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  American soldier in Normandy; drawings from 1944

  Victor Alfred Lundy was 21 years old when he was shipped out to Europe, in August 1944.  D-Day and the army had changed his plans from architecture, to the infantry. Enlisting Victor enlisted in the army in December of 1941, the day after the bomb was dropped on Pearl Harbour. He was accepted into the Army Specialized…

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  Hugues' big surprise in the Andaines forest; an Orne legend

  There are many legends of Bonvouloir, here is one we think has a ring of truth.   A medieval knight, not old but exhausted by years of 12th century combat, rode through the forest of Andaines towards home.  Hugues, Seigneur de Tessé was tired.  Tired of losing good friends in bad battles.  Tired of armour, of…

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  Caen, before and after the battle of 1944

  This week our match is 73 years out of date.  The early postcards reveal a world now lost. They are matched with photos taken in the summer of 1944, in WW2. The wartime quality of the photography is not sharp, but the story is clear. The battle for Caen lasted just under two months and…

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  The war artist, June 1944 in Normandy

  Chateau de Sully, near Bayeux, June 1944 by Anthony Gross First published here 2017 Although photographs remember a moment, an event, war artists see the emotion in a war; how people live within it, the minutiae of daily life as they prepare, wait, fight, suffer and celebrate.  Faced with the vastness of war, war artists…

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  'To Caen' - can you help us identify this 1944 location?

  This sad little postcard was 1 euro at the Honfleur outdoor flea market just a few months ago. All we can be certain of is that one of the signs says 'Caen' and the other 'No Entry'.  Judging by the desolation this is Normandy in 1944. Can you help? We would love to be able…

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  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 words cannot. Operation Astonia…

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  When Hollywood met Normandy, on Sword Beach, 1944

  There is a famous black and white film, produced by Darryl F. Zanuck with the best intentions of exposing the horror and bravery of war.  He had determined to make a revolutionary, realistic movie to parade before audiences who were just boys and girls during WW2. The film would be about 6 June 1944, it is called The Longest…

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  News from Carentan, Tilly & Caen: Snapshot from a war, 14 June 1944

  First published here 2017 During the Second World War, news, particularly good news was shared quickly across the Allied world.  While each battle has been studied in detail by historians over the years, at the time newspapers reported them hurriedly as steps towards freedom. Reading those old papers today we are for a moment transported…

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  A modest WW2 Resistance hero and the V-1 flying bomb, at Val Ygot

  First published here 2018 In the summer of 1943, a middle aged Frenchman in blue overalls pushed a wheelbarrow past German sentries into a construction site at Bonnetot, between Dieppe and Rouen in Normandy. The man, Michel Hollard, did not look extraordinary but he was.  Audacious and brave, Michel’s actions that day would go on…

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  Where is Colbert Marie? The Caen prison massacre of 6 June 1944

  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 Boutrios brothers;…

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  Vernon, the town that liberated itself in 1944 Normandy

  As we stood on the latest Vernon bridge (there have been many) in Eure, we matched our postcard with no idea of the dramas this idyllic scene had witnessed.  An online search revealed a vast library of WW2 pictures of soldiers.  Then we discovered just a suggestion of a lesser known story that shocked and…

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  A family remembers liberation; Sainte-Mère-Église, 1944

  In the early hours of June 6, 1944, a man knocked loudly on the door of Alexandre Renaud, Mayor of Sainte-Mère-Église. Since the town's occupation by the enemy in 1940 there had been a strict curfew. This late night visit could only mean an emergency. The visitor explained rapidly that a house just off the main…

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  The scars of Angoville-au-Plain

  First published February 15, 2014 On our way to the vast beaches by Les Gougins in Manche, just north of Utah Beach, we took a small detour to pay our respects in Angoville-au-Plain. Hidden down ancient lanes long sunk into the Normandy countryside, Angoville is reached by a single track road. This is a hamlet, not…

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  A red jumper & the Major of Saint-Lô: two sides of 1944

  That stub of a tower part of the remains of the Church of Notre Dame Many shattering images of Saint-Lô in 1944 cannot be erased from our memories but one in particular stands out.  It shows a young boy in a grey jumper and long trousers with his arm around his little brother. Evocative image…

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  Dark clouds over Chambois in the Falaise Pocket

  It’s often the simplest postcards that reveal the most shocking stories.  This is true of Chambois. First published here 2014 Our postcard shows the old keep or ‘donjon’, once part of a medieval fortress that now houses nothing more ferocious than a loft of lethargic pigeons. The photo and the postcard do not match as…

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  The lost Canadian soldiers of the Ardenne Abbey

  Just outside Caen, surrounded by fields and very quickly surburban housing, is the Abbey Ardenne.  We know this because of a postcard we found of a nice old doorway.  We matched it late in the spring, not many weeks before an anniversary the Abbey will never forget. The secret garden We parked next to a…

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  Rise like a Phoenix, Vire

  With some trepidation we travelled to Vire to match a couple of old postcards picked up as part of a job lot ‘carte postale, Normandie, €10’ from a seaside brocante. Would we have bought them individually? I don’t know. A dark day in history On 6 June 1944 at around 8pm the quiet town of…