First published 2016/05/14 We discovered this moment in Caen WW2 history reading the marvelous magazine Patrimone Normand ‘Normandy Heritage’ who have very kindly allowed us to use some of their photographs. Caen in the spring of 1944 One spring evening in 1944 Colbert Marie, age 17, left his boxing club with friends the
WW2
WW2 history is disappearing from Néville-sur-Mer
Quietly crumbling into the sea, in amongst soft dunes isolated by marshland, is the Batterie Blankenese de Néville-sur-Mer. A few miles east of Cherbourg this is not a famous WW2 heritage site, but still a poignant reminder of when Normandy was occupied by an unwelcome enemy. Then Here, from 1943 the Kreigsmarine,
A rare piece of D-Day history in this sleepy Normandy valley
A photographic record of the storm of iron & fire; Le Havre 1944
We found this emotional set of images, showing Le Havre before and after the bombing of 1944, tucked in amongst some ordinary vintage postcards at the Foire des Andaines. The photos have been carefully composed by someone who thought we should not forget, and they tell the story of Operation Astonia in ways
The most terrible lesson of all – Dieppe Raid 1942
In 1942, as Hitler’s troops marched relentlessly towards Stalingrad, Churchill was under pressure to supply a serious distraction in Europe. Plans for a large scale invasion of Northern Europe were nowhere near ready but an idea to draw German troops from the Eastern Front and gain priceless information about enemy resources