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When I read today about the French Resistance, I am impressed at their tenacity, but if the readers of such books could see the trading that went on between us and the local French, they might form a different view of life in France at that time. Well, but this is perhaps a case of history being written by victors.
In fact, the last thing I saw of the landing force was a British sailor on the prow of a battleship, scrubbing the deck with a broom.
These events should not be forgotten; that is my main concern. The experience of the soldiers on all sides is recorded quite rarely, other than in commercial cinema films and so on, which are a mockery of what we experienced. I hope that my experiences can be kept on record, and I fervently hope that none of our children’s generation will have to experience what we on all sides experienced in Normandy. That is my most fervent wish.
Industrial production was not only holding firm under the air bombing, but actually rising in early 1944. The air bombing itself had hardened the men’s anger at the Allies and their resolve. Everyone had lost civilian relatives, friends and neighbours to the bombing, almost without exception.
At that point, the full dimensions of the attack became clear to me. The horizon of the sea was filling up with vast numbers of ships. Anyone who was present will confirm that the horizon was literally filled from East to West with vessels.
One last thread which strikes me is the role that luck plays in a soldier’s survival or death.
cannot imagine the stress which comes from knowing that the path of a bullet or shell, falling almost at random, might immediately kill you, or might pass you by.
