European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 6, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                0radour a Monument of Sham Village died when nazi troops murdered 642 resident by Bill Walker staff writer o Ardour sur glane France a the people of the Village of Bradour in Central France never lived to experience the Joy of liberation after a Day. On june 10,1944, Waffen is troops murdered 642 town residents and also destroyed forever life in the Village. Bradour in june of 1994 will Mark its 50th anniversary As a Monument of shame to one of the most brutal chapters in world War ii. Fifty years ago the news of a Day had come to Bradour almost immediately after the landings. Life in the fourth year of German occupation was hard but Many of the residents still commuted by Streetcar 14 Miles to Limoges where there was work in the factories. That summer the resistance had been Active in the area and German troops were edgy and on Alert because of the a Day Landing. A unit of the German 2nd Panzer div arrived in the town in Early afternoon june 10 and began a amps it a it. It a. ,.v a a. It a ��7%r Quot a is Bill Walker rounding up townspeople on the main Square. The soldiers efficiently moved the 191 schoolchildren to the Church with the women the men were divided into six groups and taken to separate barns within town. Townspeople were told there was no cause for alarm that a search was on for arms being used by the resistance the Maquis. A la memo Fli l l nos it i k Mahrs Jug Jjck key. A w m w a a a Hamaud Lam All d Lamar u �,.a.ma0q Roby Roby Brandy b o a uus 47 Iii 4? it if it 4  i a a. I a ii / 0 of attn  \ Ltd a. ,.,v. V is Bill walk markers at the Bradour cemetery show the tragic Fate it of entire families on june 10,1944. A amps Bill Walker burned out vehicles above. Remain As they were after the june 10, 1944, massacre in Ora dour. At left visitors Are silent As they walk through the town. On signal the guards began shooting the men. Afterwards the storm troopers moved among the bodies and shot the wounded survivors. They then covered the bodies and set them aflame. Five men were Able to escape at that time. At the Church the soldiers set off an incendiary bomb that caused heavy smoke. When the women and children sought to escape through the Church door they were shot. Only a woman and a child escaped. Gen. Charles de Gaulle visited after the a Day Landing and decided to leave Bradour As it was a burned out Monument. He also decided a new Bradour would be built nearby. A trial in Bordeaux in 1953 left the families of victims outraged when 13 of the 21 accused of the crime were pardoned because of their status As alsatian conscripts in the German army. One officer was convicted in absent a. At a 1983 trial in East Berlin another conviction was obtained. But records in Bradour indicate Only one person a German enlisted Soldier was executed for the a. Massacre. / a a. A a. A a a in the Spring of 1994, As France prepares to celebrate the Joy of a Day and also to remember its War dead the number of visitors to Bradour has been climbing daily. The Banks of the glane River a Choice location for a picnic for More than a Century Are unusually Green this year with the Lush Lowland grass growth of the Valley. Picnickers enjoy themselves outside the Iron Gates that Mark the walled Entrance to town. Inside the Gates visitors Are asked to remain silent in respect for the dead. At the cemetery where the victims of the massacre Are buried relatives often bring Flowers to individual family plots. It is impossible to escape the Date june 10, 1944. It is marked on hundreds of Marble stones. Some grave markers Bear the pictures of entire families. A guide in a shop near the Entrance said this june will be difficult for residents of the new town of Bradour. A France was freed in this month in the time of my father a the guide said. A but my relatives Are there a she said pointing to the town cemetery. A there is sadness for France  a a june 6, 1994 a stars and stripes commemorative edition 61