Until his death, Lammerding denied all responsibility for the massacre in Tulle, declaring instead that the initiative was taken by the SS-"Sturmbannführer" Kowatsch: "knowing the rigorous hierarchy and the terribly rigid discipline which reigned in the SS corps, such a statement is without merit.". After having equally denied, at a previous time, having been present in Tulle at all, he did change his story to confirm that he arrived there late in the afternoon, after the hangings: however the Division's war diary for 10 June 1944 was written by Lammerding in Tulle and that dated 9 June first gave the time as 12:15 though this entry "was later overwritten to read 23:15." The presence of Lammerding in Tulle and its environs by noon on the 9 June is equally attested by the military doctor of the German garrison, Dr Schmidt.