Posted on 10/10/2008 7:04:11 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Underground caves in which thousands of civilians took shelter from one of the heaviest Allied bombings of World War II have been re-opened in northern France. The time capsule labyrinth lies deep below the Normandy city of Caen, which was all but destroyed by British guns around D-Day, June 6th 1944. Largely undisturbed since, the makeshift bunkers still contain numerous reminders of a terrified population whose only thought at the time was survival. They include packed suitcases, tins of syrup, decaying maps and official passes, and even lady's make-up bags including nail varnish and lipstick. There are also children's magazines and toys, shoes, carbon lights, prayer books, and makeshift beds where people would try and rest despite the barrages. Many spent more than a month deep below the constant shelling from Royal Navy ships and RAF bombing. Some 2000 died, with thousands more injured.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
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I’ve seen photos of the streets of Caen and several other Normandy towns from the 1930’s featured in history books as examples of unchanged medieval architecture. Long since gone, gone with the wind.
In Italy, the Tower of Pisa almost got exploded to get rid of a German sniper. Luckily, he beat a retreat when he could do no more to stop the advance. The Eremitani Church in Italy was photographed not too many months or years (i forget) before it wound up getting destroyed by allied bombing in 1944.
This just reminded me of an earlier post to the GGG list.
http://gardenbunker.blogspot.com/
“German Bunker in my Garden
A blog following the unearthing by Pistonheads.com member CY88 of the german bunker at the bottom of his garden in Jersey”
Thought you’d find this interesting...
Good post. I wish there were some images of what the caves are like; a quick search on Google didn’t reveal anything.
There was a good series of articles on the subject in last week's Telegraph, too.
Wow French hiding in caves while a war goes on I am shocked.
Wow French hiding in caves while a war goes on I am shocked.
Thanks for the link to the Telegraph. They’ve got some great recommendations.
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