The massacre at Oradour-sur-Glane on June 10, 1944, is recognized yearly throughout France with the same profundity as the attacks on Pearl Harbor and the Twin Towers in the United States. The Oradour Massacre is taught in school in France and the anniversary is commemorated every year. Today, Oradour is a destination for people interested in one of the most horrific events in French history. Each year, the devastated village attracts over 300,000 visitors worldwide.

On June 8, 1944, 15,000 men and 209 tanks and self-propelled guns of the Das Reich 2 Panzer Division rolled out of Montauban in southern France and began an ordered 450-mile march that ended at Normandy more than two weeks later. While in Montauban, a battalion from Das Reich surrounded Oradour-sur-Glane, massacred 642 men, women, and children, and razed the village to the ground. Das Reich became one of the most dreadful legends in the history of France and World War II.

This is the story of the Oradour massacre and its real cause: how two SS officers—a general and a major—“acquired” one million dollars’ worth of gold ingots while encamped at nearby Montauban, and how that led to the massacre in 1944.