une 6 marks the 75th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy, in German-occupied France during World War II. “D-Day” means different things in different places. In America, the operations of June 6, 1944 under the leadership of U.S. Army Gen. Dwight Eisenhower are remembered as a monumental invasion, the beginning of an unprecedented marshalling of men and material for a decisive strike on Normandy’s coast.
To the French, who were taken by surprise that day, it suggested liberation from the Nazis, but also opened up old wounds and new uncertainties. Jennifer Sessions, an associate professor in the University of Virginia’s Corcoran Department of History, specializes in European and French history and is author of the book “By Sword and Plow: France and the Conquest of Algeria.” She describes the Battle of Normandy as a time when farms, villages and shops became the battleground, all with the underlying fear that the Germans could turn the tide and resume their occupation.
