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For educational purposes
In the final year of the Second World War, the infamous Panzer elite division Das Reich was known for its mass murders on the Eastern Front.
In the final year of the Second World War, the infamous Panzer elite division Das Reich was known for its mass murders on the Eastern Front.
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00:10June 1944. D-Day marks a turning point in World War II. Facing the threat of defeat, Adolf Hitler
00:19orders massive reinforcements to Normandy to drive the Allies back into the sea. Among them,
00:26a 15,000 strong elite division called Das Reich. As these soldiers travel to the combat zone,
00:34they come under attack from the French resistance and respond with appalling violence. This is the
00:40story of the terror inflicted by these fanatical soldiers and the deep scars they left behind.
01:02On the morning of 6th of June, 1944, while Allied troops land in Nazi-occupied Europe,
01:08700 kilometers to the south, near Montauban, an elite Nazi combat unit is enjoying some rest,
01:15oblivious of the fierce battle raging on the Normandy beaches.
01:20The officers are billeted in requisitioned houses, fed and lodged by the residents.
01:26New recruits follow an intensive training regime.
01:31Known as Das Reich, this unit is an elite division of the Waffen-SS, an organization which originated in
01:38the early days of the Nazi party as Hitler's personal bodyguard. Now, the SS numbers hundreds
01:44of thousands of men, and Das Reich is one of the most feared fighting units, guilty of committing
01:50ruthless atrocities on the Eastern Front earlier in the war.
01:55They are now stationed at a strategic point, allowing them to respond to an Allied invasion,
02:01either along France's Atlantic coast or in the Mediterranean.
02:06For the last three months, the soldiers of Das Reich have been quartered in barracks and
02:11camps on the banks of the river Garonne, near Toulouse. The first news of the Allied invasion
02:17reaches the division by telegraph, early on the 6th of June.
02:24Enemy invasion began at dawn. Take immediate steps to move.
02:30The 2nd Panzer Division musters to head north towards Normandy. Some 2,500 vehicles, including
02:37almost a hundred tanks, prepare to leave Montauban to bolster the German defences.
02:45Das Reich is the jewel in the Waffen-SS crown. Its soldiers saw allegiance to the Führer,
02:51and could be relied upon to carry out whatever was deemed necessary in defence of their leader.
02:57The division suffered heavy losses in the east, but the same fierce loyalty has been instilled
03:02in the ranks of its new members, who were about to move north to defend the fatherland.
03:09The prestige of SS membership can be gauged from this propaganda film.
03:15The Waffen, or Armed SS, was initially recruited from among the members of the Nazi party,
03:21chosen to make up the protection squads.
03:25Recruitment has since opened to other European nationalities.
03:29This isn't just a military unit. It is also a powerful organisation,
03:33where each member receives moral and political instruction,
03:37to make him worthy of being part of an elite.
03:43Unlike the regular army,
03:45the better equipped Waffen-SS answers only to the orders of Hitler's number 2,
03:49Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler.
03:51Two months earlier, when an Allied invasion seemed imminent,
03:56Himmler arrived in person in Montauban,
03:58to motivate the troops of das Reich.
04:07These men are among the most decorated of the Third Reich.
04:11Sixty-nine of them have won the Iron Cross
04:13for distinguished actions in battles in France and the Soviet Union.
04:18With the scale of the Normandy invasion now clear,
04:21the Germans urgently need to see that kind of bravery again,
04:25from the reinforcements it is sending north.
04:39For the Allies,
04:41the heavily armoured Das Reich division represents a significant danger.
04:44With its weaponry and numbers,
04:46and the ferocity of its officers,
04:48Das Reich could cause serious problems for the Allies,
04:51and make the invasion even more difficult.
04:54With the Allied beachhead still only tenuous,
04:57a determined German counter-offensive could be detrimental.
05:02But the generals know it will be a tough route north.
05:05The division will have to cross territory
05:08where an emboldened French resistance
05:10will be intent on slowing its progress.
