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L'assaut final

The liberation of Lorraine

Des hommes de la 5e et de la 65e division d'infantrie US se serrent la main après avoir effectué leur jonction devant Metz, le 22 novembre 1944. Copyright US NARA

The liberation of Caen.

The first British troops in Caen pose with the residents in front of the devastated shops.

The Allies had predicted that the great Normandy city of Caen, a major crossroads, would be taken on D-Day. But at the beginning of July 1944, Caen still had not been liberated.

Canada in World War II

Canadian infantry landing at Juno Beach and marching toward Bernières-sur-Mer, 6 June 1944.

L'infanterie canadienne débarque sur la plage de Juno Beach et marche en direction de Bernières-sur-Mer, le 6 juin 1944. Source Archives Nationales du Canada.

On 7 September 1939, the Canadian Parliament met in a special session and two days later gave its support to Great Britain and France, which had been at war with Germany since 3 September.

Normandy - Falaise Pocket

Canadian soldiers entering the city of Falaise. Source: Basse-Normandie Regional Council / National Archives of Canada

Nearly surrounded and under pressure from all sides, two German armies organised their retreat during the Battle of the Falaise Pocket.

Arromanches harbour

Aerial view of Mulberry artificial harbour at Arromanches, September 1944. Source: Imperial War Museum

Jean de Lattre de Tassigny

Le général de Lattre acclamé par la population de Colmar. Source : ECPAD

At the beginning of the Second World War (1939-45), Jean de Lattre de Tassigny was France's youngest general.

After the signing of the armistice, on 22 June 1940, he set about planning to overcome the Nazi occupier, under the motto Ne pas subir ('Never give in'). His rallying to General de Gaulle's Free France took him to Algiers, which he left with his army in 1944 to liberate France, from Provence to the Rhine.

On 9 May 1945, de Lattre was present in Berlin, alongside the Allies, to sign, on behalf of France, the official act of surrender of Nazi Germany.

Battles of Saint-Marcel

Operation zones of the SAS and the resistance movements (maquis) in Brittany. Source: GNU Free Documentation License.

The battles in Saint-Marcel marked an important turn of events in Brittany's Resistance movement.

First world war places of remembrance

American monument in Meaux, detail. Source: Musée de la Grande Guerre

The Memorial heritage of Paris and its greater region is not particularly rich in monuments relating to the memory of the first world war since Paris was not directly concerned by the fighting. Paris did not experience the war so few monuments concern military operations.

Protecting our memorial heritage

Fréjus (on left) - Tunisia (on right)

The origins of remembrance tourism

Between the 17th and the 20th centuries, France was the site of a great number
of armed conflicts which left behind many remnants as a lasting legacy.

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