In yet another instance of absurd claims made about the Germans in the Second World War. I quote an assertion of probable French origin about the forces of the Third Reich using large stones to execute members of the Maquis (i.e., the French Resistance) at Rodez in 1944.
This is reproduced from the wildly popular history of 'Nazi atrocities' named 'The Scourge of the Swastika' authored by Edward Russell (aka Lord Russell of Liverpool) who was a key figure in the Nuremberg and Tokyo War Crime Trials.
I quote:
'At Rodez, the very day before it was liberated, the Germans shot thirty members of the Maquis whom they had captured, after torturing them. They were shot with tommy-guns and to finish them off the Germans crushed their skulls with large stones.' (1)
That the Germans probably shot some members of the Maquis is indisputable and that they interrogated (i.e., tortured) them beforehand is just as likely. However the idea that they 'shot them with tommy-guns' (i.e., the standard American sub-machine gun popularly believed to be oft used by gangsters) is pretty absurd.
The Germans had their own highly efficient sub-machine guns (i.e., the MP40) and would have had no need to use captured American weapons. It is possible I suppose, but just extremely unlikely.
Could Russell have meant 'tommy-gun' as a synonym of 'sub-machine gun'?
Certainly, but if he did then didn't specify this fact and we cannot assume as such since the term 'tommy-gun' refers to a very specific weapon (i.e., the American Thompson sub-machine gun) not to all sub-machine guns.
However the idea that the Germans would have gunned down thirty members of the Maquis and then used 'large stones' to go around finishing them off is borderline insane.
If you are going to finish someone off then you do with your original weapon, a pistol and/or a knife. All of which the Germans would have had since the first is specified in the allegation, while the second and third were standard equipment for soldiers of the Wehrmacht and members of the Third Reich's security services while in the field.
Why on earth would German soldiers execute thirty members of the Maquis using sub-machine guns and then pick up random large stones to beat their heads to a pulp with?
I mean come on!
It makes a great propaganda story to be sure, but this last part of the story regarding the use of 'large stones' is quite clearly fictional.
References
(1) Edward Russell, 1972, [1956], 'The Scourge of the Swastika', 14th Edition, Corgi: London, p. 92