Bonjour Blog! The Norman in Normandy has been explored, now some more recent history. WWII started 85 years ago, but that is still 6 times as long as I’ve been alive. Even if that isn’t very long and people still remember it. Normandy was on the front line for a large portion of the events in 1944, and as such still bears the scars.
Some background: Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of the German Reich, had started WWII by marching though Poland. He was a member of the Nazi party, an ultra-right wing fascist group, hated social misfits, believed the Jews were the cause of Germany’s problems, and spurned the Treaty of Versailles. By the declaration of war, a system of alliances through Europe and beyond was triggered, which caused an even bigger conflict than WWI, the so-called “war to end all wars”. France was overrun, and the small, puppetesque Vichy government was set up. Hitler set his eyes on Britain next, as it was the last major nation still fighting. However, the Japanese, allied to Germany, attacked the USA, which brought the US into the war. Out of paranoia and fear the Russians would go back on their word of nonaggression, Hitler attached eastwards as well as west. The Soviets retaliated. On the west, the German Luftwaffe failed to beat the RAF, and Britain, America, British Canada, and the few members of Free France in exile who joined, led by General de Gaulle, planned an invasion.
This is D-day. The plan composed was to land an invasion on the Normandy coast, sweep through France, and push back to Germany. A massive bombing campaign would clear the area, combined with parachutists, glider landers, and Free France undercover agents, to inhibit Nazi messages and allow Allied access to important sites. Then, the landings would take place, transporting an invasion force on to five beaches – codenamed Sword, Juno, Gold, Omaha, and Utah beaches. Floating harbours would allow supplies to be passed over, and with luck France would be swiftly liberated.
The whole campaign was planned meticulously. Nothing was left unprepared for (well, perhaps toilets in a few places!). So precise was it that one squadron arrived at their allotted rendez-vous only two minutes after time, even while being under fire and crossing several miles of enemy terrain. After the bombs dropped over Caen and other towns, parachutists dropped over Normandy countryside. Gliders also landed at Pegasus Bridge, the two bridges over the river and canal, right next to each other, where the 6th air division took and held the bridges. All of these simultaneous attacks managed to disorientate and confuse the Nazi command, which let the preparations for D-day succeed in their objective. Then, at dawn on 6th June 1944, the invasion force landed on the coast. German Panzer divisions moved to stop them, but were beaten back as the invasion grew. The British put pressure on the defending armies on the eastern beaches, almost breaking through and capturing Caen, but did not succeed for a month. Because of reinforcements there, the Americans on the western beaches managed to push further inland, liberating Bayeux (which became the capital of Free France until the liberation of Paris). Swinging round southwest, the entire Allied force took Caen, before pressing on out of Normandy towards Paris, Germany, and Berlin.
This story is told in the Mémorial de Caen, the Bataille de Normandie museum, the Pegasus Bridge museum, and many books. However, it is impossible to understand the true horror of WWII. There is too much trauma, terror, and horror in the activities of both sides, from concentration camps to atomic bombs, to know it as those lived it felt it. In particular, the Mémorial blew me away – I walked in, and by the time I walked out I felt I had, in experience terms, aged a year in the process. Normandy has all these relics, which speak of the history. Go if you can, as it must be remembered. There is so much more I could write about these places, but this will do: We will remember them.
