ϟϟ-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Meyer – the Abbaye Ardenne Case, Canadian Military Court 10-28 December 1945

Kurt Meyer as SS-Standartenführer

SS soldiers of Kurt Meyer taken POW in Calvados

Kurt Meyer always led from the front and was wounded numerous times and several of his drivers were killed fighting alongside him. On June 14 1944, a British naval barrage hit the command post of 12.SS-Panzer-Division Hitlerjugend in Venoix, southwest of Caen, killing SS-Brigadeführer Fritz Witt leaving the division without a commander. The High Command appointed SS-Obersturmbannführer Kurt Meyer. He took command on June 17 1944 at the age of 33, thereby becoming the youngest divisional commander on either side during World War II. The Abbaye Ardenne Case: On December 10 – 28 1945, a Canadian Military Court in occupied Germany accused Kurt Meyer of having, as Commander of SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 25 of the Hitlerjugend, incited and counselled his men to deny quarter to allied troops. The Canadian court had not found him guilty of directly ordering the killings, but merely of tacitly condoning them - the court sentenced Kurt Meyer to death. In Meyer's closing statement before sentencing, he chose not to ask for clemency, but instead defended the record of his unit and the innocence of his soldiers. Meyer was probably saved by a petition written on his behalf by Cardinal Clemens August Graf von Galen, the archbishop of Münster, and shortly before the sentence was to be carried out, the commander of Canadian forces in Europe, Christopher Vokes had second thoughts. Vokes' main concern was the degree to which a commander should be held responsible for the actions of his men, feeling that it was not simply enough for a commander to fail to prevent such killings. Discussing the case, Vokes conceded that: there isn't a general or colonel on the Allied side that I know of who hasn't said, 'Well, this time we don't want any prisoners; indeed, he himself had ordered the shooting of prisoners in 1943. Even Canadian Army officers and journalists confirmed this in their attempts to overturn what was probably an unjust decision. Vokes commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. Meyer petitioned for clemency in late 1950 - somewhat surprisingly including an offer to serve in the Canadian military force if released. He was released from prison in 1954. Later Canadian troops found themselves accused of having killed captured German soldiers on the June 1944 invasion of Normandy. It was claimed that forces of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division were ordered to take no German prisoners of war during the Normandy campaign, but a decision was taken not to prosecute and perpetrators have never faced justice. On June 7 1944 notes were found by Waffen-SS Grenadiers on captured Canadian prisoners saying German soldiers who had surrendered during the campaign would be shot, information later confirmed by Canadian infantry under interrogation; that prisoners were ordered not to be taken if they hindered operations. Former SS-Obersturmbannführer and author Hubert Meyer also confirmed this story; he stated that on June 8 1944 a Canadian notebook was found that contained orders to not take prisoners if they impeded the attacking force. Bitterness between Canadians and soldiers of the Hitlerjugend became a vicious circle throughout the battle for Normandy. Left image: Kurt Meyer as SS-Standartenführer in Normandy, France 1944. Credit: Ghermán Mihály. Commons: Bundesarchiv. Right image: an SS-Obersturmführer and an SS-Unterscharführer of SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 26 taken prisoners near Secqueville-en-Bessin on June 26 1944. PD.