Normandy's Nightmare War: The French Experience of Nazi Occupation and Allied Bombing 1940-45

By Douglas Boyd

Famous for Calvados apple brandy and Camembert cheese, Normandy is a green and pleasant land now dotted with thousands of British-owned second homes. Its coastline is also dotted with thousands of indestructible reinforced-concrete bunkers and gun emplacements that formed part of the Atlantic Wall of Hitler’s Fortress Europe.

Tourists passing through the ferry ports like Boulogne, Cherbourg and Dunkirk may wonder why there are so few old buildings. Few know that the demolition which preceded the extensive urban renewal of the ancient town centers was effected by British bombs during four years of hell for the people living there. Before its belated liberation three ghastly months after D-Day, the sirens in Le Havre wailed 1,060 times to warn of approaching British and American bombers. After one single Allied raid, over 3,000 dead civilians were recovered from the city’s ruins, without counting the thousands of injured, maimed and traumatized survivors.

So, whom did the Normans regard as the enemy: the German occupiers who shot a few hundred civilians or the Allied airmen who killed as many neutral citizens of northern France as died in Britain from German bombs during the whole war?

Told largely in the words of French, German and Allied eyewitnesses – including the moving last letters of executed hostages – this is the story of Normandy’s nightmare war.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pen and Sword History
• Release date: Jun 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9781526745828

Douglas Boyd

DOUGLAS BOYD was trained as a Russian language snooper on Warsaw Pact air forces, based at a secret RAF SIGINT base in Berlin. He first put his lifelong fascination with history to professional use when scripting and directing historical reconstructions as a BBC Television producer, and he is a well-published author of books such as 'Moscow Rules' and 'The Other First World War'.

Reviews for Normandy's Nightmare War

[atticusfinch1048 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Normandy’s Nightmare War – An interesting look at Normandy’s warAs any historian or archaeologist who investigates the 20th century’s battlefields from both wars, when starting an investigation are always reminded that there is still live ordinance being dug up and having to be destroyed. In 2010, while work on the University of Caen was being carried out a Second World War bomb was uncovered. A mere baby at 500Kg with an explosive charge of 265Kg, and this American baby had been dropped on 7th June 1944.Author and historian Douglas Boyd reminds us of the fact that air raids killed tens of thousands of civilians but killed very few soldiers, which was the same in all the German occupied countries. The Second World War was a total war and that means there are no civilians, and the greatest threat to their lives came from the American and British aircraft. This book takes us from the 1am waking of French commander in chief General Gamelin, on 10th May 1940, with the latest intelligence report of the German Armies massing still on the border. Giving the order ‘take no action’ and went back to sleep, when he woke later in the morning, the Battle of France was well underway, with the Germans making their entry into France the same way they had in 1871 and 1914, and the best troops were not their to meet them. Highlighting the impotence of the French leadership, both militarily and political, even if Petain tried to blame everyone else rather than looking closer to home.This excellent book also deals with life under the Germans as well as British bombs. It also deals with the occupation, the concentration camps and the hunger. As well as dealing with some of the collaborators, including the Police and Gendarmerie. It is amazing to note that those who shared their beds with Germans, whether by choice or economic reasons had their head shaved. I note, that Coco Chanel and the upper echelons who also collaborated with the Germans went on to keep their fortunes and more.Douglas Boyd has written an excellent history of Normandy from 10th May 1940, through D-Day to the last German being pushed out of France. Once again, this book highlights known and unknown facts. Some of this may come as a surprise to some readers, as the war time bombing and killing of civilians were not up for discussion in Britain after 1945.This is an excellent book, well researched, well- illustrated and brings out into the open facts some people may wish stay hidden. Such as the 3000 children fathered by Germans in Normandy alone, which is now only being discussed long after the war ended