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Posted on Aug 17, 2005 in Front Page Features, Stuff We Like

Oradour sur Glane

Armchair General

Many cars can be found in their parking places or around the town. Here are just a couple of them.

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An ornate fireplace is just about the only thing left standing in this ruined home, from where I was also able to take a picture of the road as it slopes towards the Church.

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A view looking back the way I had come and a shop front complete with hinging metalwork for the awning.

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As you’ll have gathered, stone and ironwork are the only things to have survived the test of time, including these railings. And here’s a shot from the centre of the village.

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At one end of the village, by the Church, the road slopes down towards the Buchoule Barn, another of those many places where bodies would be discovered after the tenth of June. This is the southern approach to the village, the route the German troops took to enter the village while others surrounded the site. Meanwhile, burnt out cars slowly rust and decay in a nearby garage.

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By the time I got to the lower part of the village, the heavens had opened and I was getting soaked. I actually found this rather fitting, it would be odd to visit gloomy ruined Oradour on a nice sunny day.

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Here’s a cafe, with immaculately trimmed hedges, but not much else to show its intended function. An odd sight indeed.

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1 Comment

  1. I heard a rumour that the real reason for the massacre was that there was a great deal of gold bullion that had to be removed very quickly and the massacre was an excuse or cover up for those wishing to hide the fact that they were there to take the gold, and that a day before a crack team of special forces people arrived to oversee the shipment wondering if you could shed any light on this, it was something i learned at school years ago back in the seventies
    best regards
    Sean Schofield