Feldgrau.net

Hello list:

I have read the thread about Oradour and there are a lot of information, but along with Oradour massacre it is almost always mentioned the Tulle hangings.

My questions are:

Were the Tulle hangings considered at the time a war crime, or were they considered a legitimate reprisal?

If it was considered a war crime, who were the accused soldiers and what was the sentence?

Best regards.

The final part of this tale concerns the Tulle and Oradour trials held in 1951 and 1953 respectively. In the Tulle trial Heinz Lammerding and Aurel Kowatsch were sentenced to death in absentia. SS-Hauptscharfuehrer Otto Hoff, commander of the Pioneer Platoon, received life in prison. Heinrich Wulf received 10 years at hard labor and 10 years where he was forbidden to answer France. Wulf was pardoned and released in May 1952, while Hoff was released in 1953. (1, 48-49)

The French government then made Heinz Lammerding the target of its wrath. It attempted to have Lammerding extradited from West Germany to France to be put on trial for Oradour. In light of the available evidence, the West German government refused to comply. Lammerding died peacefully in West Germany on January 13, 1971, despite having been condemned to death in absentia again by France. (2, 7-8)

In sum, Tulle and Oradour were tragic events. But the only possible crime was the shooting of the men of Oradour without separating Maquis suspects from the rest. The man responsible, Diekmann, essentially committed suicide soon after. The events in Tulle were covered by the Hague Convention

all from http://www.oradour.info/appendix/rikmen01.htm

Regards

Thanks for your reply Andy

There is a thing that it is a little contradictory to me, If as the text says “The events in Tulle were covered by the Hague Convention” how can be that Heinz Lammerding, Aurel Kowatsch, Otto Hoff and Heinrich Wulf, were condemned if they acted according with the norms of the Hague Convention?

The only answer that occurs to me is that maybe the tribunal was French and not an international one and they wanted to punish somebody?

Or they acted outside The Hague Convention regulations?

Best regards.

Some pictures from a bike trip to Tulle:

http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/ww2-battle ... tulle.html

I was going to add these to the Oradour thread but it's locked so seeing as it is only around the corner by bike from Tulle...Here you go:

http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/ww2-battle ... glane.html

hi drew5233
your excellent post re your bike trip to tulle
i personally had never heard of this incident before thanks for posting it
best wishes
micky

Cheers mate...Many a beer downed in Bromley

of topic
hi drew5233 thats interesting small world '' we might even have been in the same pub''
micky

Max 2004 wrote:Hello list:

I have read the thread about Oradour and there are a lot of information, but along with Oradour massacre it is almost always mentioned the Tulle hangings.

My questions are:

Were the Tulle hangings considered at the time a war crime, or were they considered a legitimate reprisal?

If it was considered a war crime, who were the accused soldiers and what was the sentence?

Best regards.

During WW2, reprisal shootings is allowed by the 1920 Geneva Convention, but only after a military trial and notification to the belligerent and most important that it must be proportionate to the said crime. For example if 10 German soldiers were murdered in a manner violating Geneva convention, only 10 hostages are allowed to be executed.

During the Hostages Trial of German generals in the Balkans, they were tried for the crimes of executing hostages disproportionately rather than the crime of executing hostages.

Less known is that the Western Allies themselves also instituted reprisal shootings for Wehrwolf attacks as well as German saboteur attacks in 1944-1945. Perry Biddiscombe's work Wehrwolf, The History of National Socialist Guerilla Movement as well as The Last Nazis, SS Guerilla Resistance 1944-1947 remains the most definitive source on Allied reprisal shooting policy.

The ammended 1949 Geneva Convention forbids hostage takings as well as reprisal shootings