loners, the weakest or the luckless, those with no one to defend them, were left to the hands of the executioner". This process led to the following reflection by one of the survivors, Jean-Louis Bourdelle: "I was dismayed to learn that the French and the Germans took pride in having freed some hostages, it seems these wretches didn't realize that in doing so they had thus admitted their part in the executions. I remember how terrified my friends and I were after each release, Lieutenant Walter would approach our group and make a new choice to complete the group of future victims". According to General Lammerding's note of 5 June and the order given by him at the end of the morning of the 9th, these 120 men were condemned to death by hanging. Hangings Forty German soldiers were murdered in the most horrible manner by a band of communists. [...] For the guerillas and those who helped them, there is a punishment, execution by hanging. [...] Forty German soldiers were murdered by the guerrillas, one hundred and twenty guerrillas and their accomplices will be hanged. Their bodies will be thrown in the river – Poster signed by the commanding General of the German troops, posted in Tulle . Around 3:30 pm, in response to a last minute plea from the prefect that the executions not be carried out by hanging, Kowatsch responded that "we have developed on the Russian Front the practice of hanging. We have hanged over a hundred thousand men in Kharkov and in Kiev, this is nothing to us". He asked Colonel Bouty, president of the special delegation, to report to the main group of prisoners that they would be required to attend the executions. Before they were led to the square in Souilhac, Bouty told them: "I have some very painful news to tell you: you are going to witness the execution. I ask you to remain calm. Do not make a move, do not say a word". On their arrival, the prisoners discovered, over many hundreds of meters, nooses hung from trees, lampposts, and balconies. The preparations had been made, by the end of the morning, by the SS-Hauptsturmführer Hoff, head of a pioneer section, all of whom had volunteered to perform hangings. The victims selected for hanging were led in groups of ten to the place of their execution. "Each of them was