05:12The Germans are in constant fear of ambush and attack.
05:17And for the resistance,
05:19galvanised by news of the massive Allied attack in Normandy,
05:22the time has come for open confrontation with the occupying forces.
05:26General de Gaulle's message,
05:28broadcast on the BBC on the evening of 6th June,
05:31is unequivocal.
05:35The supreme battle has begun.
05:39It is the battle in France,
05:41and it is the battle of France.
05:45For the sons of France,
05:48wherever they are,
05:49whoever they are,
05:51it is their clear and sacred duty
05:53to fight with all the means at their disposal.
05:58They shall destroy the enemy.
06:05The mission for the resistance is clear,
06:07to stop the Das Reich division ever reaching Normandy.
06:12The Das Reich troops must first cross the Dordogne and the Limousin,
06:16regions where resistance numbers are strong,
06:18with some 20,000 members eager to fight
06:21after long years of occupation.
06:41Until now,
06:42the resistance has been constantly short of arms and equipment.
06:45But in the first six months of 1944,
06:48ahead of the D-Day landings,
06:49the Royal Air Force dropped nearly 4,000 tons of munitions
06:53over French territory,
06:55ten times more than during the whole of the previous year.
06:58Now,
06:59the resistance has the means to fight.
07:12And not just in terms of weaponry.
07:15Men and women from France
07:16have been trained in Britain
07:17in sabotage and commando tactics.
07:20Now,
07:20they are being parachuted back into their homeland
07:22to unite the scattered local resistance groups.
07:33Agents of the SOE,
07:34the Special Operations Executive of British Intelligence,
07:37supporting the resistance from their London headquarters,
07:40have a single watchword,
07:42set Europe ablaze.
07:44This means acts of sabotage,
07:47blowing up bridges and factories,
07:48sinking enemy shipping,
07:50re-establishing radio links with London,
07:52and training resistance fighters,
07:54mostly civilians,
07:55to handle small arms.
07:59Das Reich will have to face this renewed fervor
08:02against the occupier on its way north.
08:07On the night of 7th June,
08:09four of the best French SOE agents
08:11are parachuted into the Limousin region of central France.
08:15All are seasoned combat veterans.
08:17They have already come up against German roadblocks
08:20and Gestapo undercover agents
08:21in the Rouen region.
08:26All are under 35.
08:31They are Philippe Gliver,
08:33alias Staunton,
08:34a Jew and since 1940,
08:36an underground resistance fighter.
08:39Robert Maloubier,
08:40alias Mortier,
08:41the young radio operator,
08:43Jean-Claude Guillet,
08:44and Violette Szabo,
08:46and Violette Szabo,
08:46codename Louise.
08:5023-year-old Szabo is Anglo-French.
08:53Her childhood was split between London and Paris.
08:56A dazzling beauty with an intense gaze,
08:59she is the widow of a soldier of the Free French Forces,
09:02killed at El Alamein.
09:06Her two-year-old daughter, Tania,
09:08remains in London.
09:13Two months earlier,
09:14on a mission on French soil,
09:16she showed an exceptionally cool head and daring.
09:21Despite her youth,
09:23she is one of the SOE's most valuable assets.
09:41It is vital that these agents establish contact
09:44with Colonel Georges Ganguang,
09:46head of the local resistance on the ground.
09:48He took up arms against the occupying forces in 1940
09:51and has been a thorn in the side of the Germans ever since,
09:55blowing up rail bridges,
09:57a rubber factory,
09:58and communication links.
10:02The Gestapo put up a 3 million franc bounty for his capture,
10:06and France's collaborationist Vichy regime
10:09has also been hunting him.
10:13But the local resistance is in the habit of operating alone,
10:16rather than depending on orders from London.
10:19Now, the Normandy landings mean that the Allies need
10:22coordinated action from the French resistance.
10:25So it is imperative the agents meet with Ganguang.
10:28He is the only one who can call his troops to order.
10:35But Staunton, Mottier, Guille, and Louise arrive just too late.
