The Lidice of France.

The Lidice of France. These burned and blackened ruins were once the homes of peaceful French people in the now desolate village of Oradour-sur-Glane. Oradour-sur-Glane, 16 miles northwest of Limoges, was was razed by Nazi S.S. troops June 10, 1944, four days after "D-Day". Of the 700 inhabitants, only seven escaped alive. The men of the village were rounded up, pushed into a barn and shot. Then the women and children were forced into the village church and burned alive. In the meantime other storm troopers went through the village, drenching the houses with an incendiary product before setting them afire and machine gunning those who had hidden in a vain attempt to escape. The massacre is believed to have been carried out either as a reprisal for the death of some German soldiers or as a result of the discovery of an arms dump near the village.