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How can we explain that the Normandy Landings have undergone an Americanization of its memory, to the detriment of that of the United Kingdom? However, on June 6, 1944, a majority of Anglo-Canadians, 83,000 for 72,000 American soldiers, established a foothold on the coasts.
On May 18, 2024, the name of Carentan-les-Marais (Manche) appeared in the British press, to its disadvantage. The reason ? The town has decorated its city with numerous European flags in anticipation of the “D-Day” commemorations. The one from the United Kingdom is missing. Carentan is, of course, in a sector liberated by American troops, but the absence of this single flag has triggered wrath from across the Channel. The error justified by the municipality as a supplier problem nevertheless testifies to a more global phenomenon: the progressive erasure of the United Kingdom in the memories of the Normandy Landings.
On the coast of the English Channel, five beaches were chosen to receive the assault of the Allied forces marching to liberate Europe, on the morning of June 6, 1944. Omaha and Utah were the American beaches, Gold and Sword the British beaches, and Juno the Canadian one. The launch by the Allies of this landing in France, accompanied by the decisive victories of the Soviet steamroller, resulted on May 8, 1945 in the capitulation of Nazi Germany and ended the war in Europe. The beginning of this victory of “good”, the Allies, over “evil”, embodied by Hitler, was commemorated in 1944, but it was above all the ten-year anniversaries which took on political importance to celebrate the joint action of the Anglo-Americans. in this “Great Crusade” (Eisenhower).
The sailors who lead the GIs on Omaha Beach are British
Today, in this story of the Landing, the place of the British is reduced to the por
