Lyon: Hélio-Bellecour, [1945?]

A company of the Waffen SS, part of the SS ‘Das Reich’ Division, entered Oradour-sur-Glane on 10 June 1944, a few days after the Normandy invasion. The population was assembled in the village square and the women and children were separated and herded into the church. The soldiers started shooting the women and children, threw gas canisters into the church and burned it to the ground. The men were also murdered and buildings throughout the village destroyed. 642 people died. One woman, one child and five men survived. It was the most notorious war crime carried out in France and by the end of 1946 eight books and pamphlets about it had been published.