D-Day, 80 years on
Published Warship IFR magazine July 2024
After several months of French Resistance sabotage operations, day and night bombing raids and elaborate allied deception, the second verse of Verlain's poem "Wound my heart, With a monotonous languor" was eventually broadcasted by the BBC. It was the long-awaited signal for all of France to rise.
2024 marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Even with so few witnesses left alive, it is still an extremely important celebration in France, as most French families were directly involved or affected by what started in June 1944. From the men and women of the many resistance movements disorganizing German logistics, French regular army soldiers fighting Axis forces since 1940 in France, North Africa and Italy, to a brand-new generation of soldiers, sometimes underaged, who joined De Gaulle in England.
All of them were eager to avenge the 1940 humiliation.
Who dares wins!
The first Allied D-Day casualty was Corporal Emile Bouétard, who was killed in action in Brittany, western France, at 0.40 am on 6 June.
He was part of the initial 36 French paratroopers, members of the famous 4th SAS regiment dropped ahead of the D-Day landings on the 5th of June. They were given very specific orders, to sabotage German logistics but to avoid any direct confrontations with superior forces. The French paratroopers superbly ignored their orders as soon as they met with a group of 3000 resistance fighters. Asking for further paratrooper reinforcements and equipment, they eventually pinned down 85,000 German soldiers, preventing any movement towards Normandy, but at a heavy price, 60% of the 450 paratroopers dropped were out of action by August 6.
French 4th SAS
They were so efficient that Eisenhower himself did not even bother issuing new orders for subsequent missions. When Captain George Fournier from the 3rd SAS (French Regiment) presented himself in front of one of Eisenhower's aides to get briefed, he was told in all seriousness that he could do what he wanted!
Eisenhower's orders were simple: “Since we started sending French paratroopers in France, you never went where you were told, you never did what you were told, but most of the time you managed to be even more disruptive to the enemy than initially planned. So, from now on, your orders are simple. Just create chaos in any way you want!.”
How not to mention how a few men from the French SAS on September 7th managed to fool 3000 men from the Dach Reich SS division to surrender peacefully. The French soldiers removed any national markings from their uniforms and warned the Germans that they were surrounded by US and British troops. Their claim could not have been farther from the truth. Allied forces were unaware of their existence, still on the other side of the Loire River with specific orders not to cross! After a 5-hour walk at night, the disarmed German soldiers walked into Nevers, surrounded, to their surprise, only by French soldiers.
D-Day
The Free French Navy Hunt class destroyer “La Combattante” beats the Commando Keiffer by a few hours to win the honour of being the first French unit to reach Normandy.
While she was providing close fire support for the landing troops at Courseulles-sur-Mer in just 4 meters of water, she hit a sandbar. With a very British sense of humour, HMS Venus transmitted to her in Scott: "I'm glad a Frenchman is the first to touch French soil".
This ship became iconic in the French Navy when she sailed from Portsmouth to Normandy on June 14th with General de Gaulle onboard for his first visit to liberated France. The ship's Captain was not warned of the trip in advance, but when he saw the General, he reassured him that he did not need to worry. He knew the way to France very well!
Free French Navy Hunt class destroyer “La Combattante”
Very few French troops participated during Operation Overlord. Only 177 French Marines, trained as part of Lord Lovat's 4th commando, landed on the beach of Normandy. Led by Commandant Kieffer, these men became the French faces of the D-Day landings. They fought for 83 days until only 20% of the original troops were still combat-capable.
After the war, the unit became the 1er RPIMa (1st Marines Paratroop Regiment), later integrated into the French Special Operation Command (COS). This highly decorated unit still wears the same Green Berets as the British commando, pulled to the right, a unique case in the French Military.
Kieffer Commando
The French Army is back!
One of France's most respected generals, Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, nicknamed “King Jean” by his men, landed on French soil during Operation Dragoon in the south of France with the 1st French Army.
With 65% of the 350,000 troops involved in the operation being French, it was a highly symbolic message. France was also liberated by its sons.
After the landing on August 15th, 3 divisions of the US VII Army, and the 7 French divisions liberated Provence and its main cities, vital for Allied logistics, in 2 weeks.
Meanwhile, another French rising star, General Leclerc, arrived in Normandy in August with the French 2nd Armoured Division, a highly experienced unit, having fought Rommel in North Africa since 1941.
King Jean
Every French schoolboy has since learned about his famous Koufra oath taken after a successful battle in Libya in 1941.
“Swear not to lay down your arms until our colours, our beautiful colours, are flying over Strasbourg cathedral”
With more than 20,000 French troops and 4,000 vehicles, Leclerc was under the command of General Patton, who was full of praise for General Leclerc, and his all-out attack-spirited tactics.
In August 1944, the quick Allied progression towards Paris from the south and the west of France acted as a spark for the uprising of the resistance forces in Paris.
De Gaulle's ultimate objective was to set up a new French government, free of any foreign influence. To achieve this, Leclerc needed to liberate Paris before the US troops, even if he had to ignore US generals ordering him to stop pushing forward so fast.
They should have known by now that the French Army was home, and nobody could reason with the French Furia.
On August 25th, German commander von Choltitz surrendered Paris to Leclerc.
The next day, de Gaulle held a triumphal parade on the Champ Élysée.
The Tricolore banner was flying under the Arc de Triomphe once again.
After 4 years, honour was restored at last.
Free French tanks and half-tracks of Leclerc's 2e DB passing through the Arc du Triomphe on 26 August 1944.
Post-war France.
Post-war France used all the units who participated in the liberation of France to rebuild the French heroism damaged by the initial defeat, sometimes to the detriment of carrier soldiers who heroically fought for France in 1940.
But they were not fighting for de Gaulle yet…
France is full of cemeteries of soldiers who died in WWI. They are joined now by the US, British, Canadian, Polish, and many other nations, including German soldiers who died during the liberation campaign.
The devastation of the bombings was significant. It is estimated that 52,000 civilians died during Operation Overlord, with dozens of major cities destroyed. But this cost is generally understood, despite some resentment against Bomber Command, which destroyed a few too many French cities, sometimes with no military justification. The French Navy, on the other hand, never really forgave the 1,295 French sailors killed by the Royal Navy at Mers el Kebir.
Beyond politics, the French population does not forget the sacrifices all these foreign kids had to endure to free us from a 4-year-long nightmare.
We will always welcome the veterans and their families every year.
Sources:
https://www.dday-overlord.com/materiel/navires/torpilleur-la-combattante#google_vignette
Like lions the heroic sacrifice of the french army may-june 1940 by dominique lormier.
lhttps://www.coindeweb.net/blogsanssujetprecis/index.php?post/2007/11/17/440-comme-des-lions-le-sacrifice-heroique-de-l-armee-francaise-mai-juin-1940-de-dominique-lormier-1
https://www.dday-overlord.com/debarquement-normandie/forces/france-libre/1er-bataillon-fusiliers-marins#google_vignette
Book: Paul Bonnecarrere Qui ose vaincra, the story of the French SAS Fayard 1971
