European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 13, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Bradour sur glane Village of tragedy the town remains As it was the Day nazis massacred 642 people by Michele Gienow thl Vit  of Bradour sur glane is a shocking sight an ugly scar amid the Galilo Hills of West Central i Ranee i tin devastated buildings that once termed a Lori stand in Stark contrast to the Lic lds of Grain that surround them visitors to Bradour walk past the rusted Metal skeletons of cars that sit whom their owners last marked them 48 years ago Lete graph wires Sag from leaning wooden poles. I add shop signs hang Over gutted Stor Cronl windows that display nothing but rubble or Adoui sur Glano remains almost exactly the Way Whiee co 1st Root 2nd is Panzer div left it on june 10. Iu44the Day the German unit burned the Village and massacred 6-12 of its inhabitants. Only a few survived to describe the horrific events that took place during that Long hot saturday Afler non Lour Itas Flor the Allied i a As Ion of Normandy the survivors collective account of the events 0, that Day Are published m a Guidebook titled simply Bradour Star glint i Hoy begin their tragic tale he recalling that no German hoops had Ever berm seen m Bradour 1 hey Tell flow the first vehicles to Roll into of odour were treated with curiosity instead of Frig i us people gathered in the streets to watch and speculate a Rumor quickly spread that it was a routine Rhc k of 1, Lent ill Ca Tion papers nothing to worry about when the town drum sounded the Citi ens of Bradour answered is summons Voth hit hesitation and Gath cd u this sign is posted throughout Bradour to remind visitors they Are in a cemetery. The Village Green. Roger Godfrin tie Only child to survive remembers his teachers saying Quot come on now hurry up we must t keep them  the children obeyed a Alt except Roger a 7-year-old refugee from the Region of t Pirame on the German Frontier he had witnessed Quot them Quot n act on before and ran off to hide m the Forest the soldiers segregated the population at gunpoint or my to published accounts and subsequent v a Quot ony. The men of Bradour were formed into ranks a w a11 and told that anyone turning around would i a w 1 hey Coukis not see their mothers  and a Arm marched of to the Al age Egish and locked Fri a j t 1 the men of the vol ago were divided into Small groups and taken to various bub Lings armed town soldiers opened fire on the groups As the men stood in ranks with backs turned. The is troops piled Straw on the bodies living and dead and set them aflame. Only five men escaped and those who did had to feign death and crawl away to hide As the fire spread. They later told of watching soldiers run House to House with flaming torches. The germans next turned to the Church where 500 women and children were being held. The soldiers detonated an incendiary bomb in the locked building. In their panic to escape the choking smoke the victims broke open the Church s wooden door. That triggered a Hail of gunfire lasting until the germans ran out of ammunition. After the smoke cleared soldiers piled the wooden pews into a pyre and set it ablaze. Fire quickly consumed the Church. Onty Ona woman escaped. Madame Rou Franche then 46, climbed from a window behind the altar and jumped 10 feet to the ground. Though shot five times she escaped to a nearby Garden where she was found More than 24 hours later. She survived to Tell the Story of Bradour s last hours but her husband son two daughters and grandson did not. At first German guards kept Bradour sealed off. After three Days the barricades were lifted. Friends and relatives in search of loved ones found the smoking ruins of a once prosperous Village a and few identifiable bodies. In the end Bones and ashes were were interred m a mass grave and a Monument was erected to the 642 people who died that Day. Seven years after the War 63 members of the is unit were indicted by the French Twenty one were locate Page 14 a the stars and stripes saturday june 13, 1992