Review week 3 – Europe Remembers on tour! Falaise, Montormel & Caen
Following successful tours in the UK and Normandy D-Day Beaches, the Europe Remembers’ Team headed to Falaise and Montormel over the weekend to commemorate the Battle of Normandy and the civilian experience. We also hiked the Normandy portion of the Liberation Route Europe’s International Hiking Trail that will launch next year in Berlin. Consider showing your support today to help make this hiking trail a reality by making a small donation to our crowdfunding campaign.
We spent the first day in the city of Falaise visiting the Falaise Memorial – Civilians at War Museum that opened in 2016. This unique museum focuses on the civilian experience during the war, including the final phase of the Battle of Normandy during the summer of 1944 where 80% of Falaise was destroyed in the conflict. We concluded the day with a special projection mapping show displayed on the façade of the museum.
On the second day, we went to Montormel, the location of the battle of the Falaise Pocket. We visited the Mémorial de Montormel. Situated at the top of a hill, it was here that the Allies finally defeated the Germans in Normandy between the 18 and 22 August, paving the way for the quick liberation of Paris and Belgium in the following weeks. Here there is a small memorial dedicated to the Polish 1st Armoured Division under General Stanisław Maczek, who played an important role in securing the Allied victory.
In the morning of the third and final day, we visited key sites in Caen with historian, Stéphane Simonnet. Over 20.000 civilians were killed during the six-week battle for Caen, including all the civilians held at the prison of Caen on the 6th June 1944. Our final stop of the tour was at the ceremony to commemorate the civilian victims of the war in Normandy in the city of Epron, including the 498 martyred towns in Normandy.
In August, Europe Remembers on Tour will be in Paris for the 75th anniversary of the liberation. You can follow our journey via our social media pages @EuropeRemembers. Be sure to check out the Liberation Route Europe’s YouTube channel for the latest videos from our tour. Europe Remembers is a campaign of the Liberation Route Europe to commemorate and celebrate 75 years of freedom in 2019-2020.