Gustave Marie Maurice Mesny (28 March 1886 – 19 January 1945) was a

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed For ...

general in command of the 5th North African Infantry Division who was captured during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He was victim of a war crime, unlawfully executed in retribution for the death of German general

Fritz von Brodowski Friedrich Wilhelm Konrad von Brodowski, known as ''Fritz'', (November 26, 1886 – October 28, 1944) was a German army general of the Second World War, successively Commander in Kiev, Ukraine, Commander in Lille, and commanding officer at Clermo ...

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) The siege of Lille, or Lille pocket, (28–31 May 1940) took place during the Battle of France in the Second World War. The siege around the city of Lille took place between the French IV Corps and V Corps (about of the First Army (General Ren ...

and he fought with the group of General Jean-Baptiste Molinié until 31 May 1940 at

Haubourdin Haubourdin () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Population Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord ...

. Mesny was taken prisoner and interned in the

Königstein Fortress Königstein Fortress (german: Festung Königstein), the "Saxony, Saxon Bastille", is a hilltop fortress near Dresden, in Saxon Switzerland, Germany, above the town of Königstein, Saxony, Königstein on the left bank of the River Elbe. It is one ...

. Mesny was involved in the escape of General

Henri Giraud Henri Honoré Giraud (18 January 1879 – 11 March 1949) was a French general and a leader of the Free French Forces during the Second World War until he was forced to retire in 1944. Born to an Alsatian family in Paris, Giraud graduated from ...

in 1942. On 28 October 1944, the German general

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 The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

'' general who, according to the same journalists had participated in the

Oradour-sur-Glane massacre On 10 June 1944, four days after D-Day, the village of Oradour-sur-Glane in Haute-Vienne in Nazi-occupied France was destroyed when 643 civilians, including non-combatant women and children, were massacred by a German Waffen-SS company. A new ...

(643 civilians executed by the

2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich The 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich (german: 2. SS-Panzerdivision "Das Reich") or SS Division Das Reich was an elite division of the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II, formed from the regiments of the '' SS-Verfügungstruppe'' (SS-V ...

), 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 Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

to avenge the death of Brodowski. Hitler ordered

Wilhelm Keitel Wilhelm Bodewin Johann Gustav Keitel (; 22 September 188216 October 1946) was a German field marshal and war criminal who held office as chief of the '' Oberkommando der Wehrmacht'' (OKW), the high command of Nazi Germany's Armed Forces, duri ...

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 The Reich Security Main Office (german: Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei'' (Chief of German Police) and ''Reichsführer-SS'', the head of the Nazi ...

(RSHA), the German

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

(

Auswärtiges Amt , logo = DEgov-AA-Logo en.svg , logo_width = 260 px , image = Auswaertiges Amt Berlin Eingang.jpg , picture_width = 300px , image_caption = Entrance to the Foreign Office building , headquarters = Werderscher Mark ...

), and the chief of the ''Kriegsgefangenenwesen '' (KGW, administration of prisoners of war). Details were planned by the chief of

SS Main Office The SS Main Office (german: SS-Hauptamt; SS-HA) was the central command office of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) in Nazi Germany until 1940. Formation The office traces its origins to 1931 when the SS created the SS-Amt to serve as an SS Headquarters ...

Gottlob Berger Gottlob Christian Berger (16 July 1896 – 5 January 1975) was a senior German Nazi official who held the rank of '' SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS'' (lieutenant general) and was the chief of the SS Main Office responsibl ...

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 Oflag IV-C, often referred to by its location at Colditz Castle, overlooking Colditz, Saxony, was one of the most noted German Army prisoner-of-war camps for captured enemy officers during World War II; ''Oflag'' is a shortening of ''Offiziersla ...

Colditz Castle Castle Colditz (or ''Schloss Colditz'' in German) is a Renaissance castle in the town of Colditz near Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz in the state of Saxony in Germany. The castle is between the towns of Hartha and Grimma on a hill spur over the r ...

. 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 Nossen ( hsb, Nosyn) is a town in the Meißen (district), district of Meissen, in Saxony, Germany. It is located 80 km southeast of Leipzig. The town is dominated by a large Renaissance castle. Nossen is best known for its proximity to a mot ...

. 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 The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

and deportee in a

German concentration camp From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...

- would be executed if the General escaped (Written testimony of General Louis Buisson -

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

with Mesny - on 29 April 1945 for the

Nuremberg Tribunal The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945, Nazi Germany invaded m ...

IMT 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).).

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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