Recently we went to different places in Normandy, France related
to D-Day. D-Day was when the Allied
forces had their first battle to free France from Germany on June 6, 1944. The Allied Forces included the United States,
Great Britain, France, Canada and the Soviet Union. All these countries except the Soviet Union
landed at D-Day to help free France from Germany’s control. The battle did not just end here. It took about 100 more days until France was
free. It may seem like it was an easy
battle, but it wasn’t. The Allies ended
up winning the battle, but it cost many lives.
They all used boats starting in the United Kingdom to float
over to beaches of northern France and attacked the Nazis. The United States attacked beaches called
Utah and Omaha. Great Britain attacked
Gold Beach and with some help from the Free French Forces Sword Beach. Canada attacked Juno Beach. At Omaha Beach the U.S. army lost many
lives. They first sent up grappling
hooks which special U.S. Rangers climbed up.
At the top they were going to shoot at Nazis, but while they were
climbing the Nazis shot down on them.
Only 80 men survived out of 220 men. Also, the soldiers had to run up past
barbed-wire obstacles and get through landmines that the Germans had set up on
the beaches. This was called the
Atlantic wall. The water was very rough
so many small tanks boats were sunk. Eventually after a hard fought battle, the
Allies took over the beaches.
This is a model of the the Atlantic wall and the obstacles the soldiers needed to cross.
These are the rocks that the U.S. Rangers had to climb at Pointe du Hoc, France.
The French resistance also helped win the war. They could see what the Germans were planning
so they sent notes to the other Allied forces.
They also killed 25 men that worked for Hitler by blowing up train
tracks and the train fell. The Germans killed one French person for every
killed Nazi from the train incident. One
of the most important things the French resistance did was cut down the
telephone lines so the Nazis couldn’t call each other. The French resistance were not the only ones
who helped free France from Germany. The
British spies were also very important.
They convinced the Germans that the Allied Forces were going to attack Calais
Beach when they actually were not. Altogether
these people were a big help to freeing France.
Here you can see the train wreck the French resistance caused.
Source: Sharenator
While the Germans were in control of France, many innocent
people were killed or injured. First,
the Allies bombed the German offense to weaken them and many innocent French
were killed during those actions.
Second, the Germans would kill anyone that did not agree with them. Still,
some people did political graffiti complaining about what was going on. The Germans also killed all people who were Jewish. The Germans killed Jewish people because
Hitler convinced them that Jewish people caused all their problems when they
actually didn’t. Even Jewish children were killed. Overall, many French and Jewish people were
killed during German occupation of France.
This is a memorial to the U.S. soldiers at Omaha Beach.
Many soldiers from the Allied forces also died. I visited a cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer,
Normandy, France where U.S. soldiers are buried. The U.S. government decided to buy a small
portion of France so they could bury their men in the place where they died. When I saw the cemetery, I was so very saddened
to see all of the U.S. soldiers who gave their lives to free France from
Germany’s control. Row by row there are crosses
and stars with names of men who gave up their lives for this cause. On the soldiers’ dog tags (metal necklaces
soldiers wear) it showed the name, religion, and place they were from so that
they could identify the person. They
needed the dog tag to identify a person because the soldier might be so
disfigured. The soldiers had two dog
tags. One they would wear and one would
be given to someone who would crack the dog tag to show the person died. They showed a religion on the tag because if
the person died a stone would be a cross if they were Christian or a star if
they were Jewish. After all, these
people gave their lives for a good cause.
These are both from the American cemetery in Normandy, France.
In the end all these soldiers and civilians did something to
help bring the freedom of France and the end of World War II. With the help of these soldiers, France could
be free from Germany’s control. It started with D-Day on June 6, 1944 and ended
with Victory in Europe on May 7, 1945. Other brave people also risked their
lives to help free France. Together they brought freedom and helped end the
war.
This is the room where Germany surrendered to the Allies in Reims, France.
