Oradour was a small, typically French rural village in the Limousin where German Waffen SS savages attacked and looted the place for absolutely no reason. Some have suggested the attack was in reprisal for resistance activities in the area. But there is no evidence in support of this theory/reason I find it hard to imagine any 'reason' for such barbarism, myself. The outcome resulted in the village and its people being well....destroyed. The French, to their credit, have maintained the place in the condition it was left in when the Germans scuttled off. The photographs are self explanatory:
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| Hopefully Hamish will never be exposed personally to the horrors of warfare |
This is a useful general info site about this appalling atrocity, where the women and children who had sought refuge by crushing into the village church were, blasted by hand-grenages, smoke-bombed, gunned down and finally bruleed - an old French tradition: http://www.oradour.info/
A memorable clip from an amusing show with a deadly finality.
It is a sobering place to visit and although there are no demads for silence or quietude, it is there in the visitors who cannot help but be effected by the sombre nature of the place.
Finally, on a different note, also on this day, 1977, J and I were married in Brighton Registry Office. Another sobering thought. 34 bloody years.......trench-warfare, trials and tribulations! Bloody Hell! How unfashionable! Who'dathunkit?!
And on this day, 1932, George Formby was did his first recording for record company Decca:
The whole village is a far more fitting memorial and reminder than anything concocted from pristine marble in a pretty park
ReplyDeletefantastic post! Is true that a picture is worth a thousand words.....
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