From June 5 to 7, three days of ceremonies will take place to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Landing.
Emmanuel Macron will participate in some of these tributes, accompanied by other heads of state, including American President Joe Biden and the King of England Charles III.
Find the program below.
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D-Day: 80 years of the Normandy landings
A “memorial peregrination”. To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings, several ceremonies will be held from June 5 to 7, some of which will be chaired by Emmanuel Macron. The French president will be accompanied by other heads of state from allied countries, like Joe Biden or Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Here is everything you need to know about these commemorations.
What are we commemorating?
On the night of June 5 to 6, 1944, the Allied landings began in Normandy, leading to the liberation of France, occupied by Nazi Germany, and then to the end of the Second World War. The 80th anniversary of this major operation will be commemorated in the coming days. “These will not only be commemorations linked to D-Day itself, but also to everything that surrounded it”specified the Élysée during a briefing ahead of the event.
What is the program ?
The commemorations will begin on June 5 with a ceremony in Plumelec (Morbihan), in tribute to the French maquisards and SAS. The same day, a ceremony will be organized at the end of the afternoon in Saint-Lô (Manche), a town bombed by the allies to hinder the delivery of German reinforcements to the Normandy beaches. The day will end at the Caen prison (Calvados), where 77 resistance fighters were shot by the Germans after the arrival of the allies.
The next day, the anniversary of D-Day, the commemorations will begin with the traditional ceremony at the British memorial at Ver-sur-Mer (Calvados). A Franco-Canadian ceremony on Juno Beach, in Courseulles-sur-Mer (Calvados), then Franco-American, in Colleville-sur-Mer (Calvados), will follow. Finally, the international ceremony, chaired by Emmanuel Macron, will be held at Omaha Beach, from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
On June 7, the French president will go to Bayeux (Calvados) to give a speech, echoing the one made in the same place by General de Gaulle in 1946. It is also in this quickly liberated city that he was addressed for the first time to the French following the Landing. The ceremonies will end with a taking of arms in the presence of the Head of State in Cherbourg (Manche), from 2:00 p.m.
Who are the guests?
Many foreign officials will be alongside Emmanuel Macron for this anniversary date. King Charles III and Queen Camilla will notably be present during the Franco-British ceremony on June 6. Likewise, it is the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, who will chair the Franco-Canadian ceremony the same day, in Courseulles-sur-Mer, alongside Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.
The international ceremony at Omaha Beach will also take place in the presence of Joe Biden, Prince William for the United Kingdom, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, among other heads of state and government. Russia, initially invited, will ultimately not be represented, clarified the Élysée. However, it was emphasized that the contribution of the Russian people and all those who then formed the USSR would nevertheless be honored. “We have always recognized and paid tribute to the decisive contribution of the Eastern Front in the final victory against Nazism. And we will do so again in 2024 as part of the commemorations of the June 6 landings”assured the Palace.
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In parallel with these commemorations, a bilateral moment between Emmanuel Macron and Volodymyr Zelensky will be held, probably Friday at the end of the day in Paris. As for the American president, he will remain on a state visit to France on June 8, during which he will be welcomed by the French head of state at the Arc de Triomphe, before an interview and a banquet at the Élysée.
