Oradour
Sir: I feel compelled to correct the totally erroneous account of the events at Oradour given in Francis King's review of The Pork Butcher by David Hughes (Books, 5 May). I speak from knowledge and not hearsay. A good friend of mine at the time was amongst those men killed, all of whom were shot or hanged in front of their families in the main square. The women and children were herded into the church in which they were all burnt alive. One girl escaped through a slit window, and one other, seeing what was happening as she arrived in the village, turned back. They were the only survivors left to tell the hideous truth. The actual atrocity was a 'mistake'. The offending village where some members of the Resistance had killed some Germans was nearby. That village was similarly 'dealt with' afterwards. Gas was not used in either case.
Mr Hughes's statement that the spectacle of the museum village put him off the French almost as much as the Germans speaks eloquently of Mr Hughes but is, as far as normal people are concerned, unworthy of comment. Francis King seems totally to agree with this point of view.
C. Montagu
25 Kingston House South, Ennismore Gardens, London SW7
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