As the World War II victors celebrate the anniversary of the June 6, 1944, landings in Normandy, historians recall that 3,000 French civilians died under Allied bombs that day.
In an attempt to cut off German reinforcements rushing to the coast in response to the Allied invasion, American and British aircraft dropped bombs on main roads in several towns, including Caen, where the population believed -- in error as it turned out -- that it was safe to stay put during the raging battle on the coast.
