Battlefields

On August 15, 1944, a few weeks after the Normandy landings, Allied troops reached the coast of southeastern France, between Toulon and Cannes. Operation Dragoon was successful thanks to the action of the resistance networks and the understanding between the warlords. Opponents of the Nazi regime gathered many ships, supply boats and barges. The objective was to liberate the cities of Toulon and Marseille and then move north.

On the morning of June 6, 1944, 177 French marine commandos landed on Sword Beach, a beach in Normandy that was assigned to the Second British Army. This was the only French contingent to have landed - under the command of Lieutenant Commander Philippe Kieffer - on the Normandy coast on D-Day. Each soldier carried around thirty kilos of food and ammunition. These soldiers found themselves completely autonomous in hostile territory. The document pays tribute to the sacrifices made that day to liberate France.

On June 6, 1944, in the early morning, 150,000 men landed on the Normandy beaches. A large-scale operation that nearly turned into a fiasco. Indeed, in a few minutes, on Omaha Beach, 90% of the American soldiers died during the first two assault waves. The carnage was such that the American general staff considered giving up for a moment. By the end of the morning, the beach had been conquered; but it would be nicknamed "bloody Omaha".

May 10, 1940, the German army takes from behind the elite Franco-British troops who recklessly ventured into Belgium. A month later, the Germans parade on the Champs Elysées. The French Army was defeated in four short weeks. However, contrary to popular belief, the French soldiers fought well, their equipment, particularly tanks and aircraft, was of much better quality than that of their adversaries. How, then, can we explain this debacle?

September 9, 1943, the Corsican resistance without any external support launches the insurrection against the Italian occupier but the game is far from won. On site 80,000 SS soldiers, they will be joined by more than 30,000 other soldiers of the Wehrmacht who have only one idea in mind: to decimate the resistance. The Corsicans fight alone at first, then are reinforced by French troops from Africa. The fighting will last a month, a merciless month. On October 4, 1943, Corsica will be "the first piece of France to be liberated". How were the Corsican patriots able to achieve such a feat? Here is the true story of this little-known episode of the Second World War.

On August 19, 1944, General Patch, commander of the 7th American Army, ordered General de Lattre de Tassigny and his troops to retake Toulon and Marseille from the Germans. The liberation of these two deep-water ports in the Mediterranean was crucial for the Allies, as it would allow them to transport the reinforcements, equipment, fuel and food needed to recapture the European continent. But this mission was extremely perilous, the two cities had been transformed into two entrenched camps and 30,000 German soldiers were waiting for them.