80 years after D-Day, France examines the trauma of Allied bombings
SAINT-LÔ, France—On the evening of June 6, 1944, U.S. Air Force bombers appeared in the skies over this town in Normandy, targeting a command center of the occupying German army. The Americans had dropped leaflets warning civilians to evacuate, but the wind blew them astray.
Yves Fauvel, 6-years-old at the time, and his family were eating dinner when a bomb fell next to their house. They quickly took shelter in their basement as bombs began to thunder around them. When they emerged hours later, much of the town was in ruins and hundreds were dead or dying.
“Everything was on fire," Fauvel said, “people wailing, imprisoned in their basements—they couldn’t get out." The 86-year-old has only recently begun telling his story after decades of silence, as France prepared to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings. “People weren’t interested. It was terrifying.
It’s like having a serious illness—if you haven’t had it, you can’t comprehend," he said. Born in the fires of World War II, the trans-Atlantic alliance is facing its most difficult test since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The U.S., France and other countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have banded together to support Ukraine in its war with Russia and send a signal to Moscow that they are prepared to defend against a direct attack.
President Emmanuel Macron is set to host President Biden and other NATO leaders on Thursday for an elaborate celebration of the landings, a show of unity after more than two years of war in Ukraine. But Macron is also preparing to shine a light on the traumatic origins of the alliance. On Wednesday, the French president will commemorate the more than 50,000 civilians who died from American and British bombing
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