Very sad feeling when reading this thread, what the hell did happen? Why, why? the list is endless.
The very sad reality is simple, it was sheer murder, a blood lust on innocent civilians
I've always wanted to go to Oradour, just to pay my respects, to look at the Church where the women & children died.
Just to make sense of it, but, I know I never will. That's very sad indeed.
May They Rest In Peace.
It is easy to get there from the UK, worth a visit and credit to the French people/goverment for keeping it as is, if it was not then it would simply be new houses or fields as if nothing ever happened and i am sure many places in Europe went through the same type of thing, god bless them all.
As in understand it the village was destroyed by Das Reich en-route to the invasion front. They had been delayed both by RAF interdication raids and resistant attacks/sabotage which caused further delays. I dont know the truth of this but i understand one of the officers whilst on a recon to try and get around one of these incidents was taken prisoner, tortured,an open fire was mentioned, and finally killed. I believe his comrades werent best amused. No excuses for what they did but i can imagine the pressures on, get your panzers to Caen yesterday, the people doing the shouting werent ones you'd care to meet for tea and the incidents stopped thereafter.
People were prosecuted after the war, not many because most had been killed in Normandy and subsequent engagements. One of those brought to book when interrogated said basically whats your problem we did this hundreds of times in Russia. Ah said the intelligence man theres some people over there with red stars on their hats who would like to talk to you about that. Exit stage right.
one of the two men who survived is dead ...
The best Militaria forum in France is here : http://deutsch-militaria.forumactif.us/
He was under the bodies of friends.
The best Militaria forum in France is here : http://deutsch-militaria.forumactif.us/
So sad Hopefully next year I will go and pay my respects
Nick
"In all my years as a soldier, I have never seen men fight so hard." - SS Obergruppenfuhrer Wilhelm Bittrich - Arnhem
I intend to make a visit next Fall - for those that do, can you give us an idea for how long one should plan a stay? And you say Limoges is the place for overnight accommodation - can you recommend a hotel or B&B? Is there anything else worthwhile - close by - to see? Intend to travel by public transit - coming from the Netherlands - with the hope to rely on train journey as much as possible . . . does anyone see issues with this concept? Thanks in advance for your thought!
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