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The Battle of Le Mesnil-Patry was the last big operation conducted by Canadian land forces in Normandy during June 1944. The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada, supported by the 6th Canadian Armoured Regiment (1st Hussars) attempted to take the town of Le Mesnil-Patry in Normandy as part of a southwards move on the right flank of Cheux towards high ground (Hill 107) as part of the strategy of taking the city of Caen. The battle resulted in a German victory.

Background

On 6 June 1944, Allied forces invaded France by launching Operation Neptune, the beach landing operation of Operation Overlord. A force of several thousand ships assaulted the beaches in Normandy, supported by approximately 3,000 aircraft. The D-Day landings were generally successful but the Allied forces were unable to take Caen as planned.

In addition to seaborne landings, the Allies also employed Airborne forces. The U.S. 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions, as well as the British 6th Airborne Division (with an attached Canadian airborne battalion), were inserted behind the enemy lines. The British and Canadian paratroopers behind Sword Beach were to occupy strategically important bridges such as Horsa and Pegasus, as well as to take the artillery battery at Merville in order to hinder the forward progress of the German forces. They managed to establish a bridgehead north of Caen on the east bank of the Orne, that the Allied troops could use to their advantage in the battle for Caen.

Prelude

Plan

On 10 June plans were laid for an attack by the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade south of Norrey-en-Bessin, in support of the main attack due on 12 June. Early on 11 June the attack was ordered to take place as soon as possible. At 8:00 a.m. the 6th Armoured Regiment was told to attack at {{nowrap|1:00 p.m. and at about 10:30 a.m. The attack began at short notice and was less well prepared, particularly in the arrangements for artillery support. Advancing the time of the attack was intended to support the main attack by XXX Corps which had begun near noon with an attack by the 69th Infantry Brigade at Bronay. The 6th Armoured Regiment (1st Hussars) and The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada were to attack through Norrey-en- Bessin to capture the high ground south of Cheux with a right flanking movement through Le Mesnil-Patry, bypassing Cheux, with the rest of the armoured brigade joining the 6th Armoured Regiment on the objective.

Battle

The Canadian column advanced through fields between Norrey and Le Mesnil-Patry, with B Squadron of the 1st Hussars in the lead, with men of D Company of the Queen's Own Rifles riding on the 1st Hussar tanks. Panzergrenadiers and tanks of the 12th SS-Panzer Division were able to ambush the tanks of 'B' Squadron in a grain field near Le Mesnil Patry, in part due to intelligence gleaned from Hussars radio traffic, after capturing wireless codes from a destroyed Canadian tank on 9 June. Very heavy mortar and machine-gun fire forced the infantry to dismount and the tanks pushed on to engage the Germans; some tanks and a party of infantry entered Le Mesnil-Patry. German tanks seen in the vicinity were mistaken at first for British tanks until anti-tank fire began to hit the Canadian tanks, about twenty of which were knocked out.

The commander of the section of the Queen's Own Rifles (Major Elliot Dalton) was wounded in the leg by mortar fire. Lieutenant Colonel Colwell, the commander of the Hussars, who was with the advanced group, ordered a withdrawal to the start-line but B Squadron was trapped in the village and almost destroyed. Using Panzerfausts, Panzerschrecks and anti-tank guns, the Germans knocked out 51 Sherman tanks. Two tanks returned and most of the officers and NCO's were lost and reported missing.

Aftermath

Casualties

D Company of the Queen's Own had 96 casualties, most listed as missing. During the day 80 men of the 6th Armoured Regiment and 99 men of the Queen's Own Rifles were lost.An English newspaper called it the modern equivalent of the Charge of the Light Brigade.

