The Tribunal examining a machine gun
I do not know who holds the copyright for this photograph
This photograph shows members of the Tribunal in the courtroom at Bordeaux during the 1953 trial for the massacre at Oradour. Judge Marcel Nussy-Saint-Saëns is holding a German MG34, the standard general purpose belt-fed machine-gun used by the Wehrmacht during W.W.II. This type of gun had a cyclic rate of about 600 rounds per minute and would have been used for the killings at the Laudy Barn (amongst other places). Notice that the Judge is holding the gun by the folded up bipod stand. As can be seen, this bipod, when unfolded, would have given the gun a low level of fire when in use and would have been the main factor in many of the men being shot in the legs.
The people sat at a lower level in front of the Tribunal were members of the press, covering the trial for their papers.
© Michael Williams: March 2010