I have subscribed to WWII magazine for some time now and just received the June/July issue in the mail yesterday. The magazine always illustrates how much there is to know about WWII and how much I have to learn. In this outstanding issue (they are always pretty good) they had a story about Oradour-sur-Glane, a village in France that I am sure is familiar to Véronique. In June of 1944 a Battalion from the 2nd SS Panzer Division, Das Reich, rounded up and eventually killed nearly the entire population of the village. The act was bad enough that even the regimental commander and Das Reich commander agreed to court martial the Bn CO, but pragmatism won out and it was never pursued. The village was visited by De Gaul after the area was recaptured and he decreed that it should never be touched as a memorial of what happened. Today one can visit the museum nearby and then walk through the ruins of the town. It is apparently an extremely moving experience. It will have to make my list of things to visit when I get to Europe someday.
Check out the story in WWII Magazine; the whole issue is worth it, too.
With silent reverence,
Todd O.