Take No Prisoners: The Nazi SS in Normandy

Take No Prisoners is the Second World War story of more than 130 young Canadians who were taken prisoner by the 12th SS Hitler Jugend in Normandy. They were marched behind German lines, interrogated, and then brutally gunned down as they stood disarmed and helpless.

War Amps CEO Cliff Chadderton has been haunted by this story for many, many years. This documentary highlights new information he has recently discovered about the atrocities. The production disputes the notion that the execution of Canadian soldiers was in retaliation for the mistreatment of German prisoners.

The production emphasizes the difference between the everyday German soldier, who fought by the rules of the Geneva Convention, and the Hitler Jugend. The Nazi philosophy turned 19-year-olds, nurtured in the Hitler youth camps, into ruthless killers.

In researching this documentary, Chadderton had access not only to British and Canadian records, but also to German SS Archival material. This footage displays the brutality of those ten days in Normandy when the courageous Canadians were caught up in a merciless frenzy of murder.

Take No Prisoners ends with a letter that Tom Windsor, the first Canadian officer to lose his life in the killing spree, wrote to his wife just before his death.