10:41They learn that a squad of irregulars entered the town of Thule at dawn that day,
10:45with a mission to liberate the local administrative center.
10:50This unforeseen initiative will have dire consequences for the town,
10:54which lies on the route Das Reich's armored column will soon be taking.
11:01The town falls to the resistance after just a few exchanges of gunfire.
11:05But the liberation would only be a temporary affair.
11:09The morning of 8th June.
11:11Buoyed by their success, some resistance members leave to fight elsewhere,
11:15oblivious to the fact that one of Nazi Germany's most fearsome fighting units
11:20was only a day's drive away.
11:24Heading north to the Normandy front line,
11:26and now aware that resistance operations are gathering pace,
11:30Das Reich's officers are given the order to clean the zones they pass through
11:34of gangs of terrorists.
11:38To do this, the division splits into three in the town of Cahors to follow separate routes.
11:44The 1st Battalion of the regiment known as Der Führer takes a cross-country route.
11:49The divisional staff continues straight on towards Limoges.
11:54Meanwhile, 7,500 armed and experienced Das Reich's soldiers,
11:59along with hundreds of vehicles, loop east, then north, towards Thule.
12:05The heavy panzers and other armoured vehicles would slow the division's progress.
12:10Some of Das Reich's armoury is loaded onto flatbed freight cars in Montauban
12:14to be taken via Breiv as far as Normandy.
12:24All along the country roads, the Das Reich troops pass through ghost towns.
12:30In this part of France, no one wants to risk an encounter with the SS,
12:34who's catalogue of barbarity is well known.
12:38On 2nd May 1944, in Mont-Pesat-de-Qercy, a few kilometres north of Montauban,
12:44soldiers of Das Reich shot dead 15 civilians
12:47in retaliation for the sabotage of the Toulouse-Paris railroad line.
12:52On 11th and 12th May, aided by the Gestapo and the local milice,
12:57they raided some 20 villages in the area around Fijac.
13:02In just two days, they arrested nearly 800 people,
13:06torching and looting farms as they went.
13:13On 21st May, in Frecine-le-Gela, they hanged three women from their balconies.
13:18They executed ten men, then torched the village.
13:25On the eve of their departure north,
13:27and guided by the Gestapo from nearby Agin,
13:30a Das Reich battalion executed ten resistance members and seven civilians.
13:36The succession of brutal attacks
13:38means Das Reich's reputation precedes it
13:41as they move towards Toul on 8th June.
13:55The commander of the Das Reich division
13:57is General Heinz Bernard Lameding.
14:02Born in 1905, a former civil engineer,
14:06Lameding has been a Nazi from the movement's beginnings.
14:09He is both an experienced SS soldier
14:11and a mass murderer who led special commander units
14:15in Belarus and the Baltic states.
14:18Lameding is intelligent, ambitious,
14:21and totally unscrupulous.
14:23He took part in all the battles
14:25that followed the German invasion of the Soviet Union
14:27from 22nd June 1941,
14:30in which the Das Reich Armored Division
14:32played a key role.
14:34In the Ukraine, Lameding commanded one of its combat units,
14:37and it was there that he honed the same murderous tactics
14:41on local populations
14:42that he is about to unleash on a French village.
14:45But I don't know if I'm going to take a break.
15:23Two years later, in August 1943, during the Battle of Kursk, the Das Reich division suffered
15:29a terrible defeat. Hitler lost some 50,000 men and 1,600 tanks. It remains the greatest
15:37armoured confrontation in the whole of the Second World War.
