Provence: The other ‘D-Day’ commemorated 80 years on despite storms
The ceremony was cut short due to poor weather but President Macron and African leaders gathered to remember the pivotal 1944 event
The ‘Provence landings’ are sometimes known as ‘the other D-Day’, in partnership with the more famous Normandy 1944 event, commemorated here
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The Provence landings - sometimes known as ‘the other D-Day’ - have been commemorated 80 years on in Var, in a ceremony led by President Emmanuel Macron.
Mr Macron made a speech honouring the event, at the military cemetery the Nécropole Nationale de Saint Raphaël-Boulouris (Var, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur) on August 15 (today).
The event was cut shorter than planned because of poor weather and forecasts of severe storms. A re-enactment of the landings - which was to have included ships, vintage vehicles, vintage aircraft and parachutists - was cancelled.
However, a working lunch between Mr Macron and his international counterparts still went ahead, despite having to move location.
‘Defending the nation’
The lesser-known landings happened on August 15, 1944, when some 100,000 soldiers - mainly American, Canadian, and British - landed on the beaches of the Var.
This paved the way for more than 250,000 soldiers in a ‘B’ army, which later retook the cities of Toulon and Marseille. This army comprised 84,000 soldiers from North Africa; 12,000 soldiers from the Free French Forces (FFL) loyal to General de Gaulle; 12,000 Corsicans; and 130,000 soldiers from Algeria and Morocco.
There were also 12,000 soldiers from the ‘colonial’ army, such as Senegalese Tirailleurs, and ‘marsouins’ from the Pacific and the West Indies.
Mr Macron said: “When it comes to defending the vital interests of the nation, it is the vocation of all those who recognise themselves as French to stand together…
“They were not all of the same generation, they were not of the same faith…yet they were the army of the nation, the most fervent and most colourful army,” said Mr Macron, highlighting the role played by the African army.
“‘These men were called François, Boudjema, Harry, Pierre, Niakara,” continued Mr Macron. “A large number of them…had never set foot on French soil [before defending it].”
The soldiers from the African continent were sent to help liberate France during ‘Operation Dragoon’, two months after the 1944 Normandy landings in the north.
The president said that Africa’s role in France’s liberation was a “legacy” that the country must remember, and that the names of these soldiers “must continue to be given to our streets, our squares [so as] to inscribe their imperishable traces in our history…and never forget their courage and fight”.
‘Struggle waged together’
The President of Cameroon, Paul Biya, also spoke at the event, emphasising the role of soldiers from the former French colonies. “There would have been no Allied victory without the contribution of other peoples, without foreigners and other African riflemen,” he said.
“This struggle was waged together, to defend the universal values and ideals of peace and justice.”
He said that soldiers from Africa were the “heirs of immemorial warrior traditions [and] admirable for their courage, daring and loyalty”.
France-Africa tensions
In 1994, 2004 and 2014, the commemorations were attended by more than 15 African leaders, but this year only six were scheduled to attend: Mr Biya, Faure Gnassingbé (Togo), Faustin-Archange Touadéra (Central African Republic), Azali Assoumani (Comoros), Brice Oligui Nguema (Gabon), and Aziz Akhannouch (prime minister of Morocco).
Tunisia, Côte d'Ivoire, and Senegal sent a minister, while Chad and Benin sent their ambassador. Tensions between several African governments and France meant that neither Niger, Mali, nor Algeria sent anyone.
However, representatives of the allies (United Kingdom, United States, Canada) and the German ambassador were present.
