Thursday, 29 March 2012
Today we drove two hours North (near Limoges
On that fateful day at two p.m. German soldiers arrived and proceeded to round up all of the inhabitants.
Before the day had ended they had deliberately massacred 642 men, women and children and systematically destroyed 328 buildings.
A tragedy unparalleled in the annals of the war.
The town was never rebuilt (in fact a new town was eventually built adjacent to the site) and has been a living memorial to this tragedy.
As you can see from the following pictures, virtually everything is as found the day after the massacre.
You are able to walk through the ruined town and see the totality of the destruction.
While a trial was eventually held in 1953, after an investigation lasting nine years only two officers were sentenced to death and 21 other participants were given minimum jail terms. Following the trial they were released from prison and even those condemned to death were pardoned shortly afterwards. Finally, a Lieutenant Barth (who had commanded the German troops the fateful day) was located in East Germany
Let us not forget them.