15:58The Battle of Kursk
16:42Kursk
16:47half of the men of das reich were killed on the eastern front
16:51initially made up of solely german troops by the time of the d-day landings das reich had
16:57been forced to accept other nationalities to swell its depleted ranks the armored division
17:03had recruited youngsters from hungary croatia and rumania all allies of germany but even these
17:09newcomers share a fierce loyalty to the future former soviet prisoners of war were also freed
17:18in exchange for signing up as long as they too swore allegiance to the waffen ss many of the troops
17:26are from alsace a french region on the border with germany which was annexed by the third reich in 1940
17:35elimar schneider is one of the men from alsace who was drafted he would long remember the medical
17:41examination he underwent to enter the waffen ss schneider's account at the review board a waffen
17:51ss officer assessing my young athlete's body and looking me straight in the eye asked me if i had
17:56flat feet he smiled at my negative response and retorted you will get the stamp i didn't understand
18:04right away but after an extremely thorough medical examination i received my military record book
18:10bearing the famous stamp saying passed for service in the waffen ss
18:18it was one way of claiming that i was a volunteer though i had signed nothing no enlistment papers
18:26to the nazi military administration schneider was a volkdeutsch or ethnic german born outside germany
18:33in 1944 between one and two thousand other men from alsace are enlisted in the das reich division
18:46now as the allies invade northern france schneider and his fellow recruits face the prospects of their
18:53first taste of combat
18:57but with ammunition in low supply more than half of the division heading for the front line in june 1944
19:03have never before fired a gun
19:11adolf reyna dieckmann the commander of the der fuhrer's first battalion is charged with protecting the
19:17division's left flank as they move towards tool
19:22dieckmann is on the alert his regiment has just entered the dordogne a zone with a dangerous reputation
19:29next is the limousine where the communist resistance is particularly active this is the region the commander of the ss
19:36forces describes as little russia
19:40dieckmann is well aware of the enemy's trump cards knowledge of their terrain and greater mobility compared with his long
19:47armored column
19:49it is here on 8th june that the soe agents viola zabo philippe liever john claude guillet and robert malubier
19:57make contact with 30 secret army members commanded by jacques dufort alias anastasie
20:05as they brief them on their mission the agents eye the limousine fighters with concern
20:10they're enthusiastic and numerous but they're mostly young and have no combat experience
20:16these hotheads race headlong down roads das reich will soon be coming up
20:25despite their inexperience they set to work
20:28they set up roadblocks and are on the lookout for the arrival of the panzer division
20:41hardly have the first ss set foot in the dordogne region then they find themselves under fire
20:48dieckmann's unit the more westerly of the three columns comes under attack in gruelejack on the banks of the dordogne
20:54river
20:55a dozen resistance fighters lose their lives
21:00a couple of miles upstream in rufiak dieckmann comes up against another group of combatants at the bridge that marks
21:05the entrance to the village
21:07this constant skirmishing must not be allowed to slow das reich's progress north
21:12in full view of people gathered at the village cafe
21:15he orders 16 civilians and two resistance men shot in reprisal
21:19their bodies are doused in gasoline and burned where they lie
21:23women and children are among the victims
21:34the das reich regiment continues towards limoges still more than a day away
21:39dieckmann knows he has nothing to fear from his superiors who have explicitly approved punitive operations
21:46in anticipation of increased resistance activity
21:49orders were given on 10th february by the deputy commander of the western front
21:54marshal sperl setting out the procedures to be followed
22:01order concerning the fight against terrorists
22:04respond promptly to any attacks by terrorist gangs
22:07if innocence should be slain then the fact is regrettable but is the fault of the terrorists alone
22:13owing to the current situation showing excessive severity and the measures taken will not result in any sanctions
22:23the arrival of das reich's reconnaissance battalion in brief ahead of the main column sends a chilling message to the
22:29locals
22:30the body of maurice vergnia a resistance fighter killed in a skirmish 20 kilometers down the road in crescent sack
22:37is tied to the hood of a german half-track
