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Radio France Internationale
Radio France Internationale
National
Jessica Phelan with RFI

Remembering D-Day's heavy toll on French civilians

A child plays among the ruins of Mortain in Normandy in October 1944. The town was liberated in August during the three-month Battle of Normandy that followed the D-Day landings. © AFP

For civilians in Normandy, the D-Day invasion was both a triumph and a tragedy. Thousands were killed in bombings that accompanied the Allied landings, and many more fled their homes. While for decades commemorations focused on military feats, more attention is finally being paid to ordinary people who saw the historic events from a different side.

By June 1944, Henri was used to seeing warplanes overhead, flying towards targets in occupied northern France.

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