Introduction: Testimonies by La Manche Civilians.
“With war, its procession of unrest and horrors, I was shown humanity as it truly was, at times better or worse than it seemed to be”, young Marcelle Hamelle from La Manche wrote at the end of WWII. On August 25, 1944, the sixth Airborne Division liberated the town of Honfleur. The liberation of this picturesque harbour marked the end of a tedious four-year German occupation for the entire Lower Normandy.
On June 6, 1944, with Operation Neptune - the starting point of Operation Overlord - the region was caught up in a chain of events as destructive as it was liberating. A mere few hours sufficed for the quiet region to turn into one of the major battlegrounds in contemporary military history. The Battle of Normandy should not have exceeded three weeks, but it dragged on as Allied troops got bogged down in the Norman ‘bocage’ and German defence held fast. It took twelve weeks to free the region. The key to their success lay in the Allies’ equipment, their main strength. For the Allied army, to rely on the infantry -and the casualties that went with it- was not an option. The strategists envisioned a new war model1 based on the use of planes, bombs, tanks and mortar shells, thus protecting their men’s lives. The region was literally torn to pieces. At their highest, the battles involved about two million soldiers. Stuck in the middle, one million helpless Lower Normans watched the events unfold and the Germans surround them.
It is true that, the region was liberated on August 25, 1944, but it was scarred beyond recognition. The population paid dearly for their much-longed-for liberation; about 20,000 Norman civilians, including 14,000 Lower Normans2, lost their lives in the process. Material damage was as detrimental to the population as the human toll.
Whole cities were wiped off the map: Saint Lô was no more than a pile of rubble. Whole neighbourhoods were flattened, and up to 80% of villages such as Villers-Bocage and Aunay-sur-Odon were destroyed. The countryside, the cornerstone of prewar economy, did not fare any better. Tens of thousands of hectares of agricultural land were bombed and shelled; part of the livestock was killed3.
From the beginning of the war up to this day, Lower Normans have put their personal stories, and their war experiences, to paper. Curious minds, enthusiasts and historians alike will be enraptured by the sheer richness of diaries, war memories, biographies, journals and letters sent to relatives over these long weeks4. Authentic and unvarnished, the documents remain deeply vibrant and poignant5. The testimonies unveil another perception of war; they allow us to discover the narrators’ daily lives and to share in their emotions6.
Upon reading the testimonies, the life stories, the readers are able to catch a glimpse of how diverse and complex the fates of the Norman people were in wartime.
The stories were selected based on territorial and thematic consistency. La Manche provides a coherent geographic framework, and this is where our eight witnesses come from. Mme Lecoffre’s beloved village of Digosville, in northern Cotentin, is located 100 kilometres from Blanche Néel’s village of Mortain. Despite living in the same département, our narrators evoke experiences of war that differ completely, which our selection illustrates. Their testimonies provide readers with a singular perspective on World War II, as lived and told by eyewitnesses of the events, the men and women turned writers.
Thanks to the first testimonies, we quite naturally decided to concentrate on summer 1944. Indeed, to Norman witnesses, June 6th, 1944, was and still is unforgettable. It is the most discussed day of all, because it represents a crucial stage, a shift in WWII: the true beginning of the war. Two major events took place in succession, over only a few hours. Civilians heard that a landing operation had been launched on Norman beaches, and they then found themselves taking the full brunt of the fighting with the arrival of Allied bombers. Our choice of testimonies from La Manche brings both a global and local perspective on the Battle of Normandy, its D-Day landing beaches, its ruined cities, and its “Battle of the Hedges7”. As a result, each witness and each story works as a specific lens through which the events can be understood. The fates of the Manchois offer readers a collection of interwoven, complementary experiences.
Another selection of autobiographical accounts focusing on other aspects of war could certainly be added to our website, but D-Day landings and the Battle of Normandy hold pride of place in Norman testimonies in general, and in these eight in particular.
We are honoured to introduce you to them. Discovering a testimony always makes for a unique moment for the dedicated reader-researcher. To visit archives, to peruse old, yellowed pages, to touch true historical documents, to read words occasionally scribbled on the spur of the moment, is a source of great satisfaction. It also makes the reader-researcher feel humble. A sense of proximity arises from reading and rereading them. The historian must, however, take a critical stance towards testimonies. Sometimes, they are written down fifty or sixty years after the events, as time passes and memory fluctuates.
The feeling elicited after discovering such snippets of lives cannot compare with the emotions felt by the men and women in wartime. Thanks to their testimonies and their commitment to history, Marcelle Hamel, Mme Lecoffre, Blanche Néel, Louis Pesnel, Jules Carmelot, Jean Roger, Julien Le Bas, Alfred Mouchel and others have ensured that forgetting this period would forever remain impossible8.
