German side _Abbye Ardenne
|
|
|
Abbaye d'Ardenne - the German side
At least 134 Canadian soldiers were executed by the SS in Normandy. While the Germany atrocity in the garden of the Abbaye d'Ardenne, and others like it, were prosecuted, reports of Allied atrocities against Germans were never pursued. The German side of the story remains quite different from the Canadian view. They say they were often retaliating. The evidence of one massacre at Normandy was discovered by Kurt Meyer himself:
|
German POW's
|
Kurt Meyer Even the birds were silent. Before us lay the naked bodies of over 100 German soldiers, their hands tied with wire, horribly slaughtered. The officers were mutilated and in pieces. |
Meyer
On the 7th of June I was given a notebook taken
from the body of a dead Canadian captain. In addition to
handwritten orders the notes stated that 'no prisoners were to be
taken'. Some Canadian prisoners were asked to verify these
instructions...they confirmed orders that if prisoners impeded the
advance, they were not to be taken.
To some, the message seems clear: war crimes committed in a good cause are politically acceptable, perhaps regrettable, but such crimes are prosecuted only on the side that loses the war.
Did Canadian Generals gave orders to take no prisoners? Are the many reports of such incidents true? A British sailor claimed he watched Canadians on D-Day itself, march some of their German prisoners behind a sand dune. Hoping to get a helmet as a souvenir, Edward Asforth followed them.
Ashforth
The man's throat was cut - every one of them
had his throat cut. I turned away sick as a parrot. I didn't get my
tin hat.
Jacques Dextraze is ready to admit that similar incidents occurred even under his command:
Dextraze
We crossed the river - the bridge had been
blown up. Take the little city by the rear. Eighty five prisoners
we take. I select an officer, "take them back to the P.W. cage". He
goes back, making them run, to the bridge that we had...a farmer's
bridge that we had come over you know. These guys had been running
for a couple of miles. They came to the bridge (bad cut) No no, you
don't take the bridge, you swim. Now these guys fell...went into
that water you know. Most of them drowned. Imagine having run you
know, they had been fighting before, running you know for a couple
of miles, and then the water you know. Now, they were picked up by
the engineers rebuilding the bridge. I could have been accused of
not having protected them. I'm responsible for these prisoners you
see. I felt very bad when I saw them all piled up beside the
bridge. I didn't like that very much.
The Poles too, had a reputation of dealing harshly with surrendering Germans... ...especially the dreaded Nazi SS.
Well, I always felt respect for the army men, but the SS which had a really dirty reputation, we fought no quarters...I mean no prisoners.
<
© 2005, Mental Blocks
