[rodrics]

On June 10, 1944, in the small French village of Oradour-sur-Glane, 642 residents, including women and children, were brutally murdered by soldiers of the Waffen-SS, a paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party.

This event unfolded when SS soldiers surrounded the village, ostensibly to carry out an identity check and search for weapons. The villagers were rounded up, with men and women separated. The men were taken to barns where machine guns had been set up. The women and children were locked in the church.

The SS troops then opened fire on the men in the barns and set fire to the buildings. Simultaneously, an incendiary device was detonated in the church, and as the women and children tried to escape, they were shot by the soldiers. The village was then looted and set ablaze, effectively wiping it off the map.

The massacre was reportedly in retaliation for the activities of the French Resistance in the area, although Oradour-sur-Glane itself was not known to be a center of resistance activity.

[indybob]

Holly crap that's alot of people

[Azimuth]

642 dead. five men escaped, one woman.

[Agent of reality]

Originally Posted by wiki

On June 10, Diekmann's battalion sealed off the town of Oradour-sur-Glane, having confused it with nearby Oradour-sur-Vayres (some disagreement on this point, see esp. Max Hastings, Das Reich, who states reasons for believing no such confusion), and ordered all the townspeople – and anyone who happened to be in or nearby the town – to assemble in the village square, ostensibly to have their identity papers examined. In addition to the residents of the village, the SS also apprehended six people who did not live there but had the misfortune of riding their bikes through town when the Germans arrived.

All the women and children were then taken to and locked in the church while the village itself was looted. Meanwhile, the men were led to six barns and sheds where machine-gun nests were already in place. According to the account of a survivor, the soldiers began shooting at them, aiming for their legs so that they would die more slowly. Once the victims were no longer able to move, the soldiers covered their bodies with fuel and set the barns on fire. Only five men escaped; 190 men died.

The soldiers then proceeded to the church and put an incendiary device in place there. After it was ignited, women and children tried to flee from the doors and windows of the church but were met with machine-gun fire. Two hundred forty-seven women and two hundred and five children died in the mayhem. Only one woman survived, 47-year-old local housewife Marguerite Rouffanche. She had managed to slide out of a small window at the back of the church and hid in the bushes overnight until the Germans had moved on. Another small group of about twenty villagers had fled Oradour-sur-Glane as soon as the soldiers had appeared. That night, the remainder of the village was razed.

A few days later, survivors were allowed to bury the dead. It was found that 642 inhabitants of Oradour-sur-Glane had been brutally murdered in a matter of hours.

Sturmbannführer Adolf Diekmann claimed that it was a just retaliation due to partisan activity in nearby Tulle and the kidnapping of Helmut Kämpfe. The German Nazi authorities wanted to prosecute Diekmann for the massacre, but he was killed in action some days later before he could stand trial.

[Azimuth]

Yep, there used to be a show called World at War and one episode was about this.

[DarwinsMistake]

Rough..

[Clubhouse]

Thanks for the info Agent of Reality, excellent post rodders ( if you read the posts). World at War by Jeremy Issacs, narrated by Lawrence Oliver, brilliant award winning series.

[BlackWidow06]

Originally Posted by clubhouse ↗

Thanks for the info Agent of Reality, excellent post rodders ( if you read the posts). World at War by Jeremy Issacs, narrated by Lawrence Oliver, brilliant award winning series.

I'm gonna watch that now, thsnks for the info

[brezzoner]

dammmmmmmmmmm

[mparryuk52]

Burn in hell you sick motherfuckers!!