Battlefields

It is in the heart of the Ardennes massif that will take place one of the bloodiest battles of the Second World War. A few days before Christmas, 500,000 Germans are preparing to stampede on the allied forces stationed in the sector. In the early hours of the assault on December 16th, 1944, the American forces are taken by surprise. Discover what actually happened in Ardennes in the winter 1944.

June 5th, 1944, 9:30 PM. 13,348 men from two American parachute divisions, the 82nd and the 101st Airborne in nearly 1,000 aircraft will take off to Normandy. Until then, no one had launched an airborne operation of this scale. The Allied staff is expecting huge losses! Some forecasts predict 75% of the paratroopers will fall in combat. They must open the way to the troops landing on Utah Beach.

June 6, 1944. Operation Overlord was a colossal undertaking. 150,000 Allied Forces landed on five beaches in Normandy, France. It was the first phase in the liberation of Western Europe. When GIs from the First U.S. Army landed, the Allies believed the Germans would withdraw to the Seine. The American Forces would then advance to Brittany, the banks of the Loire, and Paris, but they were wrong!

August 26th, 1944, General de Gaulle has just returned to Paris. For the inhabitants of the capital, this is deliverance after four years of occupation. In ten days of combat, 1,000 resistant fell; 582 Parisians died; General Leclerc's 2nd Armored Division lost 141 men; the US forces also lost many men. Equally, 3,200 German soldiers also perished. Discover what actually happened in Paris.

June 6, 1944, at dawn, 156,000 men are preparing to disembark with five objectives of the Normandy coast. This is Operation Overlord. Among them, combatants which we often forget about their active participation in the liberation of Europe. These are the 15,000 Canadians of the 3rd Infantry Division. They must arrive on a beach five miles wide, code name: Juno.

April 16, 1917, for the first time in history, French tanks fight their way through the black sludge of Chemin des Dames. One year before, in October, British tanks tried their luck in Somme. In both cases, the long-awaited miracle did not take place. Yet, a century later, the tanks are still here, monsters of technology that are becoming increasingly efficient.

Verdun, February 21st, 1916. It is here that the most emblematic battle of the First World War will take place. Under the orders of General von Falkenhayn, chief of the General Staff of the Imperial armies, the Germans are determined to use the destructive power of their heavy artillery as much as possible to drown the French lines under a rain of fire.

Monday, April 16th, 1917, 6:00 AM, spring is slow to come in the North of France, a cold rain drowns the Chemin des Dames. It will soon snow all over the Aisne Department. However, all the Poilus who attack that day are sure: this time it will be the end of the war. The offensive decided by the new commander-in-chief, General Nivelle, must take everything on its passage.

The Alps Front, June 1940. A handful of French soldiers are about to face a flood of 300,000 Italians. Everywhere in France, you see defeat. The Government fled to Bordeaux on June 14th. While France is breaking down, General Olry and his men remain stationed on the Alps. During ten days of fierce battle, the Italians will lose more than 6,000 men without seizing an inch of French territory.

Dieppe 1942, the mention of this name and date is enough to recall the sinister memory of an allied raid composed essentially of Canadian troops. On August 19, after 9 hours of fighting, 1,197 Allied soldiers, including 913 Canadians, were killed. 48 French civilians also died. At the height of the fighting, the attackers lost four men per second. The Dieppe raid turned into a massacre!