Atrocities

Men of the Headquarters Company of the Queen's Own Rifles were ordered to search for Canadian dead, before the Canadians withdrew completely from the area. Amongst them was Bill Bettridge, who discovered 6 Queen's Own Riflemen from 'D' Company, who all had the same wound. Bettridge later wrote that

After the tanks retreated from there, the Germans got up and started searching for anybody that was still alive and they just put a bullet through all their heads so the six of them were all killed, all murdered.

following the action at Le Mesnil-Patry, troops of the 12th SS-Panzer Division captured seven Canadians, who had been wandering around no-man's land since the battle, all being tired and hungry. The men were interrogated by an officer of the 12th SS-Engineering Battalion at an ad-hoc headquarters in the village of Mouen, about 5 miles (8.0 km) south-east of Le Mesnil-Patry. A Canadian 1st Army inquest Report of the Court of Inquiry Re: The Shooting of Prisoners of War by German Armed Forces at Mouen, Calvados, Normandy, 17 June 1944, the men were

• B49476 - Trooper Perry, C.G. - Canadian Armoured Corps
• B43258 - Serjeant McLaughlin, T. C. - Queen's Own Rifles of Canada
• ?????? - Rifleman Campbell, J.R. - Queen's Own Rifles of Canada
• B138240 - Rifleman Willett, G.L. - Queen's Own Rifles of Canada
• B138453 - Rifleman Cranfield, E. - Queen's Own Rifles of Canada
• B144191 - Corporal Cook, E. - Queen's Own Rifles of Canada
• B42653 - Rifleman Bullock, P. - Queen's Own Rifles of Canada

At c. 10:00 p.m., the men had been led to the outskirts of the village under armed guard. Cook, Cranfield, Perry and Willett were shot dead by a firing squad and the remaining men were shot in the head at close-range. The Canadian 1st Army report it was concluded

That all the above named soldiers were murdered by the German armed forces in violation of the well recognised laws and usages of war and the terms of the Geneva Convention of 1929.

That the above named soldiers were at the time of their deaths prisoners of war and entitled to treatment as such.

That the soldiers were, on the date of their deaths, in the custody of a detachment of the 12th SS Panzer Engineer Battalion, probably the Third Company of that battalion.

That the commanding officer of the said battalion was a certain Sturmbanfuhrer ("Major") Muller, but there is no evidence whether the Headquarters of the battalion or its commanding officer were present in Mouen on the date of the incident.

That one or more of the officers or NCO's of the said battalion were responsible for the murder of the said Canadian Soldiers.

That fourteen German soldiers who escorted the said Canadian soldiers to the place where they were murdered, and whose names, with one exception, are at present unknown to the Court, are equally implicated with their officers or NCO's in the said murder. The exception referred to is SS. Mann Alfred Friedrich, now deceased.

The SS made the local French villagers dig a mass grave and bury the men, which was discovered by troops of the 49th (West Riding) Division when they captured the village on 25 June. No-one from the 12th SS was prosecuted for the crime.

References

1. Ford, p. 90, 96
2. Keegan, p. 143.
3. Scarfe, p. 18
4. Stacey 1960, p. 139.
5. ^ Stacey 1960, p. 140.
6. Cite error: The named reference warchron was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
7. ^ Cite error: The named reference diary was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
8. Stacey 1960, p. 141.
9. Margolian, H, 'Conduct Unbecoming'

Bibliography

• Martin, Cromwell (2002). Battle Diary: From D-Day and Normandy to the Zuider Zee and VE. Quebec: Gagne Printing.
• Scarfe, Norman (2006) . Assault Division: A History of the 3rd Division from the Invasion of Normandy to the Surrender of Germany. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Spellmount. ISBN 1-86227-338-3.
• Ford, Ken (2004). Sword Beach. Battle Zone Normandy. Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-3019-5.
• Keegan, J. (1989). The Times Atlas of the Second World War (Crescent Books 1995 ed.). London: Times Books. ISBN 0-51712-377-0.
• Stacey, Colonel C. P. (1960). The Victory Campaign: The operations in North-West Europe 1944–1945 (PDF). Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War. Vol. III. Ottawa: The Queen's Printer and Controller of Stationery. OCLC 606015967. Retrieved 14 June 2014. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)

External links

• le Mesnil-Patry (French)

• Military history of Normandy
• Battle for Caen
• Battles and operations of World War II involving Canada
• Battles of World War II involving Germany