"Ask them for two francs"
Written in 1983, this short testimony can now be found in the archives of the Mémorial de Caen, serial mark TE 393. We added a title.
For me, D-Day started on the 5th, at about 8 pm.
The noise of engines, I looked up and saw a fighter flying relatively low, this Spitfire1 is taking things nice and easy I thought for one moment, and then it disappeared.
My father's cousin lived at Yvetot-Bocage (La Lande des Millières) in a secluded place and at 18 I had been sent into hiding there so long as my board was paid. Otherwise it would have meant the S.T.O. (Compulsory Work Service) in Germany; of course at the time of the Liberation I hadn't got a penny left.
On the evening of the 5th, dinner and off to bed as usual. I heard the clock strike midnight and then a noise in the distance that was different from what I had heard on previous days. And at about 2 a.m. I was woken up by the heavy noise of engines, very much like that of the Flying Fortress Formations sent to destroy the V1 launch pads.
I got up and looked out of the window to see a plane falling in flames. Then the silhouettes of planes which seemed to be towing other planes, and all that on a background of flashes of lightning. Heavy shooting. It lasted for about two hours.
No respite, the artillery, the hissing of shells falling anywhere, spreading panic among enemy troops, and then thinly scattered parachutists falling. At last day broke and all that was left was a heavy thunder-like sound in the distance.
In the morning the first refugees arrived and I met my wife for the first time, her house had been hit by a shell during the night.
About twenty refugees arrived in two days. First problem, food supplies: apart from milk and flour there was wasn't much, but it was fine. In the evening we had to go to the field to milk the cows. I took, along with the daughter of the house and her cousin - who was later to become my wife - a path to a pretty secluded field and all went fine, but on our way back we ran into two Boches (German soldiers) who were armed to the teeth and were also trying to get milk. They took aim at me with their machine guns, told me to give them the milk, and I obeyed, took the pail and poured it into their mess tins. Miss MH was very miserly and told me : "Ask them for two francs".
I can assure you that I had no desire for nonsense, and I told her I'll give you your two francs, and when we got back to the farm the rich dairywoman took this money which had saved an orphan's skin.
The American army was getting nearer and nearer, I saw some Teutons walking by with two or three prisoners of war.
During the next two weeks until our Liberation, I saw Montebourg2 burn and Valognes3 be destroyed.
When I managed to get back to Cherbourg after many trials and tribulations, I saw my house had been half destroyed and looted - who by?4
I was going on 20 and my guardian gave her agreement for me to enlist. I came back when I was dismissed from the Rhin et Danube First Army in 1946 - and what was all this for?
One of many such stories.
And such a story!
- 1 A British fighter plane.
- 2 Montebourg, on the way to Cherbourg, was a key place for access to the north of the Cotentin peninsula. This village was heavily bombed, particularly on June 8, 10 and 12. Phosphorus bombs and naval shells turned Montebourg into a blaze. Some of the inhabitants sought refuge in the abbey, but many forsook their cellars to take to the roads. The charming town of Valognes, the “Versailles of Normandy” was reduced to rubble by bombings on June 6, 7 and 8 which left around 300 dead.
- 3 Regarding the destructions of Montebourg and Valognes, see notes n°29 and 30 of M. Hamel’s account.
- 4 This doubt is symptomatic of the reality of the battle of Normandy. The occupation troops looted many different resources: food, means of transport, valuables. The Germans were not the only ones to be accused of looting in the accounts of locals: French and Allied troops took part too, to the great displeasure of aghast civilians.
- Numéro: TE393
- Lieu: Mémorial de Caen
