Das Reich (42 page)

122
‘If the Germans . . .’: Ibid. p. 373

126
‘They were sitting there . . .’: Wulf
loc. cit.

127
‘We’ve got to make . . .’: Schneid
op. cit.

128
‘It was a Dante-esque . . .’:
Maquis de Corréze
, p. 379

128
‘And what are you doing . . .’: Schneid
op. cit.

131
‘We arranged ourselves . . .’: Ibid.

132
‘We refused to look . . .’: Ibid.

133
‘Ah yes,’ he said: Private information to author

134
‘I am still ignorant . . .’: Quoted from Weidinger unpublished ms.

135
‘There was no specific . . .’: Stuckler
loc. cit.

136
‘I protested that . . .’: Wulf
loc. cit.

136
‘Hascha Kurz . . .’: Schneid
op. cit.

137
‘Why are your shoes . . .’: Soulier,
Le Drame de Tulle

137
‘I am one of the . . .’: Ibid.

138
‘My friends . . .’: Ibid.

138
‘You see this boy . . .’: Schneid
op. cit.

138
‘Because our wounded . . .’: Soulier
op. cit.

139
‘Terrible look . . .’: Schneid
op. cit.

140
‘One basic principle . . .’: Stein
op. cit.

141
‘2nd SS Ps . . .’: Army Group G War Diary, Appendix 180

143
‘We’ve got a French . . .’: Author interview with Tommy Macpherson, 1 June 1980

144
‘The British kept . . .’: Author telephone interview with Henry Hyde, 8 November 1980

145
‘plainly represented . . .’: Author interview with Geoffrey Hallowes, 13 May 1980

145
‘and it stuck out . . .’: Macpherson
loc. cit.

148
‘All those who can . . .’: Author interview with Macdonald Austin, 6 November 1980

148
‘were shattered to see . . .’: Macpherson
loc. cit.

149
‘The great thing . . .’: Macpherson
loc. cit.

149
‘They were very conscious . . .’: Hallowes
loc. cit.

153
‘Sometimes they would do . . .’: Austin
loc. cit.

154
‘I really didn’t know . . .’: Ibid.

154
‘Infinite capacity for . . .’: Macpherson
loc. cit.

154
‘With hindsight it was . . .’: Ibid.

156
‘I felt I had a clear . . .’: Ibid.

157
‘If an armoured car . . .’: Ibid.

159
‘The Germans didn’t suffer . . .’: Ibid.

160
‘State of the division . . .’: Army Group G War Diary, Appendices 195 and 326

162
‘In view of the transport . . .’: Ibid.

162
‘High transport losses . . .’: Ibid.

163
‘One man found . . .’: Schneid
op. cit.

164
‘1 Area Souillac . . .’: Army Group G War Diary, Appendices 27 and 356

164
‘Terrasson is a pretty little . . .’: Ibid. p. 384

165
‘Towards 11 pm . . .’: Quoted Beau & Gaubusseau, p. 383

167
‘I profit from an armoured . . .’: Ibid. p. 385

167
‘the cycle is simple . . .’: Ibid. p. 385

168
‘At the end of . . .’: de Gunzbourg ms.
op. cit.

170
‘The regiment is greeted . . .’: Weidinger
op. cit.

172
The account of Kampfe’s kidnapping and the events leading to the massacre at Oradour are drawn from Weidinger’s history, interviews with surviving second-hand French contemporary sources, and the principal published French accounts of Delarue and Beau & Gaubusseau.

176
‘She was treated . . .’: Quoted by Wache in a sworn statement loaned to the author by Herbert Taege

176
‘When I left London . . .’: Staunton is quoted by Minney in
Carve Her Name With Pride

178
‘She looked like a little doll . . .’: Author interview with an eyewitness in Limoges, 23 June 1980

178
‘In the course of . . .’: Army Group G War Diary

181
‘It was very rough . . .’: Quoted from author interview with Weidinger, 11 April 1980

181
‘After many delays . . .’: Weidinger
op. cit.

183
‘He arrives in an excited . . .’: Ibid.

184
The surviving witnesses of the massacre at Oradour were exhaustively examined by post-war tribunals and historians. All quotations in this section unless otherwise stated are drawn from testimony given at the 1953 war crimes trial, or statements recorded in Jens Kruuse’s
Madness at Oradour
. I have relied principally upon the published French sources, with some collaborative details from my own interviews in France and Germany, and of course a visit to the ruins of Oradour.

203
‘Late in the afternoon . . .’: Weidinger
op. cit.

206
‘Mopping up operations . . .’: Army Group G War Diary, Appendix 199

207
‘There are further . . .’: Weidinger
op. cit.

207
‘Action taken during the . . .’: Quoted Delarue,
Trafics et Crimes sous l’Occupation

209
‘Turn him over . . .’: Schneid
op. cit.

209
‘The German authorities . . .’: Quoted by Soulier
op. cit.

210
‘dropped on Billancourt . . .’: A reference to a major raid by RAF Bomber Command against the Renault factory, on 9 March 1942.

210
‘At 1.30 am . . .’: News cuttings from private collection of Marcel Racault

210
‘Well, let’s thank God . . .’: Wulf
loc. cit.

