Normandy Battlefields Tour – Canadian World War II Sites
After touring Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery, we continued to Ardennes Abbey. Tragically, Ardennes Abbey is known for the Canadian massacre that occurred during the Battle of Normandy. It is located in Saint-Germain-la-Blanche-Herbe, near Caen. The trees below mark but a few that are still covered in Canadian flags at Abbaye d’Ardenne.
In June 1944, 20 Canadian soldiers were massacred in a garden at the abbey by members of the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend over the course of several days and weeks. This was part of the Normandy Massacres, a series of scattered killings during-which up to 156 Canadian prisoners of war were murdered by soldiers of the 12th SS Panzer Division during the Battle of Normandy. The perpetrators of the massacre, members of the 12th SS Panzer Division, were known for their fanaticism, the majority having been drawn from the Hitlerjugend or Hitler Youth. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardenne_Abbey_massacre
Bolt, Philp and Lockhead had been members of Lt. Windsor’s tank crew on D-Day. On June 17 it is believed two more Canadians were executed here: Lieutenant Fred Williams and Lance-corporal George Pollard, both of the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders.
| 11 executed Canadians: North Nova Scotia Highlanders: | 27th Canadian Armoured Regiment | Canadian POWs |
| Private Ivan Crowe Private Charles Doucette Corporal Joseph MacIntyre Private Reginald Keeping Private James Moss | Trooper James Bolt Trooper George Gill Trooper Thomas Henry Trooper Roger Lockhead Trooper Harold Philp Lieutenant Thomas Windsor | Private Walter Doherty Private Hollis McKeil Private Hugh MacDonald Private George McNaughton Private George Millar Private Thomas Mont Private Raymond Moore |
Above: the present day Ardenne Commemorative Plaque. Click here for the description by the Canadian government of the execution by the 12th SS Panzer Division (the Hitler Youth) in the days and weeks following the D-Day landings.