22:44this macabre trophy is a stark warning to the local resistance who organized the ambush
22:50which was intended to protect caches of weapons hidden in barns around breathe the last town before two
23:05the morning of 9th june and the residents of tool wake to a town once more under german control
23:11in the night with the help from the french milice the 500 men of the reconnaissance battalion
23:17armed with a hundred machine guns and a squadron of armored vehicles easily retake the town from the resistance
23:23exhausted by the previous day's fighting and short of ammunition
23:27the resistance fighters flee a town caught in a pincer movement
23:34but even with them gone the germans have a point to make
23:38at dawn over 2 000 local men aged from 16 to 60
23:43are dragged from their beds and herded into the munitions factory courtyard
23:56aurel kovac das reich's intelligence officer issues the order
24:03walter schmalt a member of the local gestapo
24:06and reconnaissance battalion commander heinrich wolf carry it out
24:15that morning the prefect of the region pierre truyer negotiates with the ss to free the detainees
24:22he succeeds in securing the release of men needed to keep the town running
24:27it's only a partial victory at noon 600 men still wait to learn their fate meanwhile elimar schneider from
24:35alsace patrols the town to tell residents of the punishment in store for the men
24:46in the streets around suyak square townsfolk see this message posted on walls
24:54citizens of tulle 40 german soldiers were murdered in the most dreadful manner by communist gangs
25:00for resistance fighters and those who aid and abet them there is but one sentence that of hanging
25:07they do not fight openly and have no sense of honor 40 german soldiers were murdered by the resistance
25:13120 of the resistance or their accomplices will be hanged their bodies will be thrown in the river
25:20the warning is signed by the ss division's general heinz lameding
25:24despite its wording there is no evidence that those held in the factory are linked to the resistance
25:31they are innocent townsfolk
25:34at 3 30 in the afternoon in the munitions factory the 120 men demanded by lameding are picked out and
25:42taken
25:42away soldiers from heinrich wolf's reconnaissance battalion obtain ropes from the inhabitants they sling
25:49these from street lamps and balconies a mission as elimar schneider points out entrusted to the most experienced
25:57we chose hanging because it is more humiliating than being shot
26:03the executioners were appointed from the reconnaissance battalion
26:07mainly composed of german men half of them soldiers from our company who had come from the russian front
26:15having obtained the release of some of the captives prefect truhe tries to convince kovac to postpone the
26:22executions i'm sorry kovac retorts we got into the habit of hanging people in russia we hanged a hundred
26:29thousand men in kharkov and kiev for us this is nothing
26:40the officers of das reich are all veterans of the eastern front in tull they simply repeat what they
26:46did in kiev minsk and kharkov where in the wake of the third reich invasion soviet towns were turned
26:53into forests of hanged men this time however many of those called on to carry out the exactions
27:00have yet to face combat tull will be a grisly initiation for them the humiliation of what the
27:08ss call an unmanly death is supposed to have a dissuasive effect like here in pansevo yugoslavia
27:16on 22nd april 1941 when das reich troops were present in the conquered territories the nazis enlist
27:24the help of local collaborators who are seen here doing the dirty work the malice performed the same
27:30role in france
27:43on the afternoon of 9th june in tulle at around 3 30 the germans hang the first group of 10
27:49from street
27:50lamps trees and balconies in suyak square and nearby streets the ss force residents to witness the ordeal
28:02on the terrace of the tivoli cafe on the other side of the square men from das reich drink and
28:07laugh
28:08to the sounds of a gramophone as they watch the spectacle
28:16one ss soldier even draws pictures of the hangings
28:27the victims are finished off with a shot from a pistol or a burst of machine gun fire then the
28:33next
28:3310 men are led to their gallows can we possibly imagine the scene asks father espinas chaplain of
28:43tool high school men immobile under duress soldiers below the gallows groups of hostages led to their
28:51execution the hangings continue throughout the afternoon
28:58at the end of the day elimar schneider goes to the munitions factory where the last few prisoners are
29:04waiting
29:07entering by the factory gate i asked how many hostages remained informing him that there were not enough ropes
29:16walter schmald pointed to a group kneeling to the left of the entrance a dozen civilians
