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Das Reich Officers: Kämpfe, Krag, Stückler and Lammerding |
The Waffen-SS is reproached with particular emphasis for two massacres in France: Tulle and Oradour-sur-Glane: At the beginning of 1944, after suffering heavy losses on the Eastern Front, the 2.SS-Panzer-Division Das Reich, under the command of SS-Gruppenführer Heinz Lammerding regrouped in Valence-d'Agen. The Das Reich was to march from the South of France to the Invasion Front, after the landing in Normandy. The activity of the French partisans had increased considerably with the commencement of the allied invasion. The rear of the German Front was threatened quite seriously by this activity. The Das Reich was delayed by two weeks through a concerted program of sabotage organized by the Maquis Resistance Movement. The town of Tulle had been taken by the Maquisards. The Reconnaissance unit of Das Reich, which found its way to the front blocked by the occupied town, was able to recapture it after heavy fighting. When the spearhead units of Das Reich reached the center of the city on June 9 1944, they found 52 dead German soldiers from the regular Army (Wehrmacht). The bodies of ten more German soldiers were found elsewhere. According to the eye-witness accounts of the inhabitants of the town, the Maquisards had driven over German soldiers who were still alive with their lorries. On one of the corpses it was discovered that a hole had been bored through both heels and a rope threaded through. Apparently the soldier had been dragged along by a lorry in this way until he died from his injuries. The bodies were in part mutilated beyond recognition and it was evident that many had not been killed by shooting but rather by other means. According to the facts which could be determined then and there, it was established that the soldiers had surrendered to the Maquisards and had then been murdered. On June 8 1944, the Commander in the West, Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt, had announced to the Armed Forces that members of the French Resistance movement were to be treated as terrorists. As a result of the situation encountered in Tulle the Staff Officer of 2.SS-Panzer-Division Das Reich ordered reprisal measures to be carried out. All non-inhabitants of the town who were suspected of being partisans were sought out from the population. After 21 one of them were set free, 99 men were hanged. A frightful event, but what had preceded it and what brought it about was just as frightful. Anyone who claims that Tulle was a war crime committed by Das Reich should be fair enough to report what brought the whole business about. The Wehrmacht considered the killing of members of its armed forces by partisans unlawful in accordance with the rules of war, and according to the facts, murder. Image: 2.SS-Panzerdivision Das Reich officers: SS-Sturmbannführer Helmut Kämpfe, SS-Sturmbannführer Ernst August Krag, SS-Obersturmbannführer Albert Stückler and SS-Brigadeführer Heinz Lammerding. Commons: Bundesarchiv.
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SS-Sturmbannführer Helmut Kämpfe |
In 1953, SS-Brigadeführer Heinz Lammerding was tried for war crimes for the massacre of Tulle and Oradour-sur-Glane and sentenced to death in absentia by the court of Bordeaux, but he wasn't extradited by the Federal Republic of Germany. Instead, he resumed his career as a civil engineer in Düsseldorf until his death in 1971. Many experts talk about a deal between Germany and France: In exchange for not carrying out the sentance against Lammerding, Germany would remain silent concerning French complicity in many of the deaths. The fact that one-third of the perpetrators of the Oradour-sur-Glane massacre were former French nationals from the province Alsace caused a great uproar in France. In December 2011 German police raided houses of six former members of the 3.Kompanie. At the time of the massacre, the men would have been 18 or 19, and low-ranking Panzergrenadiers. The Dortmund prosecutor, Andreas Brendel, searched for wartime diaries, photographs and documents that could provide evidence against them. Credit: Florian Berger, The face of courage and When all our brothers are silent. Image: SS-Sturmbannführer Helmut Kämpfe. Commons: Bundesarchiv.
The results of the trials in 1953 show the truth of the incidents. The accused were victims of a witch hunt. They might have received extremely stiff punishment if survivors of the Oradour church had not started to reveal the actual events. Former members of the Maquis also started to tell the true story about these towns, in their case to the Communist press. These events led to the pardons and suspended sentences. The French government then made Heinz Lammerding the target of its wrath. It attempted to have Lammerding extradited from West Germany to France to be put on trial for Oradour. In light of the available evidence, the West German government refused to comply. In sum, Tulle and Oradour were tragic events. But the only possible crime was the shooting of the men of Oradour without separating Maquis suspects from the rest. The man responsible, Diekmann, essentially committed suicide soon after. The events in Tulle were covered by the Hague Convention. The affair of the church in Oradour was a crime for the Maquis, and blame rests with them. The happenings at Tulle and Oradour have too long been labeled as simple German atrocities, and should no longer give Das Reich a black reputation. It is time for the truth. Source: the author Marc Rikmenspoel.
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