[John McGillivray]

Hello Mark,

The following is from “Conduct Unbecoming” (p96-99)

“We now know that the wounded soldiers found on the grounds of Siebken's headquarters on the night of 8-9 June were Canadians. The man discovered by Wimplinger was Private Harold Angel of the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa. The other two were Privates Frederick Holness (with the concussion) and Ernest Baskerville (with the knee injury), both of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles. All three had been involved in the fighting at Putot-en-Bessin earlier in the day, and all three, despite their injuries, had somehow evaded capture for several hours after the battle. Tired, hungry, and in need of medical attention, they must have finally given up trying to get back to their own lines. Spotting the Moulin farmhouse, the three men probably decided to risk capture. It was a decision they would come to regret.

Initially, the prisoners were treated in an entirely correct manner. Once inside the Moulin kitchen, they were attended by Dr Schiitt, the 2nd Battalion's medical officer. Schiitt, who spoke English, conversed freely with the prisoners, learning, for example, that Private Angel lived in Ottawa, was married, and had four children. After bandaging their wounds, the good and decent doctor ordered that beds of straw be prepared for the Canadians. He also saw to it that blankets were provided. Grateful for the humane way in which they were being treated, Privates Angel, Holness, and Baskerville fell into a deep, unbroken sleep.

Schiitt's kindness was typical of the treatment accorded to the Canadian prisoners who passed through 2nd Battalion headquarters on 8 June. It did not sit well with Mohnke, however. While Siebken was immersed in preparations for the following day's operations, the regimental commander paid him a return visit, apparently to drive home his point regarding enemy POWs. As it happened, Mohnke's arrival at the battalion command post coincided with the appearance there of Dr Schiitt, who had come to Siebken to report the presence of the three wounded Canadians. When Mohnke learned that the 2nd Battalion had taken more prisoners, he ordered that they be shot without delay. Siebken refused. A terrible argument ensued. If Siebken's postwar testimony is to be believed, Mohnke was beside himself with anger. He purportedly berated Siebken for his insubordination, after which he called in Schnabel and ordered him to carry out the execution of the prisoners. When Schnabel took the same position as that of his immediate superior, Mohnke stormed out.

Following Mohnke's departure, the mood at 2nd Battalion headquarters was grim. Resolved to prevent the killing of his prisoners, Siebken realized that he could not protect them on his own. Accordingly, at the first opportunity he put through a call to 12th SS headquarters. The purpose was to find out whether the shooting of prisoners had been authorized by division. Insofar as it circumvented the normal chain of command, this call was an extraordinary breach of military protocol. However, Siebken had been deeply shaken by Mohnke's violent outburst. Besides, if he was going to disobey the direct order of a superior officer, he wanted to be sure that he would have the backing of the upper echelons.

Divisional commander Witt was unavailable when Siebken's call came through, so the battalion commander was instead put on to SS Major Hubert Meyer (no relation to Kurt Meyer), the Hitler Youth Division's chief of staff. Siebken asked Meyer point blank: Had division issued an order to shoot all prisoners? Meyer assured him that it had not. On the contrary, he told Siebken, POWs were the best and often the only source of information as to enemy dispositions. Thus, he advised the taking of as many prisoners as possible.

Before putting down the phone, Meyer asked Siebken why he had posed such an odd question. Siebken replied by recounting the confrontation that had just taken place at his battalion headquarters. Troubled by Mohnke's rather erratic deportment, in particular his issuance of orders directly to Schnabel, which violated the sanctity of the military hierarchy, Meyer immediately rang up the 26th Panzer Grenadier Regiment. With Mohnke still absent, the chief of staff spoke to his adjutant, SS Captain Kaiser. According to Meyer's postwar testimony, he asked what action was being taken with regard to the shooting of POWs in the regiment's sector. When Kaiser responded that he knew nothing about it, Meyer told him the same thing that he had told Siebken: as many prisoners as possible should be taken, and they should be treated in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Convention.

With divisional command fully apprised of the situation, one might have expected Mohnke to at last let the issue of POWs rest. Yet he was unable to do so. In his twisted state of mind, the killing of the three Canadian prisoners had become a matter of honour. Immediately upon his return to his headquarters, a seething Mohnke telephoned the 2nd Battalion and tried to find out whether his order had been obeyed. Siebken was unavailable, having since gone to the front to check on the deployment of his forward units. Mohnke spoke to his adjutant instead. When the officer informed him that the execution of the three prisoners had not yet been carried out, Mohnke flew into another rage, then abruptly hung up.

