Phil&Jill

In June 1944 Caen was battered by multiple Allied bombardments, nearly 30% of its buildings were destroyed, 20% were damaged. The Saint-Jean district, the most densely populated neighbourhoid and the commercial area of the city was located, had been annihilated. Only its church remained standing surrounded by wreckage.

On the occasion of the 75th Anniversary of the D-day landings (or J-day as the French call it - in English D for day and in French J for jour - meaning day) and the Liberation of Caen, the City of Caen put in photos on billboards to give a footprint of before the bombing and then you compare this with the modern reconstructed city. It took until 19th July, 1944 til Caen was entirely liberated.

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To the modern city of today.

The chemist on the corner had been operating for over 100 years and was unrecognisable. It has been reconstructed using the very white limestone which is unique to this area, and still operates as a chemist today.

The bridge over the River Orne in the Vaucelles district, the bridge we use every day to cross to our apartment was broken.

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This shows the depth of destruction the people endured. On talking with a young girl in the Tourist Office we learned of the experiences of both her grandmothers who were in Caen on D-day. She said it was an experience which still held huge emotion and was rarely talked about. One grandmother told her of the oppression when the Mazis soldiers took over their house and possessions. She also commentef on how scared she was in the bombing. The grandmother had been a child aged 7. To this day she can never visit any of the war memorials containing weapons. She has only visited the Fallaise museum as it contains artefacts from the daily lives of the population and does not exhibit one gun or weaponry. The other grandmother lost half her leg from being wounded and has lived with that remembrance ever since. Although eternally grateful for the liberation, the deprivation of services, medecines and food was extremely difficult for a long time. However the girl said the French people would never forget the efforts of the Allied forces. She said all of Caen would be travelling to the coast to see the fireworks at 10.30pm on Sunday and pay their respects. 8 coastal villages were simultaneously sending fireworks into the sky. Phil and I would have loved to have gone but there was no transport to bring us back. The young girl was confident someone would give us a lift. The confidence of youth. A very sobering conversation involving a personal account of her family. We felt privileged she shared these comments with us.