Gustave Marie Maurice Mesny

Gustave Marie Maurice Mesny (28 March 1886 – 19 January 1945) was a French Army general in command of the 5th North African Infantry Division who was captured during the Second World War. He was victim of a war crime, unlawfully executed in retribution for the death of German general Fritz von Brodowski.

Biography

Mesny was a member of the military command of the eleventh region until 1939, then in 1940 he commanded the 5th North African Infantry Division. His unit was surrounded in the Siege of Lille (1940) and he fought with the group of General Jean-Baptiste Molinié until 31 May 1940 at Haubourdin. Mesny was taken prisoner and interned in the Königstein Fortress. Mesny was involved in the escape of General Henri Giraud in 1942.

On 28 October 1944, the German general Fritz von Brodowski was shot and killed under suspicious circumstances after he was taken prisoner by the French. On 8 and 9 November, Swiss and British media announced that the '' Wehrmacht'' general who, according to the same journalists had participated in the Oradour-sur-Glane massacre (643 civilians executed by the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich), was shot. The German High Command concluded, without due process, that the general died in revenge for Oradour. In return the command asked Adolf Hitler to avenge the death of Brodowski.

Hitler ordered Wilhelm Keitel to send a list of French generals imprisoned at Königstein. General de Boisse was then chosen by Hitler to be executed in retribution. The case then fell to three jurisdictions: the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA), the German Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt), and the chief of the ''Kriegsgefangenenwesen '' (KGW, administration of prisoners of war). Details were planned by the chief of SS Main Office Gottlob Berger and Colonel Friedrich Meurer, inspector general assigned to prisoners of war. With the large number of authorities involved no longer ensuring the secrecy surrounding the execution of General de Boisse, Meurer arbitrarily chose Mesny.

The execution was carried out on 19 January 1945 by two members of the '' SS''. For the occasion they wore ''Wehrmacht'' uniforms. Mesny and other generals were officially transferred to Oflag IV-C in Colditz Castle. During the transfer, a fictitious car crash separated Mesny from the rest of the group. Mesny was then shot in the neck with a bullet near Nossen.

Mesny was wearing his uniform and did not want to escape in January 1945 because it was almost the end of the war and he was afraid his son - member of the French Resistance and deportee in a German concentration camp - would be executed if the General escaped (Written testimony of General Louis Buisson - prisoner of war with Mesny - on 29 April 1945 for the Nuremberg TribunalIMT Nuremberg Archives, « French report on the assassination of General Mesny » rchive DF on https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/jr767nw6947/jr767nw6947.pdf rchive 2 August 1948).).

Promotions

See also

* Prisoner of war
* Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War
* War crimes of the Wehrmacht
* Nuremberg Tribunal

References

External links

Generals of World War II

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mesny, Gustave Marie Maurice
1886 births
1945 deaths
French generals
People from Le Puy-en-Velay
French Army generals of World War II
French military personnel killed in World War II
Executed military leaders
Deaths by firearm in Germany
People executed by Nazi Germany by firearm
World War II prisoners of war held by Germany