View from tram station down Rue Emile Desourteaux
Looking down the Rue Emile Desourteaux towards the church (out of sight round the bend) from the Tram Station (to the left, rear of the view). The Avril hotel where the Pinède children hid is on the left opposite the road junction. The idea that fire could have spread throughout the village from any single source of ignition seems most unlikely, especially in view of the width of the road, the gaps between the houses and their stone construction. Accident alone, as some have claimed could not have caused destruction to this extent. In order to burn down a stone-built village like Oradour there must have been an act of arson.
© Michael Williams: revised February 2004