This Thursday, June 6, 2024 marks the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings. In 1944, and after more than three months of battle, France was finally freed from Nazi Germany. Nearly a century after the battle, it is still a good time to remember history and understand what happened. What was the fate of the hundreds of thousands of civilians who were present in the bombed cities of Normandy?
Planet spoke with Françoise Passera, study engineer at the Histemé research laboratory at the University of Caen. She was particularly interested in the question of civilian populations during the Battle of Normandy and the Landings, listing numerous testimonies from the post-war period. The engineer also co-wrote a work specially dedicated to the fate of civilians during the Landings. We tell you more.
Françoise Passera, in collaboration with Jean Quellien, former professor at the University of Caen, published the book Civilians in the Battle of Normandy, in 2014. Thanks to their research, the two protagonists were able to provide a precise figure on the number of civilians who died during the three months of the Landing: 14,000. “We have, for the first time, shared a certain figure of the number of civilian victims, thanks to work that we have carried out using local archives and memorials to the dead” confirms Françoise Passera.
Furthermore, the main source for understanding the fate of civilians is found in “the testimonies written in the immediate post-war period, because they are often much more precise and more certain in terms of facts”, mentions the design engineer. The Channel archives are, moreover, almost non-existent due to the multiple bombings which caused the few remaining traces to disappear. Long years of work for the two researchers to make the truth known to all audiences. This is the story of the civilians of the Landing.
The particularity of the Landing lies in the fact that the Allies deliberately bombarded the centers of the surrounding villages, to turn them into piles of ruins and thus prevent the arrival of enemy armor. The fate of civilians is then divided in two. First of all, those who decide to stay put. The populations have taken refuge underground, in tunnels, cellars or abandoned quarries”, and all share the same uncertainties. Still under German occupation, “they are subject to requests for requisitions, looting and all kinds of constraints” , all in a precarious lifestyle: “They wash in the river and have to find water themselves.”
As for the others, they flee and go down to “evacuation routes, to Orne and Ille-et-Vilaine, to reception centers” where humanitarian aid awaits them. But once the landing was completed and victory had been won, the time had come to take stock of the human and material damage. A new form of suffering then takes over. That of the post-war period.
The post-battle period is not easy for civilians. “It was necessary to shelter the populations, even after the military interventions. The towns, fields and territories were mined. Mine clearance work was carried out” not without difficulty. “The Normans looked for their dead in the streets.” Without news of part of their family, they searched in the middle of the ruins to try to find bodies: “They were trying to find out where their loved ones were, many had deaths to deplore” Françoise Passera explains to us.
Furthermore, the memories of the Normans who suffered have very rarely been shared. Through these words and this research, “the idea was to tell a story that was very little known to the general public, this is what was very motivating for us. The first commemoration for civilian victims dates from 2014, it is very recent.
Faced with “a very strong social demand for the Battle of Normandy”, the original historical dimension, with deaths and wounded, tends to be seen in a more positive way, with the organization of more festive events on site: fireworks or even popular balls. A give-and-take principle, which makes it possible to educate current generations, while attracting tourists and sources of income to the region. Between respect for traditional tribute protocols and a new, more popular component focused on immersion and entertainment, the Landing has not finished making people talk about it and must remain in collective memories.
