Malabre Massacre

On June 9, 1944, a column of the 2nd SS Division Das Reich committed a massacre at Argenton-sur-Creuse, followed by the taking of more than 150 hostages. The next morning, June 10, the hostages are freed, except for thirteen who are taken by truck to the Kommandanturde Limoges, set up in the Marceau cavalry quarter.
These hostages could have been shot at Argenton, but it is likely that the SS wanted, while continuing to frighten the population, to use them for future hostage executions in reprisal for Resistance operations, or as human shields on the lead vehicles of repression columns1.
At Argenton's southern exit, two hostages manage to jump from the truck and escape. When the eleven others arrived in the afternoon at the Marceau district, events had accelerated dramatically for the SS. At 6 p.m. the previous evening, the division had been ordered to join the new front in Normandy.
A few hours later, Stümscharführer Helmut Kämpfe, leader of the 3rd Battalion of theRegiment Der Führer, "No. 1 hero of the division" and personal friend of General Lammerding, was taken prisoner by Resistance fighters and could not be found. Another officer, Lieutenant Gerlach, was also arrested; he managed to escape but his driver was shot dead. The SS initiated action in the direction of colonel Georges Guingouin in an attempt to recover Kämpfe. The railways were scuttled everywhere and the division ran out of fuel for its advance towards Normandy.
In this turbulent climate, the Argenton hostages are of little use, if not cumbersome. No sooner had they arrived than the SS decided to get rid of them.
At 5:30 p.m., the group of eleven Argenton hostages, augmented by three prisoners from the Marceau district, set off again in a convoy of three self-propelled guns, commanded by Hauptcharführer Muller. Guided by a Gestapo agent, the convoy arrives at the hameau du Malabre, in the commune of Beaune-les-Mines, north of Limoges.
The hostages are extracted from the vehicles at around 6 pm and shot in two separate salvos in an isolated quarry at a place called Gramagnat.
On June 12, fourteen bodies were found at Le Malabre. Seven were entangled in a large pool of blood. The other seven lay in a shallow hole, roughly covered with shovelfuls of earth.
At Moulin-Pinard, the bodies of two other men were found riddled with bullets. They had been extracted from the Marceau district and shot during the night of the 10th to the 11th, and could not be identified
Source Wikipedia
Credit photo and contribution Le Bourvellec Eric

On June 9, 1944, a column of the 2nd SS Division Das Reich committed a massacre at Argenton-sur-Creuse, followed by the taking of more than 150 hostages. The next morning, June 10, the hostages are freed, except for thirteen who are taken by truck to the Kommandanturde Limoges, set up in the Marceau cavalry quarter. These hostages could have been shot at Argenton, but it is likely that the SS wanted, while continuing to frighten the population, to use them for future hostage executions in reprisal for Resistance operations, or as human shields on the lead vehicles of repression columns1. At Argenton's southern exit, two hostages manage to jump from the truck and escape. When the eleven others arrived in the afternoon at the Marceau district, events had accelerated dramatically for the SS. At 6 p.m. the previous evening, the division had been ordered to join the new front in Normandy. A few hours later, Stümscharführer Helmut Kämpfe, leader of the 3rd Battalion of theRegiment Der Führer, No. 1 hero of the division and personal friend of General Lammerding, was taken prisoner by Resistance fighters and could not be found. Another officer, Lieutenant Gerlach, was also arrested; he managed to escape but his driver was shot dead. The SS initiated action in the direction of colonel Georges Guingouin in an attempt to recover Kämpfe. The railways were scuttled everywhere and the division ran out of fuel for its advance towards Normandy. In this turbulent climate, the Argenton hostages are of little use, if not cumbersome. No sooner had they arrived than the SS decided to get rid of them. At 5:30 p.m., the group of eleven Argenton hostages, augmented by three prisoners from the Marceau district, set off again in a convoy of three self-propelled guns, commanded by Hauptcharführer Muller. Guided by a Gestapo agent, the convoy arrives at the hameau du Malabre, in the commune of Beaune-les-Mines, north of Limoges. The hostages are extracted from the vehicles at around 6 pm and shot in two separate salvos in an isolated quarry at a place called Gramagnat. On June 12, fourteen bodies were found at Le Malabre. Seven were entangled in a large pool of blood. The other seven lay in a shallow hole, roughly covered with shovelfuls of earth. At Moulin-Pinard, the bodies of two other men were found riddled with bullets. They had been extracted from the Marceau district and shot during the night of the 10th to the 11th, and could not be identified Source WikipediaCredit photo and contribution Le Bourvellec Eric