29:22and a group of around 20 in front of him in front of them stood a chaplain in a faded
29:29cassock his face sad
29:31it was father espinas giving them absolution
29:37the chaplain negotiates tirelessly with walter schmalt for the lives of the detainees and manages to save a
29:44handful of them
29:46it's seven in the evening after 98 hangings and one man gunned down while trying to escape schmalt calls
29:54an end to the executions there's no more rope 500 of those who were forced to watch are imprisoned in
30:02limoges half will later be deported to the concentration camp in dachau of the 120 men ordered to die
30:11just 21 escaped that fate the dead are aged between 17 and 46 among them students insurance clerks
30:21barbers typists dairymen plumbers accountants and engineers just two of them were from the resistance
30:31in the evening members of the french youth camps an eight-month military service set up by the vichy
30:37regime cut down the hanged men they take the bodies to the town dump and toss them onto the rubbish
30:50on the evening of 9th june some 75 kilometers from tulle panic seizes a detachment of das reich
30:59the car carrying major helmut kampf the commander of the third battalion of the der führer regiment
31:04is found by the roadside its passenger has gone
31:09camp as a hero among elite ss soldiers and a personal friend of general lameding and adolf diekman
31:17a giant of a man whose comrades call him golden mouth because he had all his teeth replaced with gold
31:23ones he has disappeared without trace roadblocks are hastily set up roads and woods thoroughly searched
31:36a few hours earlier in nearby combo there kampf's regiment fell into a resistance ambush
31:43the germans captured 31 partisans and immediately shot them on camp's orders
31:51their bodies were laid out on the road then crushed by the panzers of das reich
31:57the resistance unit under local chief george gangwa is suspected of having abducted kampf in retaliation
32:06the hunt for him continues until nightfall before resuming the following day besides kampf the germans
32:14also want to find suspected weapons caches
32:20not far away soe agent violette zabo and her contact anastasi are heading for pompadour near brev
32:28there they are to meet other soe agents to coordinate their actions with the secret army
32:35neither of them know that waffen ss soldiers are combing the area in search for major kampf
32:42suddenly as they leave the village of salon latour they see a motorcyclist heading at speed in their
32:47direction closely followed by a detachment from das reich
32:53it's too late to turn and run there is an exchange of gunfire
32:57the agents abandon their vehicle and make for the undergrowth
33:01but violette stumbles and twists her ankle
33:06helpless she empties her gun at the ss to give anastasi a head start
33:13he escapes but not violette zabo she's taken prisoner
33:26meanwhile the defure regiment has received information that puts it on the trail of helmet
33:32kampf the information comes from lieutenant carl gerlach captured the day before by the resistance
33:39he has suddenly reappeared having escaped from the village where he confirms the resistance has
33:45established its base without doubt that is where their caches of arms are hidden
33:52gerlach also hears that an ss officer is being held prisoner there no doubt major kampf
34:02though this information doesn't correspond to its actual location
34:06adolf diekman pinpoints the village of orador sur glan on the map this he says calls for ruthless
34:14suppression diekman is a cold-blooded killer barely 30 years old he is already responsible for many
34:23massacres on the eastern front another officer otto khan commander of the third company and a career
34:30soldier who joined das reich in 1940 along with his direct subordinate heinz bath will head the reprisal
34:36operations the pair of them have much blood on their hands from a long campaign of atrocities in eastern
34:43europe bath joined the ss at 18. he trained with the hitler youth and is a veteran from the war
34:51with the soviets
34:53first an instructor with the das reich division in 1943 then a policeman in czechoslovakia he later
35:00moved from one waffen ss unit to the next including a spell with a notorious third tottenkopf ss panzer
35:07division the feared death's head division who wore the skull and crossbones insignia
35:17on the eastern front bath khan and other veterans were not just fighting the red army
35:24one goal of the invasion of the ussr in june 1941 was to eliminate any potential enemies of the third
35:31reich in other words communists and jews wherever they were to be found
35:45the first victims of the murderous ss units were any man old enough to bear arms
35:52they were shot into mass graves as the germans progressed through soviet territory
35:57from the baltic states and poland through ukraine and on into russia
