Seven Days in Hell: Canada's Battle for Normandy and the Rise of the Black Watch Snipers

by David O'Keefe

Rumours had swirled for weeks about the criminal activities of the SS in general and the fanatical Hitlerjugend, who had murdered Canadian and British captives in the days following the invasion, in particular.18 In one case, they bayonetted wounded prisoners, including a padre, while in another they lined up a group against a wall at a nearby château, shot them down, dragged their bodies into the road and ground them into a fine pulp with the tracks of their tanks. Another report told of three dozen captives murdered on the Caen–Bayeux road when a section from the Hitlerjugend advanced in a skirmish line from behind with Schmeisser submachine guns blazing. In all, close to two hundred British and Canadian prisoners died at the hands of the 12th SS in the days following the invasion, including twenty either bludgeoned to death or shot in the head with a pistol on the abbey grounds.19 No doubt the nascent nature of the invasion, which hung in the balance in the first forty-eight hours, encouraged the SS to act out. Planning to drive the Allies back into the sea, they never expected their crimes to come to light. But as the Allies gained a foothold and slowly and painfully expanded it, they overran the murder sites and ironclad evidence appeared that got the blood up within Canadian ranks. What enraged the Canadians was that none of these murders took the form of “heat of battle” killings where men let boiling tempers and a rush of adrenalin and blood lust get the better of ...