Remembering The 70th Anniversary of V-E Day, May 7, 2015

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.