– Marcel Ouimet from Radio Canada here. I am with men from the Régiment de La Chaudière before a small seaside resort called Bernières-sur-Mer.Shellfire from the German artillery batteries is intensifying all around us! The order is finally given to attack!I can imagine the emotion felt by our troops during these historic moments, for many of them have French blood in them.From Montreal to Juno Beach, the incredible Canadian odyssey which, on the 6th of June 1944, contributed towards our newfound freedom...

“A small red ball that goes through the greatest of twentieth century tragedies to tell us of its experience..

Alongside their British and Canadian allies, the American troops landed on the Normandy beaches on the 6th of June 1944. Today, their presence in Normandy on D-Day appears as if it were perfectly obvious. The reality behind it is a little more complicated. When war broke out in Europe in September 1939, a survey revealed that only 2.5% of Americans were in favour of their country joining the conflict. At the time, the US Army ranked roughly in twentieth position among armed forces across the globe and the nation's economy was as yet to recover from the 1929 crash.On the 7th of December, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was to hasten the United States' involvement in the war. In just a few years, the immense war effort deployed by the world's most powerful nation was to irreversibly tip the scales in favour of the Allies.The first American soldiers arrived in Belfast as early as January 1942. By the spring of 1944, 1,700,000 were posted in the United Kingdom. Some of them spent months there before heading for Normandy to contribute towards the liberation of France and Western Europe.First and foremost, this book offers an account of their long journey. It also concentrates on the hostilities that marked the summer of 1944, covering aspects which are often left in the shadows, such as how the army operated out in the field, the day-to-day lives of the GIs, their relationships with the local population or the great burden of the presence of the Americans in Normandy – for by late July, there were three times as many GIs in the Cotentin and Bessin as there were inhabitants!

A mysterious little character can be seen on scene 10 of the famous Bayeux Tapestry. His name is Turold. In this activity booklet, Turold tells you the same story as the one related on the Bayeux Tapestry, from which the 12 scenes reproduced here by Gilles Pivard have been freely inspired. On each page, the illustration contains one or many little Turolds for you to find... You'll need an eagle eye to spot them all!

Having become king of England at the battle of Hastings in 1066, William of Normandy would go on to found a genuine empire. His reign lasted 21 years. Amongst his children were two kings, a Duke, an Abbess, and two Countesses. Upon his death, his descendants tore each other apart, and his empire was fragmented until the accession of the Plantagenets, who extended the Anglo-Norman territory as far as the foothills of the Pyrenees. This book recounts the life of his principal descendants from Robert Courteheuse to the Empress Matilda. This is a French Language book.

The name of Richard the Lionheart is familiar to us all. Curiously, this legendary figure is more often associated with Aquitaine and the Holy Land than with Normandy. A worthy descendant of William the Conqueror, Richard I maintained Normandy within the Plantagenet Empire, by countering the ambitious plans of the King of France, Philip Augustus. His violent and untimely death was to lead to Normandy's annexation to France. The Anglo-Normand territory that "straddled the sea", and could well have offered an alternative to the national monarchic construction, was never to recover.

During the 20th century, two generations of Canadians crossed the Atlantic to offer their support to threatened democracy in Europe, united with Britain through Commonwealth association. These soldiers distinguished themselves at Vimy during the Great War, then at Dieppe, Sicily, Normandy and later, Holland, during World War II. Canada was also active in defending the shipping lanes in the North Atlantic and the Canadian Merchant Navy completed over 25,000 voyages across the Atlantic between 1939 and 1945. Over the course of the World War II, 1.1 million Canadians served in the army, navy, and air force. Of these men, more than 45,000 lost their lives and another 54,000 were wounded. The suffering and the hardships of both wars affected many Canadians at home and abroad.This abundantly illustrated book tells the story of the Canadians' heroic contribution to the liberation of Europe.

On the 6th of June 1944, thousands of men landed on the Normandy beaches to free Europe from the Nazi occupation. Over 2 months, soldiers of all origins were to battle in the Normandy bocage. American and British soldiers of course, but also Canadian, Polish, Belgian and French troops were to challenge those from the German Wehrmacht and SS, together with Russians donning the German uniform. Over 240,000 soldiers were to pay the ultimate sacrifice during these 2 months of intense combat, during which landscapes were devastated and Normandy's towns and villages destroyed, with civilian losses estimated at 45,000.The aim of this book is to offer an insight into the uniforms worn and the equipment used by the soldiers who fought on Norman soil, many of whom are now laid to rest throughout the region's cemeteries. Several collectors have contributed towards enhancing the book's contents, presenting, for the first time, the finest from their collections, painstakingly and patiently recovered across Normandy's battlefields. Each and every one of these precious objects holds its own share of history and many are the last remaining witnesses of this terrible combat.

