Summary
Highlights
On June 6, 1944, the 2nd Panzer Das Reich Division, stationed in Montauban, France, received alarmist messages about the Allied landings in Normandy. Composed of 15,000 men, including seasoned veterans and new recruits from various occupied territories, the division was a flagship SS unit. Created in 1925 as Hitler's personal bodyguard, the SS evolved into a powerful militia. The Das Reich was under the command of Heinz-Bernhard Lammerding, a former civil engineer and Nazi with a history of mass murder on the Eastern Front. The division, though experienced, had suffered heavy losses against the Soviets at Kursk in 1943, and many of its new recruits had never seen combat.
By 1944, the Das Reich Division had lost half its men on the Eastern Front. Of the 15,000 men in Montauban, 9,000 were new recruits from Hungary, Croatia, Romania, and former Soviet prisoners of war. A significant number were Alsatians, like 17-year-old Elimar Schneider, who was conscripted. Despite possessing obsolete or faulty equipment, the Das Reich, with its armor, numbers, and fierce officers, still posed a major threat to the Allies. As they headed north towards Normandy on June 8, they were tasked with clearing 'terrorist gangs' (French Resistance) from their path, passing through regions known for strong resistance activity like Dordogne and Limousin.
The Das Reich's journey would take them through territories controlled by feared French Resistance groups. General de Gaulle's message on D-Day urged the Resistance to fight the enemy by all available means. In regions like Dordogne and Limousin, the partisans' mission was to slow the Das Reich's progress. With 20,000 eager members from both Gaullist and Communist factions, the Resistance, newly well-armed by the Royal Air Force, was ready for open confrontation. British SOE agents were parachuted in to train resistance fighters and organize sabotage.
On June 7, four French SOE agents, including the highly skilled Violette Szabo, were parachuted into Limousin to coordinate with Georges Guingouin, head of the Limousin Maquis. However, they arrived to news that the FTP had already liberated Tulle, a reckless move. The Das Reich, splitting into three columns and under orders to eliminate resistance pockets, was advancing. Their history included massacring 15 civilians in Montpezat-de-Quercy and arresting 800 people in Figeac earlier in 1944. As they entered Dordogne, Diekmann's men immediately faced resistance fire, leading to summary executions and burning of victims as reprisals in places like Rouffiac, reflecting a policy of extreme severity encouraged by their superiors.
On June 9, Tulle was re-taken by the Germans, assisted by the French militia. Over 2,000 men were rounded up. Divisional Intelligence Officer Aurel Kovacs, with Gestapo and SS commanders, ordered reprisals. Prefect Pierre Trouillé negotiated for the release of some, but 600 remained. Messages posted around town warned of hangings. General Lammerding decreed that 120 people would be hanged, a practice used by SS veterans on the Eastern Front, where hundreds of thousands were hanged for 'terrorism.' At 3:30 p.m., the hangings began, witnessed by forced spectators and drinking SS soldiers. 98 men were hanged, and one shot trying to escape. The victims, mostly civilians, were left on the streets before being dumped in the town. 500 spectators were imprisoned, with half deported to Dachau.
75 kilometers from Tulle, Major Helmut Kempf, a prominent SS officer, disappeared after his car was found empty. His regiment had previously executed 31 partisans. Georges Guingouin's FTP unit was suspected of his abduction. Simultaneously, SOE agents Violette Szabo and Anastasie headed towards Pompadour. Near Salon-la-Tour, they encountered a Das Reich detachment searching for Kempf. In the ensuing shootout, Violette Szabo was wounded and captured, while Anastasie escaped. She was later transferred to the Gestapo in Limoges.
