concealment." (page 125)