After World War II (WWII), Charles de Gaulle stressed that France liberated itself rather than being liberated by Anglo-American troops. Over time, the French narrative evolved, leading to the construction of memorials and the holding of celebrations that honored the contributions of Allied soldiers.
Before WWII, Argentan l'Orne (Normandie) served as a vital locomotive repair and maintenance facility. D-Day and its aftermath proved disastrous for Argentan. Allied bombers targeted the locomotive repair depots six times on June 6th and 7th. The US 80th Division finally liberated Argentan on August 20th following the battle of the Argentan-Falaise Pocket, resulting in the near-total destruction of the town. The town's postwar survivors described a relentless bombardment that resulted in bitter memories, partially because no American soldiers remained to explain events, according to author Richard Overy. Because the ports in Normandy remained critical supply depots, the region underwent a second occupation for over a year. By October 1944, 152 American soldiers stood trial for rape. Although few locals mention Normandy's post-war suffering, ample evidence confirms that the liberation and its aftermath created mixed feelings.
Post-war France witnessed the return of pre-war political polarization. General de Gaulle's priority became the re-establishment of French pride and the unification of a divided country. De Gaulle's primary method was crediting the country's liberation to the Free French Divisions and lauding the Resistance. The government ignored lingering resentments concerning bombing and sexual abuse while prioritizing the French agency of self-liberation.
In 1950, Argentan erected a monument honoring the Resistance, concentration camp deportees, victims of Nazi atrocities, and those killed during the Allied bombing. The site chosen was the recently renamed Place du Général Leclerc, honoring the Free French 2nd Armored Division commander. In addition, the town renamed numerous streets memorializing individual Resistance members. Post-war accounts and local histories reconfirmed the French narrative of self-liberation, which embittered the Anglo-American Allies. The most noted tension occurred when de Gaulle refused to attend the 25th D-Day anniversary celebration.
French attitudes began to change with de Gaulle's death in 1970. On the 1978 anniversary of D-Day at the US cemetery at Colville-sur-Mere, France's President Giscard d'Estaing welcomed America's President Jimmy Carter, which broadcast on international television. As Michael Dolski says in his book D-Day in History and Memory, the memorial site's creators intended to "impress upon alien people the sacrifice made by Americans." Kate Lemay's book, The Triumph of the Dead, expresses the view that "the US war narrative has come to dominate Norman tourism." Over fifty percent of the cemetery's annual 1.5 to 2 million yearly attendance consists of French visitors.
However, Dolski believes the earliest seeds of the change came with the 1962 Hollywood blockbuster The Longest Day. Produced with an international cast and production team, the film projected an air of authenticity and inspired efforts to memorialize events. For example, one scene of a paratrooper dangling from a Norman church tower inspired Ste. Mere Eglise, the drop site, to establish a museum in 1964 dedicated to American paratroopers. In 1974, another film site opened with the Pegasus Bridge Museum. Later, Saving Private Ryan became one of the most popular films in France and ignited further interest in the Allied invasion at Normandy and the sacrifices of the soldiers involved. After the film, local French governments expanded and professionalized their small regional D-Day museums. More recently, in 2014, a new museum opened as Le Falaise Memorial des victims civiles de guerre (The Falaise Memorial to Civilian Victims of War). In addition, French historians began exploring the nation's guilt over defeat and collaboration. WWII Resistance specialist Olivier Wieviorka's extensive work, The French Resistance and The Resistance in Western Europe: 1940-1945, confirmed that the Resistance committed over a thousand acts of sabotage on D-Day, provided invaluable intelligence, and saved nearly 4000 Allied airmen; but they did not liberate France.
In 2017 the mayor of Argentan dedicated a monument to the US 80th Infantry Division, which had liberated the community. Until the erection of this marker, Argentan's only recognition of war-related events in the town center were two monuments that supported the DeGaulle narrative. The first was the town's central granite monument honoring local soldiers who fell in World War I. The shrapnel damage on the stone's back from the American siege in World War II served as a non-monument, with no further explanation provided at the site. In addition, a prominent statue honors the French Resistance and all of the French victims of WWII.
The story of the evolution of Argentan commemoration leading to the dedication of the US 80th Infantry Division Monument is representative of the overall French evolving narrative regarding liberation. In 2014, a young high school student named Tristan Rondeau researched the little-known story of the struggle of the US 80th Infantry Division, which he calls "their baptism by fire." Visiting veterans and their children often sought him out. Rondeau accepted invitations to the 80th Infantry Division's reunions in the United States, where he interviewed the surviving soldiers who had fought in Normandy. Rondeau continued his WWII research at university and wrote several articles about Argentan's liberation. The Argentan mayor attended one of Rondeau's lectures and was surprised to learn that there was no memorial to the division. According to Rondeau, the mayor subsequently proposed a small display as part of a planned city hall plaza redesign.
Unrelated but on a parallel track, a local shooting club had approached the city mayor about having a World War II-themed parade, swing dance, and a re-enactment camp featuring the US 101st Airborne, resulting in two previous liberation anniversary days in 2014 and 2016. The mayor added commemorating the 80th Division monument to coincide with the August 27th event in 2019. A US Grant tank and two American half-tracks led military trucks filled with US and Free French reenactors in battle gear. Period cars and bicycles followed with costumed children and families portraying the civilian flight before the German invasion of 1940. An afternoon ceremony commemorated a granite monument engraved with 129 names of US 80th Division dead.
The liberation narrative and the resultant celebrations in France have evolved over time due to post-war politics and the influence of media and entertainment, with Argentan as a prime example. At first, the town followed General de Gaulle's lead with commemorations of the Resistance with minimal recognition of civilian suffering or Allied contributions. After De Gaulle's death, Normandy and the French joined the Allied narrative of the defeat of the Third Reich, influenced and encouraged by global films and the arrival of tourists searching for Lieux de Memoire or "where it had all happened." Notably, the American Cemetery has left a deep impression on the French, who frequently make return visits with friends and family. The cemeteries have become personal and local, with many communities regionally commemorating Allied soldiers' sacrifices in liberating their own part of Normandy. The nation's collective memory joins the spread of World War II monuments globally by uniting the Anglo-American version of events with the uniquely French version expressed in the memorials throughout the land.
(Edited by Brad Poss and Laura Bailey