At the end of spring 1940, Marcelle Hamel the teacher of a village in La Manche, observed in shock the arrival of the German occupiers. “Fortunate” just because she lived in the countryside, the young woman nonetheless took heed of the difficulties enemy occupation involved. She regularly went to Cherbourg to supply family members with products that were unavailable in cities. The situation changed from one month to the next. Allied forces launched airstrikes in France and, notably, in Normandy. The Germans gave orders to evacuate Cherbourg and “restricted” coastal areas. Germany and Vichy strengthened their collaboration and instituted Compulsory Work Service, or STO. Aged 20 in 1942, Louis Pesnel had to leave for Germany on March 22, 1943. The fisherman was forcibly enrolled in the Reichs Bahn – the railway company - in Wilhelmshaven. He was “reasonably well-fed and [felt] relatively safe” and started meeting foreign workers and mixing with the German population. “As soon as we set foot in Frisian country, we became obsessed with our return journey” – a reaction that was all too common in compulsory exiles. The newly “fisher-railway man” did return home from leave granted in December 1943, and just like Jules Carmelot, decided to go awol, opting out of force labour. Both having gone into hiding, the men related the fear that accompanied such a delicate status.
With spring 1944 looming ahead, life became increasingly unbearable for the population9. Every day the hopes of a landing were fading in the minds of the Lower Normans. A handful of civilians still believed in the imminent opening of a new front, but what prevailed was definitely the worry that the resolution of the conflict would require yet another year. “For weeks now we’ve been feeling THE big event was about to - had to - happen”, Jean René wrote at the time. Access to food worsened until it reached critical levels, in cities especially.
The Germans increased the pressure, and interactions with the occupiers grew more tense. The “non-compliant” - the STO deserters, or anti-German propagandists like Mme Lecoffre and members of the Resistance – and even their relatives faced considerable risks. Blanche Néel would be sent to Caen prison, notorious for the fate of its prisoners on the much-celebrated June 6, 1944.
On the night of June 5 to 6, the military operation was finally launched. Near Sainte-Mère-Eglise, Marcelle Hamel was watching the coast: “Somewhat drowsy with sleep, I suddenly see dark eerie silhouettes cut against the chiaroscuro of the sky, a rain of large black sun-umbrellas falling in the fields across and then disappearing behind the black line of hedgerows”. The airdrops had begun – they were meant to prevent the German troops from gaining ground, and to secure the back of Utah – the codename for the beach to the west where the landings started.
After the D-Day landings were announced, eagerness and hope soon gave way to fear. Allied troops had indeed landed, but it was taking place very close, too close, on the Norman coast. Uncertainty reigned supreme on this spring morning of 1944. Allied troops were said to have landed, the rumour mill was running rampant: apparently the Germans could push them back to sea and, after all, the landings could be a means of diverting attention from a larger operation. Heated conversations ensued. At 8 pm in Saint Lô, Jean Roger was shaving before dinner. At the same moment, Julien Le Bas and family sat at their table to eat. A deafening noise from afar was heard. Its crescendo got both men moving, one to his window, and the other, outside in the street. Jean Roger described the scene: “Coming from Caen and seemingly headed for Coutances, very high in the sky, I see aircrafts in flight formation, cut against a bright blue sky.” Bombs were dropped and gently swirled towards the ground. A deluge fell on the city. The carnage was punctuated by the roaring, the screaming and the explosions. It only took a couple of minutes for Saint Lô to fall prey to bombs, just like Caen earlier on the same day.
Lisieux, Falaise, Vire, Valognes… As hours passed, a growing number of ruined cities joined the list. The inhabitants faced a heartbreaking dilemma. To either stay and hunker down in a makeshift shelter so as not to leave their belongings, homes, animals and memories in the hands of pillagers, or to follow the exodus on unsafe roads, hopefully escaping the turmoil of the battle10 – Julien Le Bas chose the latter.
Twelve weeks of unrest defined by the utmost uncertainty went by. While the battle unfolded, life went on and the inhabitants expanded the range of their occupations. Food chores were added to ubiquitous daily tasks in the agricultural region - field work for instance. The sounds of the fighting were the most valuable source of information, hence the news that the Allied armada was gaining ground - albeit too slowly according to the inhabitants, who were anxious to see the battle end. The soldiers of the Reich were still here, however.
“Hitler’s “field gray” uniforms couldn’t care less about the laws of war. They want to keep on pulling our legs, but we’ll see who has the last laugh!” Alfred Mouchel declared in his testimony. Indeed, there was the feeling that skirmishes were coming to an end, and that liberation was within reach. At last! “They” arrived with their awe-inspiring equipment. It was the meeting of two worlds: Modern America and “Ancient” Normandy. Troops were warmly welcomed - French-speaking Canadians were treated like close friends – but they could also be met with expressions of reservation, detachment and coldness at times11. Historian Eric Alary commented on the matter that “Many people relatively quickly show some sort of indifference towards the allied soldiers12.” The bombings and the deaths were still on their minds. Civilians were also afraid of potential reprisals13 on their unliberated fellow countrymen or should the allies withdraw. A new era of “cohabitation” with American troops then began, as young teacher Marcelle Hamel faithfully narrated.
“And so it is the end, through an opening onto real life, of the chaotic interlude that was spent as watchful spectator and the months that were marked by hope, luck and liberty”, Louis Pesnel concludes. For witnesses, storytelling following liberation is synonymous with analysing the period, with making a human, material and moral assessment. Battles and bombings left lasting scars on the territory. (De)scribing war means testifying to a succession of harrowing phases that often led to traumas. Their stories are filled with such emotions, themselves intricately linked to the operations of war. To revisit their emotions, grief and joy of this period in writing makes the narrators’ experience them again. These transcriptions of how D-Day, the Battle of Normandy and Liberation were experienced illustrate the impact of the past on both people and territory while also conveying hope and history.