Les Bordes road in Oradour-sur-Glane
The photo above shows Les Bordes road,
looking west towards the ruins of the Oradour-sur-Glane market
hall that is right beside the old church. The Les Bordes road
intersects Rue de Emile Desourteaux where the big tree stands
in the background. The SS soldiers set up a command post on the
Masset farm which was east of the town, down this road. The road
leads to the hamlet of Bordes and to the village of Peyrillac
which is 2 and a half miles northeast of Oradour-sur-Glane.
The photo below shows the Infants school,
which was the kindergarten. It is the third building from the
corner of the intersection shown in the photo above. In the photo
below, the Infants school is the last building on the right.
The Les Bordes road is closed off by
a wooden gate, which is shown in the photo below. Farther down
this road is the Lorraine refugees school, set back from the
road. Eight-year-old Roger Godfrin, a student in this school,
was one of the two children who survived the massacre. Lorraine
was a province of France that had been incorporated into the
Greater German Reich when France surrendered to the Germans in
1940. Roger and his family were refugees who had settled in the
village. The rest of his family perished in the massace.
The photo below shows the section of
Les Bordes road that is now closed off. Before killing 642 people
in the village, the SS soldiers closed off all the exit roads,
including this one.
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