After intense fighting near Putot-en-Bessin, the Royal Winnipeg Rifles suffered heavy losses. Many were taken prisoner by German forces during a chaotic retreat. These captured soldiers, alongside two British troops from the Green Howards, were transported to the grounds of the Château d’Audrieu, which had been commandeered by the SS as a Reconnaissance Battalion’s headquarters. There, under circumstances still not fully clarified, they were systematically executed and buried in mass graves on the château’s estate. A Canadian pathologist, Lieutenant Colonel R.A.H. MacKeen, later confirmed that 19 of the bodies had been shot at close range with pistols.

The massacre was one of several committed by the 12th SS in the Normandy region, reflecting a disturbing pattern of war crimes driven by ideology and the dehumanizing indoctrination of Hitler Youth recruits. The killings were likely carried out with the knowledge of senior officers, though only a handful were ever prosecuted. SS General Kurt Meyer, who commanded the regiment, was later convicted of war crimes in connection to similar killings, though not directly for those at Audrieu.

The memory of the fallen RWR soldiers is preserved by a memorial plaque installed in the town of Audrieu on 8 June 1989 by the Royal Winnipeg Rifles. The plaque honors 65 Canadian soldiers who were executed by German forces in June 1944 while prisoners of war. It lists their names and units and serves as a stark reminder of the brutality they faced. Although the memorial is located in the town, the actual site of the killings is about a kilometer away at the Château d’Audrieu, which is now a hotel.

The Château d’Audrieu massacre stands as a symbol of the cruelty inflicted on Canadian soldiers in Normandy, where over 150 were executed in similar circumstances.