September, 1939. He was wounded on 7 September 1939 and recovered in the hospital in Prague. For this, Mohnke received the Wound Badge in Black. He was awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class on 29 September 1939 and the Iron Cross, First Class on 8 November 1939. Mohnke led the 5th company of the 2nd Battalion of the Infanterie-Regiment Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, at the outset of the Battle of France in 1940. He took command of the 2nd Battalion on 28 May after the battalion commander was wounded. It was around this time that Mohnke was allegedly involved in the murder of 80 British (of the 48th division) and French prisoners of war (POWs) near Wormhoudt. Mohnke was never brought to trial over these allegations, and when the case was reopened in 1988, a German prosecutor came to the conclusion there was insufficient evidence to bring charges. The case briefly resurfaced once again in late 1993 when it became evident that the British government had not revealed some pertinent files from its archives during the earlier investigation. However, nothing substantial came from this either. He commanded the 2nd Battalion during the Balkans campaign, where he suffered a severe leg wound in a Yugoslavian air attack on 6 April 1941, the first day of the campaign. It was the decision of the medics that his leg would need to be amputated, but Mohnke overrode them. His wound was so serious that a part of his foot still had to be removed. On 26 December 1941, while still recuperating, Mohnke was awarded the German Cross in Gold. Mohnke returned to active service in 1942; he was transferred to a replacement battalion in March 1942. SS Division Hitlerjugend On 1 September 1943, 16,000 new recruits of the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) born in 1926 took part in the formation of the SS Division Hitlerjugend, while the senior NCOs and officers were generally veterans of the Eastern Front. SS-Obersturmbannführer Mohnke was given command of the 26th SS Panzergrenadier Regiment, which was the second regiment formed in the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend. Mohnke was implicated in the killing of 35 Canadian prisoners at Fontenay-le-Pesnel, as part of the Normandy Massacres, albeit he never faced a trial owing to a lack of conclusive proof of his involvement. Mohnke told historian Thomas Fischer that, at times, he had to take strong painkillers, such as morphine, due