Agence France-Presse
June 3, 2024 1
Fernand Mignon survived the Allied bombings hiding in a quarry with her family (Lou Benoist/AFP)
As the World War II victors celebrate the anniversary of the June 6, 1944, landings in Normandy, historians recall that 3,000 French civilians died under Allied bombs that day.
In an attempt to cut off German reinforcements rushing to the coast in response to the Allied invasion, American and British aircraft dropped bombs on main roads in several towns, including Caen, where the population believed -- in error as it turned out -- that it was safe to stay put during the raging battle on the coast.
"We saw bombs drop on Caen constantly," said Fernande Mignon, 93.
"My mother persuaded my father to let us seek shelter in the quarries," she told AFP at her home in Fleury-sur-Orne just outside Caen and close to where she grew up.
The move probably saved their lives.
Within 24 hours, 3,000 civilians had died in the firestorm unleashed by 1,500 bombers, including 700 in the town of Lisieux alone.
The number is comparable with the more than 4,600 Allied military personnel killed on D-Day, according to Commonwealth War Graves Commission figures.
Allied bombing missions reduced most town centers in lower Normandy to rubble.
After 10 weeks, the number of people who died in their homes in the area totalled 14,000.
- 'Bridgehead needed to hold' -
"If the landings were to succeed, the bridgehead needed to hold for 48 to 72 hours," said Emmanuel Thiebot, a historian and director of a memorial site dedicated to civilians in wartime.
"German reinforcements had to be slowed down for three days," he told AFP.
Main roads always ran through city centers at the time -- ring roads were to be introduced only after the war -- which put the hearts of towns and villages including Vire, Conde-sur-Noireau, Pont-L'Eveque, Flers and l'Aigle on the fire-bombing target list of the Allied command.
Residents often stepped outside their homes to watch the planes approach, assuming that they were simply flying overhead to destinations further inland, historians Francoise Passera and Jean Quellien said in a 2014 book.
But then, to the dismay of the civilians, the bomb bay doors opened over their heads and the explosives dropped.
"There was a massive tremor. We held each other, thinking that we were done for," the historians quoted a 15-year-old eyewitness as saying.
The teenage girl got away "by following mum's and dad's vague silhouettes in the blinding thick dust", she said.
People exited their homes with blood streaming down their faces.
Some were buried alive in the rubble, while others were decapitated by shell fragments.
- 'Not very efficient' -
With hindsight, the strategic wisdom of targeting city centres was actually debatable, said Thiebot.
"The tactic was not very efficient in military terms -- far from it -- because the Germans kept clear of the major roads," he said.
In fact, German reinforcements made it to the front line as early as the evening of June 6, with even more arriving the following day.
An earlier attempt by the Allies to get people to evacuate the area ahead of the assault came to little.
Pamphlets air-dropped three months before D-Day urging residents to leave "immediately" because the area "would come under attack very soon" were mostly ignored or lost in fields, unread.
Mignon ended up spending six weeks in the shelter of the quarry, sleeping on straw and living off "whatever we could find", while relentless bombing continued out in the open.
Eventually, on July 19, a Canadian arrived, telling them in Quebec-accented French that the fighting was over.
"Everybody exploded with joy," she said.
But the initial happiness quickly turned to consternation as the family discovered the destruction wrought on their neighborhood and everything around it.
At the family home, "the windows were broken, doors were unhinged and rain was falling into the house", she recalled.
It was to take "several years" before Mignon and her family managed to get back to a "normal life", she said.
France seeks to save Nazi massacre village from decay
Oradour-sur-Glane (France) (AFP) – A French village preserved as a reminder of Nazi cruelty since Waffen-SS troops murdered 643 people there in 1944 is in danger of decay, sparking efforts to preserve the site.
Issued on: 30/05/2024 -
'Survivors are gone'
But 80 years later, village buildings are crumbling, roofs have disappeared and walls are covered in moss, prompting local politicians and descendants of villagers to call for a major conservation effort to keep the memory alive.
Oradour-sur-Glane (France) (AFP) – A French village preserved as a reminder of Nazi cruelty since Waffen-SS troops murdered 643 people there in 1944 is in danger of decay, sparking efforts to preserve the site.
Issued on: 30/05/2024 -
Decay is threatening what is left of Oradour-sur-Glane in southern France
© Philippe LOPEZ / AFP
ADVERTISING
On June 10, 1944, Oradour-sur-Glane in German-occupied southern France became the scene of a massacre of civilians that still shocks the nation to this day.
Possibly as punishment for the killing by the French Resistance of a high-ranking SS member, German troops rounded up everyone they could find in the village and machine-gunned or burned alive men, women and children, torched or razed buildings and destroyed a church.
Postwar president Charles de Gaulle said the "martyr village" should never be rebuilt, but instead kept as a permanent reminder of the horrors of the Nazi occupation for postwar generations.
ADVERTISING
On June 10, 1944, Oradour-sur-Glane in German-occupied southern France became the scene of a massacre of civilians that still shocks the nation to this day.
Possibly as punishment for the killing by the French Resistance of a high-ranking SS member, German troops rounded up everyone they could find in the village and machine-gunned or burned alive men, women and children, torched or razed buildings and destroyed a church.
Postwar president Charles de Gaulle said the "martyr village" should never be rebuilt, but instead kept as a permanent reminder of the horrors of the Nazi occupation for postwar generations.
