As world leaders gathered to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to the thousands of civilian victims of the Allied bombardments on that day and during the months-long Battle of Normandy that followed. On June 6th, 1944, thousands of Allied soldiers died on the beaches of Normandy, but many French civilians also perished. Estimates of civilian casualties in Normandy range from 13,000 to 20,000 as the Allies retook control of the region.
“Eighty years later, the Nation must recognize with clarity and strength the civilian victims of Allied bombings, in Normandy and elsewhere on our soil. We must bring this memory into full light,” Macron stated in Saint-Lo, a city that was largely destroyed by Allied bombings.
“Without concealing anything, but without confusing anything. Because the inhabitants of Saint-Lo never mixed hatred or resentment with their sorrow,” he added.
Saint-Lo was targeted by Allied bombings because it was a key transport hub, crucial for preventing Germany from using it to counter the Allied advance.
“Saint-Lo, a martyr city, sacrificed to free France,” Macron declared.
Among the attendees was 87-year-old Michel Finck, a Saint-Lo native, who recalled the events of D-Day with tears in his eyes.
“Our house was destroyed. Families in our street were decimated. The family transport business was also destroyed, and we left for Cherbourg,” Finck told Reuters before Macron’s speech. He and his brother left on foot, with German soldiers assisting them across a bridge at one point.
“There were planes, bombs … this is not something you forget easily,” Finck said, tears streaming. His family survived and later returned to Saint-Lo.
TRAUMA
At the time, Saint-Lo, with a population of 12,000, was 90% destroyed, with only two streets left undamaged.
“This trauma turned our city into the ‘capital of the ruins,’ as playwright Samuel Beckett wrote,” Saint-Lo’s mayor, Emmanuelle Lejeune, told Reuters.
Colette Poirier, who was four years old at the time and from nearby Belval, recounted trying to sleep outdoors with her family in the early hours of June 6th to hide from the planes flying overhead.
She also shared happier memories: “In the following days, we saw jeeps with Black soldiers. It was the first time I saw Black men. And the chewing gum! Since we hadn’t had much sugar during the war, we were very keen but had no idea how to eat them.”
Poirier mentioned that German soldiers had occupied her family farm, which led her to speak German as a child. She expressed amazement at the speed of reconciliation between France and Germany afterward. Both Poirier and Finck awaited Macron’s speech honoring Saint-Lo’s civilian victims of D-Day.
More ceremonies are scheduled for Thursday, with world leaders including U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in attendance.