The Cotentin Peninsula, also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy, forming part of the north-western coast of France. It juts out northwards into the English Channel, towards Great Britain. To its west lie the Channel Islands. The peninsula lies wholly within the département of Manche, in the région of Basse-Normandie.The Mont Saint-Michel, Tombelaine, Chausey, the Minquiers, Jersey, the Ecréhous, Sark, Guernsey, Alderney, Pelée Island, Tatihou, Saint-Marcouf… some of these islands are French, whereas others belong to the British Crown. Why and for how long? Are they all inhabited? What language is spoken there? How are they governed? The answers to all of these questions and many more are provided by Edmond Thin, renowned for his many works on Normandy’s maritime history, together with an insight into the people, the history and the most spectacular sites to be seen on these charismatic islands which form an extraordinary archipelago around the Cotentin peninsula.

This book recalls the story of 135 Americans grouped together in a company of paratroopers of the 82nd American Airborne from their enlistment to the end of the Battle of Normandy. Throughout this book, you will discover what stirred them to enlist in this new force, yet unknown even in America : the paratroopers. After the psychological shock provoked by Pearl Harbour on 7th December 1941, this unit, like many others, was created from nothing. You will share with these men their daily life during their military training in the United States through their own accounts, most of them published here for the first time, as well as their life in England in early 1944 whilst awaiting operation 'Overlord'; a plan which was kept secret to the very last minute, even from the paratroopers. Through original accounts, you will take part in the final preparations on the airfield tarmac at Folkingham, in England just before they boarded the C47 aircraft. You will board with them onto the nine C47's assigned to their company, from lift-off to the great night jump onto drop zone 'N'; somewhere in the middle of Normandy among German flak fire. You will take this jump with them, which was the first for almost all of the paratroopers, and alas, the last for many. You will take an active part in the regroupment attempts on the 'high spot' of &'Hill 30';. You will stay with them until the 12th of July 1944, date marking the end of the Battle of Normandy, at a cost of many deaths and casualties. You will understand the organisation of a parachute regiment, a battalion command company and an air transport group during the Battle of Normandy. This book is far from a trivial official report. It is the human testimony of simple soldiers, many of whom have awaited their old-age before telling their tale, for they simply didn't have the strength to tell it earlier. Certain veterans mentioned in this book have deceased before its publication, but the account of their achievements will live on in history.

In Normandy, over 100 000 combatants from 14 different nations lie in 28 War-cemeteries on land given by France in perpetuity. These are incomparable enclaves of remembrance. They symbolise both presence and absence : the ever present cost in human lives, the absence of all those for whom so many still grieve. An all-inclusive guide, GARDENS OF REMEMBRANCE describes the origin of each War Cemetery, its surroundings, characteristics and geographical situation. The reader will find in this guide the story of those whose lives were taken from them, often before the age of twenty. An indispensible work for those who seek to find, remember or ponder where feelings rather than words, pass on the message forever present among the Fallen.

In french and english Gold was a D-day landing beach that stretched across seven kilometres of sand and dunes, which at low tide spanned almost a kilometre towards the waterline. By June 6th 1944, the German defence troops of Fortress Europe had transformed it into a series of walls and anti-tank trenches flanked by concrete fortifications protecting formidable guns. The coastal area was flooded and dotted with mines and booby-traps. The beach area extended between the cliff at Saint Côme de Fresné to the west, and the battery at Mont-Fleury to the east. The invasion beach sectors of Item, Jig, King, and Love were located between these two points, through the hamlet of Asnelles to Ver sur Mer (La Rivière). One hour after H-hour (7:30 am), British troops proceeded inland after a show of force at Mont Fleury and the Commandos’ feat of arms at Port en Bessin, two shining moments for the British Army and Navy. Gold beach was stormed on June 6th 1944 by British soldiers who had fought victoriously in 1942 in the North African desert, and General Montgomery would later hail Gold Beach as the most successful of Normandy’s five D-Day beaches.

What an exceptional destiny was that of Matilda ! Born in Flanders in her her father, the Count Baldwin V's castle, she was introduced to William of Normandy who she was later to marry around 1050. She was far from imagining, on her wedding day, that she would one day be the Queen of a kingdom as powerful as, if not more than the kingdom of France or the Holy Gemanic Empire. From her union with William, she gave birth to a least ten children, two of whom were to become King. Designated Regent of Normandy during the Norman Conquest, she was later crowned Queen of the new Anglo-Norman Kingdomù, thus becoming one of the most influencial of William's companions. Whilst living a wise and exemplary life, this Queen of legendary discretion, managed to assert herself among her contemporaries, for whom she was an abiding source of praise.