24. In a Tragic Twist, the Nazis Transformed Hitherto Innocent Children Into Fanatics, Monsters, and War Criminals
To put German children on the war’s front lines, a plan was approved in 1943 for the formation of an SS division comprised of Hitler Youth – the 12th SS Panzer Hitlerjugend. The Hitler Youth division fought in Normandy in 1944, where it gained a reputation for ferocious fanaticism. The Nazified kids committed their first atrocity of note before they had even seen combat, when they massacred 86 civilians in Ascq, France, on April 1, 1944. A few months later, in the Normandy Campaign, the Hitler Youth division added to its infamy when it massacred Canadian prisoners of war in what became known as the Ardenne Abbey Massacre.
As the situation grew even more dire for Germany, the Nazis increasingly turned to their youth organization, and by 1945, Volkssturm units – the Nazi militias – routinely drafted Hitler Youth members as young as twelve-years-old into their ranks. As the curtain fell on the Third Reich, Hitler Youth units played a conspicuous role in the last days of the Battle of Berlin. In a tragic last stand, they fought so ferociously for their namesake that only two members of a children’s unit that manned the Nazis’ last line of defense survived.