A claim ive seen here and there online for a few decades now is that “In the aftermath of D-Day most French civilians living in Normandy never celebrated or took part in memorials for American/Allied soldiers because of looting and Rapes they had taken part in in the immediate aftermath of the landings, and only once the generation that experienced it firsthand died off did those people living in Nomandy celebrated it”
Its a claim I’ve taken with a huge grain of salt because whoever saying it tends to be either someone on the far left or far right with an agenda but I realized now after seeing it again I have no idea if its true or not.
Why would they? After four years of German occupation, during which they were drafted for forced labour, and swathes of farmland seized - often flooded.
Then the allies bombed them to hell. "Some 15 towns were pummelled by Allied bombs on 6 June and the days that followed, including ones with no military targets to speak of. By 7 June, 3,000 people were dead – as many as on the beaches the day before.
The raids continued on and off into September, killing an estimated 20,000 civilians in all."