Refugees from Caen during the Allied Offensive in July 1944 © Hulton-Deutsch/CORBIS
...We were certain that something very special had happened. The curfew was still in place, so it was impossible to go out to try to get some news of what was going on.
It was midday before we could get any information. The first refugees from Caen arrived, fleeing the intense bombardment. They were completely exhausted and the news they brought from the city was worse than we could ever have imagined.
They said the town was completely bombed out, standing in fire. The smoke was so thick one couldn’t breathe and there were already a few ten thousand victims. Yes, it seemed the Allied troops had landed, but they were in a terrible situation and with heavy losses they were ready to turn back!
What were we to believe??
We all worried so much. In the afternoon the German
ambulances returned from Caen, passed through Thury-Harcourt, filled with wounded soldiers, with the dead piled up on top of each other on the roofs. Blood was running all around, it was a vision of horror.
Later that evening Thury-Harcourt underwent its first bombardment which went on through the night.
People decided to leave the village. We ran to the railway tunnel thinking we would be safe there. And as luck would have it, there were two railway wagons there so we could settle down and shelter for the night. We had no idea how long we would have to stay there
or what the future would bring for us.
As long as we live, the day of June 6th 1944 will be present in our minds.
It was over a week later that our Father came to see us on his bicycle, since the Germans had commandeered all his lorries. We then spent many days in the crypt of the Cathedral.
We teenagers who lived through those days of the invasion in the Summer of 1944 witnessed all the carnage, and will never forget what those men did for us. We will always be grateful and I want to say a big thank you to all the Normandy Veterans from a French teenager (perhaps no longer!) who owes them so much.
