Events at Oradour-sur-Glane timeline
January 44: 2.
SS-Panzerdivision Das Reich is located in France, where they begin training
with the new conscripts and recruits. The resistance begins to execute small
but extremely annoying hit and run actions against German personnel and
installations. This would lead, from the period March to D-day, to a number of
100 casualties in Das Reich, and the same number of wounded. On 3.2.44, Generalfeldmarschall
und Oberbefehlshaber West Hugo Sperrle issued the famous 'Sperrle orders',
which stated that, if partisans attacked German armed forces, drastic measures
can be taken on the spot.
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Sperrle Orders:
i.) We (German
Armed Forces) are not in the occupied western territories to allow our troops
to be shot at and abducted by saboteurs who go unpunished. The countermeasures
up to now, despite undenied successes, will not alter the situation
substantially if immediate self protection is not undertaken in instances where
we are attacked or presented with insubordination
ii.) If troops are
attacked in any manner, their commander is obliged to take his own
countermeasures immediately, these include:
iii.) There is to
be an immediate return of fire. If innocent persons are hit this is regrettable
but entirely the fault of the terrorists.
The surroundings
of any such incident are to be sealed off immediately and all the civilians in
the locality, regardless of rank and person are to be taken into custody.
Houses from which
shots have been fired are to be burnt down on the spot.
A report will not
be made until these or similar immediate steps have been taken.
iv.) In the
judgement of the actions of troop commanders, the decisiveness and speed with
which they act are to be regarded as the primary aspects. A slack and
indecisive troop commander deserves to be severely punished because he
endangers the lives of the troops under his command and produces a lack of
respect for the German armed forces.
Measures that are
regarded subsequently as too severe, cannot in view of the present situation,
provide reason for punishment.
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7.6.44: Das
Reich recieves orders to move to Normandy.
8.6.44: Das
Reich is harassed from all sides by partisans, finds numerous roads blocks.
The French partisans launched a massive attack on the German garrison of Tulle.
SS-Aufklärungsabteilung 2 (Wulf) raced to the besieged German troops.
9.6.44: SS-Sturmbannführer
Helmut Kämpfe, the popular commander of III./SS-Panzergrenadierregiment 4
'Der Führer' is abducted by the resistance. He was never found back, nor
was his body ever recovered.
Tulle is relieved.
The Waffen-SS soldiers find the bodies of 62 mutilated German soldiers,
but the garrison reported a loss of 80 men, meaning several were never
accounted for. Taking into account the Sperrle orders, the enraged SS soldiers
hang 99 suspected partisans from lampposts and balconies. Several suspects are
released because of their young age.
I./SS-Panzergrenadierregiment
'Der Führer', under Adolf
Diekmann had a similar tough day, battling partisans and losing several men to
them.
10.6.44: Kurt
Gerlach, orderly for Das Reich’s StuG-Abteilung, arrives shocked and tattered in Limognes, Regimental HQ. On June
9, he was send out, together with his driver, to find billets for his men in
the area of Nieul. When Gerlach was seperated from his comrades (there were six
men in three cars), they were suddenly surrounded by partisans, who dragged
Gerlach and his driver out, started hitting them and tore their uniforms off.
Both of the men were dragged and kicked, with their hands tied behind their
back, to Oradour-sur-Glane, where they were brought to what seems to have been
the partisan commander. There, they understood they were going to be executed
in the nearby woods. The driver, who knew what was coming, tried to resist, and
the partisans turned their attention to him. In the short moment of confusion,
Gerlach ran for his life, towards the nearby bushes and trees. He heard several
shots behind him, and when he looked behind, he saw his driver drop down to the
ground, shot dead. That whole night, wearing just his underwear, Gerlach
managed to find his back to Limoges, where the Regimental Headquarters of Der
Führer was located, and immediatly reported to SS-Standartenführer
Sylvester Stadler, the commander.
Now, in the
morning of 10.6.44, Adolf Diekmann, a close friend of the abducted Kämpfe,
showed Gerlach a map and asked him where he and his driver recieved their
treatment. Gerlach did so, and Diekmann set off with 3.Kp./I. (third company of
the first battalion) under the command of SS-Haupsturmführer Otto Kahn
towards Oradour-sur-Glane.
This was not the
only reason why Diekmann set off for Oradour, two men from the French militia
(a force fighting together with the German Army) had told him that a
high-ranking officer would be publically burned in Oradour, and that the town
was a nest of partisan-activity, partisans of the FTP, the communist
resistance. Diekmann obviously realized this had to be Kämpfe.
Diekmann did not
drive straight for Oradour, but first he went to St. Junien, where he went to
the local SD administration. There, he and Obersturmbannführer Meier
found a way to get Kämpfe back, they would release the most senior captured
resistance leader, together with 35.000 Reichsmark, for Kämpfe. At
12:00, this resistance leader was released, but nothing was ever heard from him
again, except for a phonecall that he "had not found his superiors"
yet.
Afterwards, an
dissapointed Diekmann set off for Oradour-sur-Glane, hoping to find Kämpfe
there.
A report as to
what happened at Oradour, is best described by Diekmann himself. The following
is his personnal report, presented at 17:30, at the regimental headquarters in
Limognes. It is drawn from 'Comrades to the End' by Weidinger. The total
death toll was 642 people.
"The Company had encountered resistance in Oradour, the bodies of executed German soldiers were found. It then occupied the village and immediately conducted an intensive search of the houses. Unfortunately this failed to turn up Kämpfe, however large quantities of weapons and ammunition were found. Therefore all the men of the village were shot, who were surely Maquisards.
The women and
children were locked up in the church while all this was going on. Then the
village was set on fire, as a result of which the ammunition that was stored in
almost every house went up. The burning of the village resulted in fire
spreading to the church, where ammunition had also been hidden in the roof. The
church burned down very rapidly and the women and children lost their
lives."
When hearing of
this, Stalder was quite shocked, and he reported the matter to
SS-Standartenführer Heinz Lammerding (the divisional commander) immediatly,
resulting in a court-martial against Diekmann. This was to take place as soon
as possible, but this was not going to be anytime soon, considering Das
Reich was ordered against a newly opened front in Normandy.
On 24.6.44, SS-Brigadeführer
Lammerding was promoted and recieved the command of 9. SS-Panzerdivision
Hohenstauffen, whose commander had been killed in action. Otto Weidinger,
writer of 'Comrades to the End', took over command of Der Führer
regiment.
Adolf Diekmann was
to lose his life on 29.6.44 when he, according to eyewitnesses, stood up in the
midst of heavy firing wearing but a cap, and was mortally hit by a shell
splinter. His unit, I.Bat., suffered 70-80% casualties, and Otto Kahn lost an
arm. After these events, the charge against Diekmann was dropped.
Later, it was
revealed that the 'executed German soldiers', as described by Diekmann, were in
fact a medical unit. It had been a German ambulance, driving through Oradour,
and the two persons in the vehile were tied to the steering wheel while the
vehicle was set on fire, thereby burning the soldiers alive.
Kämpfe was never
seen again. After Oradour, the resistence was paralysed, the sudden blow seemed
to have dazed the resistance in the German rear, as partisan activity halted.
Translation Courtesy of Thomas Vanhassel
