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(Following information from Veterans Affairs Canada)
Château d'Audrieu
As many as 156 Canadian prisoners of war are believed to have been executed by
the 12th SS Panzer Division (the Hitler Youth) in the days and weeks following
the D-Day landings. In scattered groups, in various pockets of the Normandy
countryside, they were taken aside and shot.
Before the war, Château d'Audrieu, in the village of Audrieu near Pavie, was a
beautiful estate, with a lush garden, servants' quarters, orchards, and woodland
-- after the war it was converted into a luuxury hotel and restaurant. During the
war, Gerhard Bremer, Commander of the German Army's 12th Reconnaissance Battalion,
established his headquarters here.
On June 8, in the surrounding clearings, forests and orchards of the Château,
24 members of the 3rd Canadian Division were executed: 22 from the Royal
Winnipeg Rifles and two from the Queen's Own Rifles of Canada. Two British
soldiers were shot along with them. One group of the POWs (consisting of 7 platoon
of the Royal Winnipeg Rifle's A Company plus the two British soldiers) had
been captured near Brouay; most of the remaining men fell into SS hands near Putot.
They were searched then taken to the rear of the Château beginning at 2:15 p.m.
It was later determined that some were killed in groups of three: they were
interrogated, taken down a path in the woods to one clearing or another, turned
so their backs would face their small firing squad -- or else forced to lay on
their stomachs and rest on their elbows -- and shot from behind. In the late
afternoon, 13 men from 9 platoon of the Winnipeg's A Company were led en masse
to an orchard, lined up and shot.
The executed Canadians were:
Royal Winnipeg Rifles
Private William Adams
Private Emmanuel Bishoff
Private Lawrence Chartrand
Private Louis Chartrand
Private Sidney Cresswell
Private Anthony Fagnan
Lance-corporal Austin Fuller
Private David Gold
Private Robert Harper
Major Frederick Hodge (commander of A Company)
Private Hervé Labrecque
Private Kenneth Lawrence
Private John Lychowich
Private James McIntosh
Corporal George Meakin and his brother
Corporal Frank Meakin
Private Robert Mutch
Private Frank Ostir
Lance-corporal William Poho
Private Henry Rodgers
Private Steve Slywchuk
Private William Thomas
Queen's Own Rifles of Canada
Private Francis Harrison
Private Frederick Smith
British soldiers
W. Barlow (50th Northumbrian Division)
Private E. Hayton (Durham Light Infantry)
That evening, following heavy Allied naval and artillery bombardment, the Germans
fled the Château, and the following afternoon it was occupied by the Dorsets
Regiment of England. The new occupants were informed of the executions by the
proprietor's daughter -- and were guided to the sites. At the orchard near the main
house they came upon 13 bodies. To his horror, Major Lloyd Sneath of the Dorsets
recognized some of them, having served as an NCO (non-commissioned officer) with
the Royal Winnipeg Rifles before he was transferred to the British Army under the
CANLOAN program. The Dorsets were forced to withdraw the next day, but the Château
was liberated for good two weeks later by other British forces. The remaining bodies
were found then, including those of the two British soldiers.
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