Robert Pike - Silent Village: Life and Death in Occupied France

SILENT
VILLAGE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robert Pike is a graduate of the University of Exeter in History and French, and attained a Masters degree in Social Science Research Methods at Cardiff University, where he is currently conducting his doctoral research. His first history book, Defying Vichy, was published in 2018. He lives in Worcester and is currently researching the social history of the rural Resistance in central and southern France.

PRAISE FOR DEFYING VICHY

A meticulously researched and valuable contribution to the history of the German occupation

Caroline Moorehead, author of Village of Secrets

Pulsating with action and detailed stories

Rod Kedward, author of La Vie en Blue

Pacy and engaging ... A fascinating contribution to the field

Robert Gildea, author of Fighters in the Shadows

Cover illustration: A view of the Champ de foire looking towards the rue Emile Desourteaux. (Collection Benoit Sadry)

First published 2021

This paperback edition first published 2022

The History Press

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Gloucestershire, GL50 3QB

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

Robert Pike, 2021, 2022

The right of Robert Pike to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the Publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 0 7509 9760 7

Typesetting and origination by The History Press

Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ Books Limited, Padstow, Cornwall.

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For the people of Oradour-sur-Glane

A view of Oradour-sur-Glanes church of Saint-Martin. (Collection Benoit Sadry)

Places of execution:

1. Bouchoule barn

2. Milord barn

3. Laudy-Mosnier barn

4. Desourteaux garage

5. Beaulieu storeroom

6. Denis wine cellar

7. The church

1906

February Paul Desourteaux becomes mayor of Oradour-sur-Glane, taking over from his father Emile who dies in service.

1911

August The establishment of an electric tramway station in Oradour. Prsident de la Rpublique Raymond Poincar visits.

191418

First World War Ninety-nine men from the commune are killed. With the mayor away serving in the army, socialist Joseph Beau acts as mayor. Many men return emotionally and physically scarred.

1919

December Joseph Beau is elected mayor of Oradour.

1938

10 April Edouard Daladier becomes head of government, ending the Popular Front (Front Populaire) which, for two years, had been a left-wing coalition under Lon Blum.

1939

January Mass arrival of Spanish refugees, fleeing Francos regime, into southern France.

September Evacuees from Schiltigheim, Strasbourg, arrive in Oradour.

3 September Britain and France declare war on Germany.

26 September French Communist party outlawed.

1940

10 May German offensive in Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg.

MayJune An estimated 8 million people flee south from northern France, Paris and the Low Countries in an unprecedented exodus.

9 June French government quits Paris.

16 June Prime Minister Paul Reynaud resigns. Philippe Ptain takes over.

17 June Ptain broadcasts to the nation.

18 June De Gaulle issues his appeal from London.

22 June Franco-German armistice.

10 July National Assembly in Vichy votes full powers to Ptain.

27 September Jews in the southern zone are prohibited from returning to the occupied zone.

224 October Pierre Laval and then Ptain meet Adolf Hitler in Montoire.

1 November The German operation Aktion D begins in Alsace-Lorraine, leading to the arrival in Oradour-sur-Glane of refugees from the Moselle region.

1941

April Mayor Joseph Beau is caught up in a controversy regarding shoes for refugees. He is replaced by Paul Desourteaux.

Spring 643rd Groupe de Travailleurs trangers (GTE) is established just outside Oradour.

22 June Germany invades the USSR.

22 July Law on the aryanisation of Jewish property is passed.

October A Resistance group linked to Libration-sud is established in Limoges.

1942

27 March First French Jews sent to Auschwitz.

22 June Laval introduces La Relve, a programme that returns one prisoner of war held in Germany for every three volunteers sent to work in the Reich.

25 August Germans introduce conscription in Alsace-Lorraine.

268 August Round-ups of Jews in the non-occupied zone begin.

8 November Allied invasion of North Africa.

11 November Germany occupies the southern zone.

1943

26 January Creation of the Mouvements Unis de la Rsistance (MUR), driven by Jean Moulin.

30 January The Milice is formed, headed by Joseph Darnand.

17 February The Service du Travail Obligatoire (STO) is brought into operation, replacing La Relve.

1944

Late MarchApril The Brehmer division terrorises the Limousin region.

6 June D-Day landings in Normandy.

7 JuneMaquis leader Georges Guingouin is urged by Communist party officials to liberate the city of Limoges. He refuses.

8 June Saint-Junien is occupied by the Wehrmacht after a soldier is shot by the maquis. Two days later, elements of the SS Panzer division