Intelligence from an escaped prisoner led Adolf Diekmann to target Oradour-sur-Glane, fueled by the belief that Kempf was held there. Diekmann, a known mass murderer from the East, tasked Otto Kahn and Heinz Barth with the operation. Barth, a veteran SS officer, had participated in the Lidice massacre in Czechoslovakia in 1942, where 184 men were shot and women/children deported. The SS's tactics in the East involved mass executions of civilians, including women and children, and the systematic burning of villages, a method applied to 628 Belarusian villages. These brutal practices, deeply ingrained in the Das Reich veterans, were now brought to France.
On June 10, 1944, the SS entered Oradour-sur-Glane, a peaceful village with no Resistance links, whose population had swelled with refugees. Survivors Robert Hébras and Marguerite Rouffanche recounted the events. Men, including teenage boys, were separated from women and children. The men were machine-gunned in barns, set on fire, and those still alive were shot. Women and children were herded into the church, which was then bombed with an incendiary device, and those trying to escape were machine-gunned. Marguerite Rouffanche was the sole survivor from the church. 642 people were murdered. The massacre served to 'blood' new recruits and was followed by looting and drunken celebration by the SS. Oradour was confirmed to have no links to the Resistance.
Oradour-sur-Glane was not an isolated incident; SS divisions applied similar tactics in Western Europe. After the massacre, Diekmann ordered his men to silence. Major Kempf, whose disappearance triggered the atrocity, was executed by Georges Guingouin after learning of the massacre. The next day, the Das Reich destroyed evidence before continuing towards Normandy. On June 11, the German General Staff recorded '500 dead' in Oradour. With its equipment in poor condition, the Das Reich presented a diminished threat in Normandy, though its convoy was bombed by the Allies. Despite heavy sabotage from the Resistance, the Das Reich eventually reached Normandy, albeit too late to decisively impact the battle.
The Das Reich struggled to reach Normandy, with 60% of its tanks and 30% of half-tracks unserviceable. Resistance efforts, including sabotaging railways and cutting power, hampered their progress. By June 18, the division was near the front, but the Allies were firmly established. On June 29, the Das Reich spearheaded a counter-attack at Mortain, but it was a disaster. Diekmann was killed, and Kahn severely wounded. General Lammerding was also wounded. The division was decimated, losing hundreds of men and most of its tanks. The massacres in Tulle and Oradour, especially, led to protests from the Vichy government, prompting an SS investigation where Kahn maintained the false narrative of an arms cache in Oradour.
In August 1944, as Paris was liberated, Violette Szabo, captured earlier, was transported to Ravensbrück concentration camp. She was among 130,000 women, including other SOE agents, deported to the camp, where many perished from forced labor and medical experiments. In December, Hitler launched a surprise counter-offensive in the Ardennes, hoping to break the Allied front. The Das Reich, having recovered from its Normandy losses, was thrown into the battle. Despite initial advances, the offensive quickly stalled under renewed Allied air attacks, and the Das Reich was defeated at Saint-Vith. In spring 1945, the remains of the Das Reich were wiped out by the Soviets in the final battles. Violette Szabo was executed in February 1945, just months before the camp's liberation and Germany's surrender.
After the war, General de Gaulle visited the ruins of Oradour, vowing justice. The Tulle hangings and Oradour massacre were addressed in post-war courtrooms. The Nuremberg trials failed to identify who ordered the massacres. In 1953, the Oradour-sur-Glane trial in Bordeaux accused 21 individuals, including 14 Alsatians who claimed they were conscripted. The verdicts, including one death sentence, were seen as too lenient and led to protests. Most Alsatians were amnestied, sparking outrage among victims' families. General Heinz Lammerding, responsible for the Tulle hangings, lived a quiet life in West Germany and was never extradited. Otto Kahn died without facing justice. Heinz Barth, a key figure in both Lidice and Oradour, was eventually tried in 1983 and sentenced to life, but was released in 1997. Few Das Reich members were held accountable for their crimes, often due to political considerations during the Cold War. Elimar Schneider, the Alsatian recruit, was never charged, maintaining his innocence and defending the 'honor' of the Waffen SS.