ORADOUR-SUR-GLANE

In 2016 I went on my second Leger Battlefield Tour, 'France Under The Jackboot' which looked at France under Nazi occupation. The tour included the events of the Holocaust in France, the role of the Special Operations Executive, concentrating on the work of Violette Szabo, and an emotional visit to the remains of Oradour-sur Glane. In this article I will look back at the events that led to the destruction of the village, my visit and some of the photos I took.

Oradour-sur-Glane was a small idyllic village, with a population of around 350, located approximately 15 miles north-west of Limoges which, on 10 June 1944, was the site of one of the worst crimes against civilians in occupied France.

Following the allied landings on 6 June 1944, along the beaches of Normandy, efforts by the resistance increased with the aim to disrupt German supplies and communications. Any organised attacks against German military personnel or property was met with brutal consequences resulting in members of the French resistance or sympathizers being killed or sent to concentration camps. Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, Commander-in-Chief for the West, ordered that the resistance must be crushed, swiftly and with ruthless initiative.

There has been much speculation as to why Oradour-sur-Glane was subject to such a horrific massacre, especially when no German troops occupied the village and it seemed likely that the war would pass it by. Of course, as we shall see, this couldn't be further from the truth.

A number of reasons have been given... the killing of German troops by the resistance or an attempt to blow up a bridge at the nearby village of St. Junien. However, the most common theory was the abduction and execution of SS Sturmbannfuhrer Helmut Kampfe.

Kampfe, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 4th SS Panzergrenadier Regiment 'Der Fuhrer', was abducted on 9 June and executed the following day by the local resistance. A popular and highly-decorated officer he was also a close friend of SS Sturmbannfuhrer Adolf Diekmann.

General Lammerding, commanding officer of the 2nd SS Panzer Division, had already ordered action against Soviet civilians for partisan activities which resulted in the deaths of thousands of men, women and children and the destruction of many villages. On 9 June 1944 he issued orders for the 'cleansing' of the area surrounding Clermont-Ferrand, which included Oradour-sur-Glane. The same day, 99 men were hanged in Tulle near Limoges.

The following day troops from the 3rd Company, 1st Battalion, 4th SS Panzergrenadier Regiment, led by Adolf Diekman, advanced on Oradour-sur-Glane and by lunchtime had surrounded the village. The population had increased to over 600 people on that June day with children, evacuated from other areas, in the schools because of a medical visit, despite it being a Saturday. There was also a distribution of tobacco rations scheduled and many people were there to stock up on provisions.

The villagers were rounded up in the market square and separated by gender. The men, totalling 197, were taken to barns on the edge of the town while 240 women and 205 children were locked in the church. SS troops torched the barns and threw grenades into the church. A few tried to escape the flames but were shot. In total 642 men, women and children were killed in the massacre but that wasn't the end of the story. The village was looted and then burned to the ground. By 8pm the SS troops left the smoking ruins.

Only six men and one woman survived the horror that day while another fifteen villagers had managed to hide and avoid capture. Mme Marguerite Rouffanche was the sole survivor from the church and spent more than a year recovering from her injuries, she had been shot five times. She lost her husband, son, two daughters and grandson that fateful day. In 1953 she would give evidence at the trial in Bordeaux. She returned to the new village when it was built and lived there until her death in 1988.

The actions of the massacre didn't go unnoticed and forced the German Army to search for an explanation. In the evening, after the troops had left the village, Diekman ordered his officers not to discuss the events that had unfolded that day. If asked they were to explain that insurgents were the ones who attacked the division and were killed in the ensuing battle. This explanation was offered to General Eugene Bridoux, the State Secretary of the Vichy Ministry of Defence. It read that the men in the village had died during the battle, the fight had been initiated by the village and the women and children had taken refuge in the church and were killed when ammunition had ignited inside the building. They claimed that the church fire was caused by explosives hidden in the building by the resistance and was a deliberate act to discredit the Germans. However, it is hard to believe they would have set fire to a building in which the women and children were being held. A criminal investigation was held by the German Army Commander-in-Chief with the result that 'military concerns justified the retaliation.'

Following the end of the war the events of that fateful day continued to receive attention and in 1946 the French government declared that the site be a national memorial. Furthermore, a French prosecution team put forward documentation about the killings to the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg. No conclusion was ever reached about what happened that day or why. There was no substantial evidence linking the resistance with the village or who was responsible for ordering the massacre. 

In the years that followed many explanations and theories were generated, many based on flimsy evidence. Despite all the attention the events received very few were ever prosecuted or even stood trial. Diekman died in battle a few weeks after the massacre while the German authorities refused to extradite Lammerding, even though he was convicted and sentenced to death by a court in 1953. He died in 1971.

A French court did prosecute 21 former members of the SS for the crimes committed in Oradour-sur-Glane. Two were sentenced to death and the rest received prison  sentences of between 5 and 20 years. All were freed, including those sentenced to death, within a few years.

Today the village stands as a memorial to the 642 men, women and children who died that fateful day in 1944. Should you visit the village? Definitely. It is sad and emotional but the only way to learn about the atrocities that happened there.

My visit was in July 2016 during the Leger 'France Under The Jackboot' tour and it was one of the saddest parts of the whole trip. At this point I must thank our tour guide, Frederick Greenhow, whose knowledge was second to none and throughout the whole tour kept us engrossed during the long coach journeys with stories and background information on the places we visited. I must also thank our two coach drivers, David Lonsdale and Simon Harriman, who did an amazing job.

You enter the village through the visitor centre which covers the years from 1933 to 1953 and tells the story of the occupation of France, the French Resistance and the events of the 9th and 10th of June through photographs, witness accounts, film and a slide show.

As you walk along the main street you see the ruins of various buildings, all part of village life, the post office, garage, workshops, wine store and schools. But it is not only the buildings that are of interest. It is the everyday items that also remind you of what happened that day. You will find bicycles, cars and even a sewing machine.

The only building you can enter is the church at the end of the village street where most of the massacre occurred. It is heartbreaking and a sobering experience as you look around and can still see the bullet holes in the walls of the church and the other buildings.

I also visited the nearby cemetery, another sobering experience, where all those who lost their lives that day are buried and whose names are inscribed on a memorial wall. The cemetery is also where Mme Marguerite Rouffanche is buried.

I am glad I had the chance to visit Oradour-sur-Glane and the emotions and feeling I felt that day will live with me forever.

With thanks to Frederick Greenhow