212
‘The great thing . . .’: Sir Henry d’Avigdor-Goldsmid, quoted Hislop,
Anything but a Soldier
, p. 3

214
‘Don’t use ’em . . .’: Ibid. p. 124

214
‘I believe that after . . .’: Lloyd-Owen,
Providence Their Guide
(Harrap 1980), p. 120

214
‘When small successful . . .’: Hislop
op. cit.
p. 67

214
‘Quite out of his depth . . .’: Ibid. p. 125

215
‘Where’s so and so . . .’: Author interview with Peter Weaver, 11 August 1980

215
‘He was everything . . .’: Author interview with Sam Smith, 6 August 1980

215
‘Belted for the bridge . . .’: Ibid.

215
‘I was in love . . .’: Ibid.

216
‘The war came . . .’: Weaver
loc. cit.

217
‘2nd SS Panzer . . .’: PRO WO218/114

217
‘This was a serious . . .’: Farran,
Winged Dagger
, pp. 222–3

218
‘You will now concentrate . . .’: PRO WO218/114

219
‘I can remember . . .’: Tonkin in a letter to the author, 11 October 1980

219
‘As if, when a boy . . .’: Hislop
op. cit.
p. 126

219
‘He gave me much . . .’: Tonkin letter
op. cit.

220
‘The 5th came . . .’: Tonkin contemporary letter to his mother, loaned to author

220
‘It is my unfortunate . . .’: Tonkin to author
op. cit.

221
Hitler’s Commando Order: Following the discovery of a German sentry who had been bound and shot by a British commando raiding party in the Channel Islands in 1942, Hitler decreed that all members of the Commandos, SAS and paratroopers captured operating behind the lines were to be treated as saboteurs and shot, whether or not in uniform. More than 200 mostly British prisoners suffered this fate, although the ‘commando’ order was erratically executed. It is only just to add that when operational requirements made it embarrassing to take or hold prisoners, Allied Special Forces were not unknown to kill them. In recent years, there have been an increasing number of revelations of mass executions of German prisoners by Allied units during World War II. The US 45th Division machine-gunned one large group during the summer of 1944. On 4 January 1945, General Patton wrote in his diary: ‘The 11th Armoured Division is very green and took unnecessary losses to no effect. There were also some unfortunate incidents in the shooting of prisoners (I hope we can conceal this).’ The purpose of these remarks is not to excuse the German shooting of prisoners in contravention of the laws of war, but to try to place the matter in a more objective context than was possible in the first, chauvinistic years following the end of the war when many books suggested that only the Wehrmacht and the SS were guilty of breaching the Geneva Convention.

221
‘It was the nicest . . .’: Tonkin to mother
op. cit.

224
‘A small, very frightened . . .’: Tonkin to author
op. cit.

227
‘They hardly knew . . .’: Weaver
loc. cit.

230
‘There was nothing . . .’: Captain John Sadoine report in PRO WO218/114

231
‘should be treated . . .’: Ibid.

231
‘One point to be . . .’: Tonkin report PRO WO218/114

231
Sergeant Eccles . . .: On 28 June 1944

232
Sam Smith and two: On 30 June 1944

234
Soon after first light: On 3 July 1944

235
‘almost berserk . . .’: Weaver
loc. cit.

236
‘I have always felt . . .’: Tonkin to author
op. cit.

237
‘We’d written ourselves . . .’: Weaver
loc. cit.

238
‘In comparison with . . .’: PRO WO219/2389

238
‘In retrospect, it seemed . . .’: Hislop
op. cit.
p. 67

239
‘Urgent request for . . .’: PRO DEF3/171

241
‘In spite of efforts . . .’: PRO WO219/2342

242
‘They couldn’t even . . .’: Author interview with Ernst Krag, 12 April 1980

243
‘After 10 pm the Americans . . .’: Author interviews with DR survivors

243
‘It was the first hint . . .’: Langangke
loc. cit.

243
‘It will be a miracle . . .’: Quoted Weidinger
loc. cit.

243
‘Where is the Luftwaffe . . .’: Author interviews with DR survivors

245
‘Could we allow . . .’: Weidinger
loc. cit.

245
‘If we do this . . .’: Wulf
loc. cit.

246
‘At Falaise . . .’: quoted Stein
op. cit.
p. 225

246
‘Aren’t you pleased . . .’: Kreutz
loc. cit.

246
‘An organization in the . . .’: PRO WO219/2342

246
‘The movements of . . .’: PRO WO219/2389

247
‘Poor, tortured . . .’: Malraux,
Antimémoires
, p. 213

248
‘All things . . .’: Churchill to Portal, 2 October 1941, quoted Hastings,
Bomber Command
, p. 141

248
As Professor Foot has said: Foot
op. cit.
p. 441

249
‘It has been estimated . . .’: PRO WO219/1975 (8 July 1944)

250
‘It was only just . . .’: Barry
loc. cit.

250
‘In Spain the French . . .’: Best,
Humanity in Warfare
, p. 115

251
‘We are beating them . . .’: See Howard,
The Franco-Prussian War
, p. 251

251
‘The truth is . . .’: Quoted Best
op. cit.
p. 120

251
‘My whole attention . . .’: Quoted Nigel Hamilton,
Monty: The Making of a General
(Hamish Hamilton), p. 158

251
‘My own view . . .’: Quoted Hamilton,
op. cit.
p. 160

252
‘Levelling everything . . .’: Tillon
op. cit.
p. 364

257
‘It was necessary . . .’: Lammerding post-war written statement to Weidinger, provided to author

260
‘Ask the court . . .’: Schneid
op. cit.