D-Day: Joan of Arc in Tilly

 (77-th Anniversary of D-Day)

This bronze statue of Jeanne d'Arc, one of the patron saints of France, is standing in front of the Chapelle Notre Dame du Val in the town of Tilly-sur-Ceulles near Bayeux. 

In 1944 Jeanne was hit by shrapnel through the heart and the hole took the shape of the heart. 

Little known, to me it is one of the most touching memorials of the Battle for Normandy. 

After D-Day, the Germans counterattacked and Tilly changed hands more than 20 times. The battle continued from 7 June to 19 June.

Desperately Seeking Holly.

We have lots of holly bushes around here but few with bright red Christms berries. Found one today.

Norman hedges are more like medieval fortifications with oak and beech towering over, hazel and ash below, and the bottom is lined with holly and blackberry bushes. No wonder the Allies got stuck in the Normandy 'bocage' when they landed in 1944. They'd trained to jump over the English garden hedges, not go through the Norman thickets. One clever American sergeant thought of welding a piece of railing to the front of a Sherman tank, thus giving birth to 'rhinoceros' tanks which rammed and ripped up passing places in the hedges. Ike instantly approved it and the battle was won.

Sourdeval Fetes Liberation

Sourdeval, a small town in South Manche, celebrated the anniversary of liberation and the Assumption last Sunday.

'It was very wet and grey, but it was nice and the boys to see all the old army vehicles and the effort that people had gone to to dress in 1940s clothes... they looked fantastic', writes Francesca Bostock.

Assumption of Mary (Assomption) is one of France's public holidays.

D-Day 66th Anniversary

D-Day anniversary. 66 years since the Allied landings in Normandy and the liberation of France.

A German gun position at Utah-Beach.

Higgins Boat, an Allied light landing craft, near Utah-Beach Museum, La Manche.

And the Moissy Ford in the Orne - the Corridor of Death, the last narrow escape route of German forces trying to avoid encirclement by the Allies.

The Victory Day (VE)

8-9 May 2010 

marks the 65th anniversary of the end of the second world war in Europe,

the VE Day

 

I have long thought that war memorials you find in every village in France are typecast - they all look the same. But are they? This young soldier's face looks so original it might well have been a portrait. 


Francesca Bostock, who sent this photo, writes:

'Whilst in Marcey les Gréves, I took these photos of a memorial for both world wars. I know there are lots of memorials around, but I found this one quite moving, with the soldier atop it and the shells at the corners.'

... and bullet pockmarks on the granite pedestal, probably left during the fighting for Normandy in World War II in 1994.

Please read 'German Humour and American Shooting' on 'The Normandy Review of Books'

The Full Monty

Monty, the legendary British commander of Allied forces during the battle for Normandy, had family roots in this area going back to viking times, as many place names here testify.

Iron Mike memorial in Normandy

'Iron Mike' memorial to American airborne troops near Utah Beach overlooks the flooded marais in the Cotentin peninsula.

From Barack Obama's inauguration speech:

'For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn. Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.'

Photos sent by Susan Lee.

Remembrance Day: 90 years since the end of World War I

A Red Poppy from a field near 'the Corridor of Death' where the Battle of Normandy ended in August 1944.


A Jewish grave in the American Military Cemetery near Omaha Beach.

At a German Military Cemetery near Lisieux.

Arromanches: playing on the beach

Children playing among the remains of the British Mulberry harbour at Arromanches on the last day of the Summer holidays. Isn't it what the D-Day sacrifices were all about?

Red poppies line Normandy fields

Red poppies line the vast fields West of Falaise where fierce fighting took place during the Battle of Normandy in 1944.

Utah Beach 2008

Helmet shaped shells scattered on Utah Beach, the Westernmost of the D-Day landing beaches. Remains of the artificial Mulberry harbour in the background.

Normandy Day: in memory of 6 June 1944

Omaha-Beach today

Sent by Shu Milne, Calvados

Published in the June Rendezvous

The Montormel Memorial

A Polish tank stands over the 'Falaise pocket', a vast valley where the battle of Normandy came to an end in August 1944. Advance Polish troops closed the Falaise gap near Montormel finishing the encirclement of the German Army.

St Desir de Lisieux War memorial

A German military cemetery near Lisieux.

Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial

Four American women who died during the liberation of France are buried at the Military Cemetery near Omaha Beach.


Spring cleaning at the Cemetery.



Bayonet in the ground - a symbol of final peace (installation at the Visitors' Center).

Flower sculptures in Vire

The anticipation is building up... to what or to whom will the flowery roundabout display in Vire be dedicated this summer?


The funniest one so far has to be 'Mozart' with his big grass hair. Sadly, in this photo he has been blown clear off his piano stool by a storm the night before !

Sent by Sarah Page St. Quentin les Chardonnets, 61

Utah Beach in winter 3: Crocodile Bunker

A German bunker at Utah Beach. Heavily bombarded by the Allies on D-Day it now looks like a crocodile.