'Survivors are gone'
But 80 years later, village buildings are crumbling, roofs have disappeared and walls are covered in moss, prompting local politicians and descendants of villagers to call for a major conservation effort to keep the memory alive.
Charles de Gaulle said the village should not be rebuilt after the massacre © - / AFP
"All the survivors are gone, the only witnesses of the massacre are these stones," said Agathe Hebras, whose grandfather Robert was the last survivor of only six people to escape the SS murder spree. He died last year.
"I am deeply attached to these ruins, like many people here, we can't let them wither away," the 31-year-old told AFP. "We need to take care of them as best we can for as long as possible."
A new, eponymous town built nearby after the war is bustling, but the old ruins -- which are owned by the French state and a listed heritage site -- are eerily silent.
'Urgent action'
Some of the crumbling, blackened buildings carry signs like "Hairdresser", "Cafe", or "Ironmongery", reminding visitors that people went about their daily lives here until the murderous assault.
Scattered over 10 hectares are the odd rusty bicycle, sewing machine or shell of a period car.
"We need very, very urgent action," said Oradour-sur-Glane's mayor Philippe Lacroix. "As this setting disappears so will remembrance, little by little."
"All the survivors are gone, the only witnesses of the massacre are these stones," said Agathe Hebras, whose grandfather Robert was the last survivor of only six people to escape the SS murder spree. He died last year.
"I am deeply attached to these ruins, like many people here, we can't let them wither away," the 31-year-old told AFP. "We need to take care of them as best we can for as long as possible."
A new, eponymous town built nearby after the war is bustling, but the old ruins -- which are owned by the French state and a listed heritage site -- are eerily silent.
'Urgent action'
Some of the crumbling, blackened buildings carry signs like "Hairdresser", "Cafe", or "Ironmongery", reminding visitors that people went about their daily lives here until the murderous assault.
Scattered over 10 hectares are the odd rusty bicycle, sewing machine or shell of a period car.
"We need very, very urgent action," said Oradour-sur-Glane's mayor Philippe Lacroix. "As this setting disappears so will remembrance, little by little."
The Waffen-SS killed 643 people in Oradour-sur-Glane © - / AFP
Carine Villedieu Renaud, 47, the granddaughter of the only couple that survived the massacre, often walks across the ruins on her way to the new town, remembering her grandmother who lost her mother, her sisters and her four-year old daughter in the massacre.
"She would take me for walks among the ruins," she said. "We would pick flowers and she would tell me about her old life."
While the grandmother told her stories "without taboo", other survivors only felt able to speak about the massacre decades later, if at all.
Hebras said her grandfather, who lost two sisters and his mother in the killings, only began to talk about the events in the late 1980s.
"The first generation of children born in Oradour after the massacre, which includes my father, lived through a very hard time because their parents kept silent, believing that they needed to forget to keep on living," she said.
'Universal significance'
Since 1946, the government has allocated the equivalent of 200,000 euros ($216,000 at current rates) annually for maintenance, in addition to ad hoc spending, like the 480,000 euros allocated to the village church's restoration last year.
But much more is needed, said Laetitia Morellet, the regional deputy director for heritage and architecture.
"We don't want to bring back what was destroyed," she told AFP. "We want to preserve the state of destruction, because that is what helps people understand this war crime."
Carine Villedieu Renaud, 47, the granddaughter of the only couple that survived the massacre, often walks across the ruins on her way to the new town, remembering her grandmother who lost her mother, her sisters and her four-year old daughter in the massacre.
"She would take me for walks among the ruins," she said. "We would pick flowers and she would tell me about her old life."
While the grandmother told her stories "without taboo", other survivors only felt able to speak about the massacre decades later, if at all.
Hebras said her grandfather, who lost two sisters and his mother in the killings, only began to talk about the events in the late 1980s.
"The first generation of children born in Oradour after the massacre, which includes my father, lived through a very hard time because their parents kept silent, believing that they needed to forget to keep on living," she said.
'Universal significance'
Since 1946, the government has allocated the equivalent of 200,000 euros ($216,000 at current rates) annually for maintenance, in addition to ad hoc spending, like the 480,000 euros allocated to the village church's restoration last year.
But much more is needed, said Laetitia Morellet, the regional deputy director for heritage and architecture.
"We don't want to bring back what was destroyed," she told AFP. "We want to preserve the state of destruction, because that is what helps people understand this war crime."
The local church was restored last year © Philippe LOPEZ / AFP
Some 19 million euros are needed, and an effort to source the money through donations and state financing is underway.
Oradour-sur-Glane could eventually gain "a certain universal significance" beyond the 1944 massacre and World War II, said Benoit Sadry, president of an association grouping the victims' families.
"What counts is to keep proof that in mass crimes committed during wars it is always the civilian population that pays the highest price," he said.
© 2024 AFP
Some 19 million euros are needed, and an effort to source the money through donations and state financing is underway.
Oradour-sur-Glane could eventually gain "a certain universal significance" beyond the 1944 massacre and World War II, said Benoit Sadry, president of an association grouping the victims' families.
"What counts is to keep proof that in mass crimes committed during wars it is always the civilian population that pays the highest price," he said.
© 2024 AFP
No comments:
Post a Comment