Bike trip to Oradour Sur Glane

Drew, Excellent photographs. I've considered visiting Oradour before but always demurred because of the sheer distance. Your photos have made me want to go see the town for myself. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers

BW

Yeah its me <In my leathers>

I stayed at a friends (Ex Royal Marine) B+B for bikers near Treignac for a few days and he took me there.

It was a secondary objective as Monte Cassino was the Primary one but the weather stopped my progress at the Med so I turned round and came back.

As we rode around the region of Limousin we came across lots of road side memorials to Resistance members that were shot by the Germans for one reason or another.

Apparently according to my mate the whole area was heavily Resistance country and they made their way to towns and cities from that area to harrass and kill Germans then disappear back into the hills and woods of Limousin.

It certainly was a beautiful place to ride

 

I've heard that the village is no longer accessible. Anyone else heard this?

 

It's a kind of historical museum site Marcus. I would find it hard to believe they have closed it. Especially the underground memorial with all the personal items found after the massacre.

I'll ask my mate.

Cheers
Andy


Just got a message from him and its still open....He took some bikers there last week mate

 

Cheers for the update Drew. I missed your reply.

cheers.

 

Top job Drew mate..An excellent posting...Well done my old sausage
Sapper

 

I visited this site back in the late 1990s. The new village is built next door. From the guidebook the Nazis were after another Oradour to the north from where the Resistance were operational and picked Oradour sur Glane in error.

 

Found an interesting set of 279 photos on Flikr. Watch it as a slideshow.

Oradour-sur-Glane - a set on Flickr

 

Robert,

Thank you for the link with so many photographs.

Hard to believe that a whole town and it's population was wiped out.

Regards
Tom

 

Very effective in Black & White. Very atmospheric and captures the mood.

 

After Drews excellent postings.... It is a atrocity of such savagery that it is difficult to remove it from your mind.

There is the Consolation, that the perpetrators of these terrible crimes were caught in the Falaise pocket. Where unimaginable horrors were visited on the Das Reich SS Panzer div trying to get away.

The carnage went on for miles. Twisted bodies, burnt figures still standing, some up right in the tank cupola..... Blackened... Rigid...

The men that created the horror of Orador.

 

I've been to Oradour twice and got the same feeling each time - very eerie (to quote Drew) a prime example of man's inhumanity to man. A visit should be compulsory for all politicians!
DeGaulle (spelling?) decreed that the town should be left exactly as it was - hence the feeling of dereliction - the sad part is that many things will eventually rust away or decay leaving progressively less for each generation to see.
By the way - great bike, Drew - puts my Bantam D3 to shame!

 

Couple of hours IIRC. There wasn't much to read for me as it was all written in French with no English translations unfortunately.

 

Good to see you went - what did you think?

 

I'd go along with most things placed post war - I think it's a bit of a shame how it's set up, I think it could be so much better regarding info and the layout.

 

That may be the one and only thing I'll ever agree was a good idea by DeGaulle. Oradour is high on my list of places to visit as well. Thus far, the infamous garden at the L'Abbaye Ardenne is the most eerie war site I've visited but I suspect Oradour must have that same feel.

 

Wasnt sure in which thread for Oradour -sur-Glane to post this but as this one is for Battlefields Today I thought it appropriate


France marks 75 years since Oradour-sur-Glane tragedy


TD

 

I visited for the second time last October. I drove down in one hit from Roscoff, 9 hours, bit of a slog. I`d like to take a slower drive around the area for a few days, perhaps visiting Tulle and the spot where violette Szabo was captured. Lots of very tragic happenings around the area in 1944.
Also went up into the new town which we missed last time, nice bakeries and bars, and very friendly locals.