Oradour-sur-Glane

We got away early this morning in the pouring rain and the pretty road we photographed yesterday was swathed in low cloud. However, we made good time to Oradour-sur-Glane. On our way we had our first experience of a toll motorway, rather fumbling when it came to pay, as the instructions were not particularly clear and we thought 7.20 Euros for about 20 miles was a bit pricey. We found the “Aire de Repos” we had earmarked fairly easily. There are 29 pitches, with a service point for water and emptying waste. The “aire” itself is free of charge; you pay 2 Euros for the services. There are probably about twenty 'vans parked here this evening of various nationalities, British, French, Dutch, Austrian. It's ideal for an overnight stop.

After lunch we walked to “La Village Martyr”, details courtesy of Lonely Planet (thanks Chris, Marie, Louise and Steve!)

“On the afternoon of 10 June 1944, the little town of Oradour-sur-Glane witnessed one of the worst Nazi war crimes committed on French soil. German lorries surrounded the town and ordered the population on to the market square. The men divided into groups and forced into barns, where they were machine-gunned before the structures were set alight. Several hundred women and children were herded into the church, and the building was set on fire, along with the rest of the town. Only one woman and five men survived the massacre; 642 people, including 193 children, were killed. Since these events the entire village has been left untouched, compete with tram tracks, pre-war electricity lines, the blackened shells of buildings and the rusting hulks of 1930's automobiles – an evocative memorial to a once-peaceful village caught up in the brutal tide of war. After the war, Oradour was rebuilt a few hundred metres west of the ruins.”

An evocative memorial indeed. The exhibition centre alongside gives a great deal of background and contextual information. We came away in rather sombre mood, but it was well worth the visit.