I'm not interested in a who started what thread at all...
We all know that Germany started wwii by invading Poland..we also all know that France declared war on Germany on sept 3rd 1939.
Over to your questions:
If you mean Hauptsturmfuhrer Kahn, the CO of 3./DF at the time, then no..I have no idea what happened to him.
Regarding Oradur's importance for the partisans...
what is your opinion of the former Maquis chief for the Dordogne, Rene Jugie who in 1952 confirmed that Oradour-sur-Glane had indeed been full of weapons and ammunition. It had been the supply center for all the towns and villages in the Dordogne?
-------------------------------------------
Sequence of events leading up to Oradour
-------------------------------------------
Lets take a look at early morning, June 8th 1944. Das Reich has just received orders to move from the Bordeaux region into the Tulle-Limoges area. At 0800 hours the main body of the division set out to the north from its assembly area near Bordeaux. SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 4 Der Fuehrer is the divisions lead element on the road march towards Tulle.
As the march progressed, DF received various reports of Maquis activity. Local German town and village commanders had set up roadblocks and checkpoints along the roads. The first resistance was met late in the afternoon when French civilians manned a roadblock and fired at the lead motorcycle platoon of 15./DF. They were quickly scattered. Brive, at the southernmost edge of the assembly area, was reached at 1830 hours. There the Division command group came forward, and joined the town commander. This man was in contact with LXVI Reserve Army Corps headquarters, to whom Das Reich commander SS-Brigadefuehrer Heinz Lammerding was scheduled to report. Lammerding did report, and was informed that III./95. Security Regiment was surrounded in Tulle by Maquis forces. Lammerding was ordered to free the unit.
The Das Reich recon unit, SS-Panzer Aufklarungs Abteilung 2, was sent towards Tulle under its commander SS-Sturmbannfuehrer Heinrich Wulf. It was fired upon briefly, half way to Tulle. It reached Tulle at 2100 hours, and secured the town in heavy fighting. Nine men of the unit were killed in action, while the III./95 was rescued. The Das Reich command group established itself in Tulle.
In the meantime, the main body of DF reached Limoges. They were warmly greeted by the garrison, since the town had been isolated, though not attacked, by Maquis for the past two days. DF headquarters was established in Limoges, and elements of the regiment spread out to occupy surrounding towns and villages during June 9.
In the early morning hours of June 10 the O1 (orderly officer) of SS-Panzerjaeger Abteilung 2 (the Das Reich antitank unit), SS-Obersturmfuehrer Gerlach, arrived in Limoges. He was exhausted, and clad only in his underwear. He had been sent out with six other men in three cars to find billets for his unit north of Limoges on the morning of June 9. His car had pulled ahead of the others, and was stopped by Maquis. He and his driver were taken prisoner, and had their clothing torn off. They were driven away in a French truck to be interrogated by a Maquis commander. Gerlach saw a sign announcing the town he was brought to as Oradour-sur-Glane. He was taken out of the truck in the town, and confronted with many armed civilians, including women. Soon, he was put back in the truck, and driven several kilometers into the country for execution. After being taken out of the truck again, Gerlach’s driver suddenly attacked the french guards. Gerlach used the opportunity to make a break, and was successful. Hours later he arrived in Limoges, and reported the Maquis activity in Oradour.
In the light of day on June 9, Das Reich took stock of the situation in Tulle. Forty men of III./95 were discovered dead near a school. They showed signs of execution, and local civilians reported the men had been killed after dropping their weapons and surrendering. Only an SD officer with them had a pistol in his hand. Most of the bodies were mutilated, some had had their genitals cut off and stuffed into their mouths. Others had been covered with excrement. One man had holes in his heels with a rope through them, and a ruined face, indicating that he had been tied to the back of a truck and driven around. Other bodies were found around town, bringing the total German dead to 64. The III./95 had reported 80 missing, meaning several were unaccounted for. And 9 more Germans died in rescuing the garrison, as mentioned before.
Also on June 9, Das Reich’s SPW (armored personnel carrier) abteilung, III./Der Fuehrer, was ordered by LXVI Reserve Army Corps to reoccupy the town of Gueret, 60 km from its present billeting area. Gueret had been captured by Maquis on June 7, and a German Army attack from the east on June 8 had failed to retake it. Now III./DF approached from the west. It accidentally skirmished with the German Army unit, which had just recaptured the town, and suffered several wounded. These were sent back towards Limoges in two SPW, which were overtaken on the way by III./DF commander SS-Sturmbannfuehrer Helmut Kaempfe alone at the wheel of his command car. He was driving ahead to meet with the mayor of a town along the route. A few minutes later the two SPW found Kaempfe’s car, deserted and still running. Kaempfe was gone, with no sign of a fight. The main body of III./DF left Gueret in Army hands and followed Kaempfe and the SPW back towards its billets. Upon reaching the car, it searched the surrounding area without finding any trace of Kaempfe or his apparent captors.
The two medical SPW arrived during the night in Limoges and reported Kaempfe’s disappearance. SS-Sturmbannfuehrer Otto Weidinger, serving in DF regimental headquarters, was sent back to Tulle to report the occurrence, with a motorcycle platoon as escort. The terrain was too broken up to allow radio communication. At about this time, Weidinger learned later, 62 additional Germans had been killed by the Maquis near Naves, 10 km south of Tulle. This brought the total German deaths in the area to at least 126, plus the nine SS men killed retaking Tulle.
In the early morning of June 10 Kaempfe’s identity papers were found in one of the main streets of Limoges. They seemed to indicate that Kaempfe had been driven through Limoges during the night. Later that morning I./DF commander SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Adolf Diekmann reported to regimental headquarters in Limoges from his billeting area in St. Junien, west of town. Two civilians had come to him, stating that a high ranking German officer was being held prisoner by the Maquis in Oradour-sur-Glane. The officer was to be ceremoniously executed and burned that evening by the staff of the Maquis headquarters there, in front of the people of the town, the majority of whom were cooperating with the partisans. Similar information had been gained by the SD office in Limoges from its agents, and it had reported this to Stadler just before Diekmann arrived.
Diekmann requested permission to drive with one of his companies to Oradour to try to free his friend, Kaempfe. Stadler agreed, stipulating that Diekmann was to negotiate for Kaempfe’s release if at all possible. He was only to occupy the town and use force as a last resort. He could take hostages to trade for Kaempfe if the officer could not be recovered otherwise. Stadler wanted Kaempfe kept alive, and was willing to take unusually lenient measures to make sure of this, because Kaempfe was his friend, an outstanding officer, and a valuable SPW specialist. Gerlach helped Diekmann interpret the maps of the area.
During the day the SD office put a captured Maquis officer at Stadler’s disposal. The man was released so that he could bring his comrades an offer. If Kaempfe was released unharmed, 30 additional captured Maquisards and 40,000 Francs would be turned over to the Maquis as ransom. The released man called once to say he had not yet met up with those holding Kaempfe; he was never heard from again. Afterwards, the Germans concluded that Kaempfe must have already been dead when the officer did establish contact with his fellows.
Diekmann reported back to Stadler late in the afternoon of June 10. He said he had driven with his 3./DF under SS-Hauptsturmfuehrer Kahn to Oradour-sur-Glane. At the edge of Oradour 3./DF had found a German ambulance with two medics and four wounded men. The driver and the other medic had been chained to the steering wheel, and then they and the wounded had been burned alive.