36:06from august 1941 german soldiers were given orders for the genocide
36:11among the main targets of the mass slaughter led by the ansatzgruppen
36:15the mobile killing units were jewish women and children
36:20too few in number for the task before them these death squads enlisted the help of the regular army military
36:26police and the waffen ss
36:30einsatzgruppen report 92 of 23rd september 1941 mentions the das reich division in which khan learned
36:38his brutal trade report 92 describes the activities of group b in the region of minsk belarus
36:48in just a few hours 920 men women and children the entire jewish population of lahoysk
36:55were massacred into large pits dug for them on the road to gainer
37:05the german occupying forces harassed by communist partisans took revenge on the civilian population
37:16reprisal missions followed one another at a frenzied rate from 1942 onwards
37:22it was always the same grim ritual the inhabitants were driven into the village square the men executed
37:31the women and children shot in a barn or church which was then sprayed with machine gun fire
37:36before being torched
37:53the rest of the village was then set ablaze
38:10in belarus the ss raised 628 villages and burned their inhabitants alive
38:17this represents around one village every two days in fewer than four years of german occupation
38:29as for heinz bath it was in czechoslovakia that he became a criminal against humanity
38:38in prague the head of the reich security service reinhard hydrich
38:42was killed in an attack by two czech soe agents the furor ordered that the village of lidice suspected of
38:50shielding resistance fighters should atone for this
38:57in june 1942 bath took part in surrounding the village before commanding a firing squad
39:04one hundred and eighty four men aged 16 and over were shot under his orders in lidice the women were
39:11sent to
39:11the ravensbruck camp near berlin the children to the chelmno death camp in poland or else were put into
39:18the lebensborn nurseries for the ideal aryan society of which hitler dreamt
39:26first the germans burned the houses then reduced them to rubble with dynamite
39:45after they had finished there was no trace of lidice not even ruins these are the men who are about
39:54to enter
39:54orodur sur glane on 10th june 1944 and who will decide the villagers fate
40:04the village has no known links with the resistance
40:07but its population has almost doubled with refugees from spain and alsace as well as jews
40:17orador is a typical village of the region a true picture postcard 15th century church small shops and
40:24farms a tramway linking it to nearby limoges a vibrant little town
40:32on this saturday men queue up for tobacco in the market square children gather at the gates of three
40:38municipal schools for their medical examination it's a weekend like any other as if the village has been
40:49spared by the war at least since a roundup in august 1942 when jewish members of the 642nd foreign workers
40:57group were arrested and deported to auschwitz
41:05as two armored cars and diekman's truck stop a few kilometers short of the village heinz bath turns
41:12to his man to say today you will see blood flow
41:19orodur sur glane is about to receive the same treatment from diekman khan and bath
41:24as la risk as laditsa and as the 628 belarusian villages wiped from the face of the earth by the
41:33ss killing machine
41:40there are no filmed archives of the orodur sur glane massacre
41:44but the movie come and see directed by the russian l.n klimov and based in part on his own
41:50experience of the war
41:52provides a powerful illustration of the kind of methods employed by the ss
41:58the action of this 1985 fictional film is set in belarus but the modus operandi ties in almost exactly
42:06with the testimonies of the few survivors of the orodur sur glane massacre among them a marguerite
42:13rufonche 47 at the time and robert ebras just 19
42:26on the 10th of june 1944 i was on leave in orador at my parents place around two o'clock
42:33in the afternoon
42:33the germans arrived in armored cars they got out and made us go to the market square
42:41i was there at the roundup with my mother and my two sisters
42:49soldiers who were doing their rounds came to our home
42:53they said everyone market square and that was it we all had to go
43:04they separated the women and children from the group up to the age of 14 children went with their
43:10mothers above that they were considered men i was 19 i went in the men's group
43:18the worst moment was when we had to spit up they separated the men from the women
43:36they were taken to the church and the men went to the barns
43:47what happened next would never be forgotten
44:06what happened next would never do
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