D-Day: French Torn Over 'Criminal' British And American D-Day Bombings Of Caen

[Purveyor]

As survivors of the Allied bombings of Caen recall the devastating raids that reduced the city to rubble, French resentment persists over the operation to "flatten" towns and villages in the battle for Normandy in which 20,000 civilians die



By Henry Samuel in Caen, video by Alastair Good

7:00AM BST 06 Jun 2014

While thousands of veterans gather in Normandy to honour their fallen comrades, France will begin the 70th anniversary of D-Day remembering the civilian casualties of what some regard as “criminal” Allied bombing raids.

Some French locals still have "a problem" with the actions of the British, who were referred to as "bastards" by some shortly after devastating RAF raids on the city of Caen and other Norman towns and villages.

On Friday, president François Hollande will kick off what is likely the last major D Day anniversary for most veterans with a national ceremony – the first of its kind – to honour the 20,000 French civilians who died in the battle for Normandy.

It will be held in Caen, which the French call “a city martyred for peace” because of the terrible damage and loss of civilian life wreaked by massive British and American bombardment.

MORE...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/10877137/D-Day-French-torn-over-criminal-British-and-American-D-Day-bombings-of-Caen.html

[applegrove]

1. Sounds like McCain complaining. Was

he there on D-Day?

[Warren DeMontague]

2. Well aint that just Vichy.

Sorry, I mean peachy.

[Baclava]

3. Criminal? Vichy France missing the good old days of waving Swastikas?

I heard Hermann Göering had a great time there ...




Sleeping with the enemy: How 'horizontal collaborators' in Paris brothels enjoyed a golden age entertaining Hitler's troops

Most girls were so enamoured with the Aryan invaders that they went to great lengths to make them feel at home, including learning German, putting on performances of their favourite classical music, even dyeing their hair black to provide an exotic contrast to their predominantly blond customers.

Almost every night of the week was party night, with alcohol-fuelled orgies dominating social life at a time when the majority of the population had to abide by an 11pm to 5am curfew.

Even while the Holocaust was being extended to France's sizeable Jewish community and Allied bombs rained down on suburban factories, the debauchery carried on.

'It was a golden age for French brothels,' says Buisson. 'Many had been threatened with being shut down in less liberated days, but under the Nazis they were completely revived.'

After conquering France in the summer of 1940, the invaders turned out to be insatiable customers.

Wermacht and SS units commandeered no fewer than 22 well known brothels, turning them into establishments for the exclusive use of military staff and a few compliant French officials.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1175836/Sleeping-enemy-How-horizontal-collaborators-Paris-brothels-enjoyed-golden-age-entertaining-Hitlers-troops.html

[MisterP]

4. there's a poem for that

天生萬物以養人
人無一善以報天
殺殺殺殺殺殺殺