If Siebken's beleaguered staff thought that they had seen or heard the last of Mohnke, they were wrong. In a terrifying display of obsessive behaviour, he soon returned to the Moulin farm. Ranting once more about insubordination and disloyalty, Mohnke cornered Siebken's adjutant and demanded to know the battalion commander's whereabouts. When the officer replied that Siebken was still at the front, Mohnke then asked for Schnabel. He too was unavailable. Frustrated, but undeterred, Mohnke left yet again.

Unaware of the controversy that their capture had provoked, Privates Angel, Holness, and Baskerville awoke between 8:00 and 9:00 on the morning of 9 June. They asked for and received permission to go outside to wash up. Upon their return, the three prisoners were questioned briefly by an unidentified SS officer, in the presence of Dr Schiitt. After the interrogations, they were allowed to relax. Still weak from their wounds, two of the men elected to return to their straw beds, but the other sat up in an easy chair. Shortly thereafter they were brought a canister of fresh milk, which they gulped down heartily.

While the Canadians were enjoying their unexpected breakfast, Mohnke suddenly reappeared. Siebken was still absent, but Schnabel had returned, and it did not take long for Mohnke to find him. If postwar testimony given on Schnabel's behalf is to be believed, Mohnke drew his pistol, pointed it at the junior officer, and ordered him to carry out the execution of the three prisoners. Clearly, this was the end of the line. There would be no more reprieves for the Canadians.

A shaken Schnabel drove over to the Moulin farmhouse. In the kitchen he found Dr Schiitt and the medical orderlies Heinrich Albers, Fritz Bundschuh, and a third man known only as Ischner. According to Wimplinger, who was in the next room, Schnabel informed Dr Schiitt that an order had been issued to shoot the prisoners, Schiitt muttered his disgust, but his protest went for naught. Not wanting another confrontation with Mohnke, Schnabel motioned for the orderlies to get the Canadians up. Their hands above their heads, Angel, Holness, and Baskerville hobbled out the door.

Schnabel and his underlings escorted the prisoners across the front yard and into an adjacent garden. Owing to their injuries, it was only with considerable difficulty that the three Canadians managed to traverse the yard. Private Baskerville was able to limp unaided, but Private Angel had to be supported by Private Holness. Finally reaching the end of the garden, the procession halted. It was at this point that the Canadians must have realized what was in store for them. In order not to have to look his victims in the eye, Schnabel ordered them to turn around. Next he had Albers, Bundschuh, and Ischner train their machine pistols on their targets. At the order to fire, each shooter let loose with a ten- to twelve-round burst from a distance of less than twenty feet. The three Canadians went down simultaneously. Though none of them betrayed any signs of life, Schnabel drew his pistol, walked over to their bodies, and applied the coup de grace to each. Mohnke's uncontrollable wrath and his pathological obsession with enemy prisoners had claimed three more victims.”

And from p179-180.

“In the aftermath of the closure of the British war crimes investigation unit, only one more 12th SS case was tried. On 21 October 1948, proceedings were opened against Bernhard Siebken, Dietrich Schnabel, Heinrich Albers, and Fritz Bundschuh before a British military court in Hamburg. The four defendants, all former members of the 2nd Battalion of the 12th SS's 26th Panzer Grenadier Regiment, were charged with the murder of the Canadian prisoners Harold Angel, Frederick Holness, and Ernest Baskerville at the battalion's headquarters on the morning of 9 June 1944. The trial lasted almost three weeks, during which substantial evidence was adduced proving the complicity of each of the defendants in the killings. On 9 November 1948, the court announced its verdict: Albers and Bundschuh, the trigger men, were acquitted on the grounds that they had followed superior orders, while Siebken, the battalion commander, and Schnabel, his special missions officer, were found guilty of having issued and carried out the execution order. It seemed to be a just decision. Yet, owing to the fact that numerous witnesses had come forward to testify that Wilhelm Mohnke had been the real instigator of the murders, many observers harboured doubts as to the fairness of the verdict. Whatever the real truth, the controversy surrounding the Siebken trial marked an ignominious close to the search for justice for the victims of the Normandy massacres.”