Site à visiter

The Ardenne Abbey

Beautiful Norman abbey from the 12th century, privately owned and partly used as a farm at the time by the Vico family (the father Roland and his sons Jacques and Jean-Marie were active Resistants). Unfortunately taken over on June 7 by Colonel Kurt Meyer’s 25th Regiment of the 12th SS Hitler’s Youth Panzer Division, as church towers were an excellent vantage point.

A number of their Canadian prisoners were brought here and executed on June 7th and 8th in the back garden. The abbey was only liberated on July 8 as the Canadians were reaching the city of Caen. In 1945 Meyer was tried by Canadian Military Court and found guilty of war crimes.