Published in: Helsingin Sanomat, 18th of July, 2004

- THE DEAD CIVILIANS ARE NOT A TABOO ANYMORE

- THE FRENCH ARE NOW ABLE TO FINALLY REMEMBER THOSE WHO DIED IN THE HEAVY ALLIED BOMBARDMENTS

- To the few old citizens of Saint-Lô the most vivid image is their home city burning with huge flames. Those kind of things you just remember and the person who has not experienced nothing like that, cannot understand it, says one of the persons who was fourteen at that time. We felt at that time, that we loved this city even more, writes one of them in his book, that he wrote and told about the time of the bombing. He was at time just 23. Both of them are friends now and belong to the few people still remaining, who can still remember the city before the Allied bombing. One of their families survived from the bombing, as their homes were not located in the central area. All of their neighbors survived the bombing too and got out from the city during the early morning hours of the 7th of June. The father of the second family had decided to take shelter from the cellar of their neighbor. Their neighbor had said to them, that come and play card with us, if there is any troubles. This was during the 6th of June. Their home was located within a tens of meters from the central area. The first bombing run started at eight o'clock in the evening and lasted only for a while. When everything was peaceful around the midnight, the family started to think about moving away from the cellar, to their own beds. That's when the bombing started again and the people inside the cellar understood, that they were in the middle of the target of the planes. The huge explosions brought hot air and dust into the cellar. The reddish gloom soon filled the cellar and some started to pray aloud and some just remained at their position, horrified. Everybody were sure that they are going to be killed. These people who survived don't have any idea how long the bombing lasted, but finally it stopped and there was only one thing on the minds of those one who survived. We've got to get out from the city. When they climbed from the cellar, they could see that the fire was eating the whole city and the air was filled with screams: Help, don't leave me. I'm suffocating! There was just a smoking ruins left from their home and none of the people who had taken shelter from the cellar of that house, survived. The family left to the country side and took refuge from a farmer that they knew. While walking away from the city, they couldn't help of constantly looking behind their backs. The bombers were still circling above the city, which was now just a huge fireball. The bombers were dropping even more bombs, to the already ruined city. These black birds on an orange sky, seemed to be part of a some sort of a play, which was horrible and beautiful at the same time. Everything was destroyed and we lost our loved ones in minutes. This was done by our friends (Allies), who we were waiting so impatiently and who we do not understand anymore. One of the two persons, was part of the French resistance and was so excited about the landings to Normandy, that he described the 6th of June, as the most best day in his life.

- When France is celebrating with massive ceremonies the 60th anniversary of the landings, the first day gets all the attention, but one one seem to remember the slow crawl through Normandy countryside, which resulted a lot of bombings and civilian suffering. The battle raged for over two months after the D-Day and the result of that was that the cities of Saint-Lô, Caen, Lisieux, Coutances and Avranches was turned into a rubble. By bombing the cities, the Allies wanted to cut of the roads and telephone lines, so that the Germans wouldn't be able to bring more troops to the area. The reason why civilian casualties in Saint-Lô was so high according to the people living there, was because only few realized that the Allies are going to bomb French cities and towns and understood to get out from these places. Previously the Allies had only bombed specified targets like the power plant in Saint-Lô. Additionally the leaflets that were dropped to the citizens, never ended to Saint-Lô as they were dropped from too high and the wind moved them outside of the city. A total of 20 000 civilians is calculated killed during the landing and during the fighting in the Normandy countryside till August of 1944. The fallen soldiers from the US army are buried to the cemetery near the Omaha Beach. The total casualty figure there is 9 386.

- The people in Normandy have been quiet for a long time about their losses, the people have only started to talk in the past few years. It was looked as inappropriate to complain as the bomber planes were allied with France and the result of the bombings was that the country was liberated from the German rule and the Nazis were finally beaten and democracy won. Complaining about the civilian casualties, could have been interpreted as a complain against our liberators. During this year however the suffering of the civilian population has been raised as an issue in the French newspapers. Through the media, there has been gatherings where those who survived the war could tell their experiences to the younger generation. There was a first memorial day for the civilian casualties held in Saint-Lô during this year. The French Assistant Minister traveled to the memorial day and said that also civilians died for freedom and democracy. These kind of happenings started mostly due to the 3D-modelling of the city before the bombings, which started three years ago. The model should be finished during the next year. The computer 3D-model is being build by organization named Saint-Lô retrouvé - A newly discovered Saint-Lô. The work is a challenging one as Saint-Lô was so totally destroyed, that it was thought, that it would be best to move the city to some new location, but in the end the city was build all over again to the same old place. However even the streets are not where they used to be. The 3D-model project which is funded by the Caen university and the city of Saint-Lô has gathered together the old and the young. The main work is being done by the Saint-Lô computer club. The basic information about the buildings have been gathered from the archives, from old pictures and postcards. The memories from the old citizens are an important addition to the builders of this model. Many people remember very well some small details. The younger generation would not be able to remember that well the places where you've lived as a child, says one of the project workers. It's probably due to the heavy bombing, that they still can remember some small details. Most of the people living in Normandy still likes to express their gratitude to the British, American and Canadians. That's why there is so many Allied flags around in Saint-Lô. Some of the people are carrying buttons, which show the American flag and some are keeping a small museum, dedicated to the American soldiers. However there is some bitterness among the Saint-Lô citizens and some have a good reason for it. It's not easy to forget if your parents were killed in the bombings and you were left alone. Some people faced that fate, after the planes had gone away. Still there is very few people who complain about the celebrations of the D-Day. It was even harder to live under a German occupation and many people ended up in a prison, because of resistance activities. The hate against Germans was so great, that many people were waiting eagerly the Allies to arrive. We do not know what would have happened if the Allies would have not landed to Normandy and  Germany would have won the war. This was the price that we had to pay for our freedom.

THE BLOODY SUMMER OF NORMANDY

- The Allied landings to the beaches of Normandy on 6th of June 1944 was the biggest invasion from sea to the land. Some 5 000 ships participated to the first wave and the ships were carrying 130 000 soldiers and 20 000 vehicles over the English channel. Air support was guaranteed with 8 000 planes. The invasion was done to a zone of 80 kilometers wide. The whole invasion started during the very early morning hours with a parachute drops, heavy air attacks and with a naval gun fire. The actual landing started at 6:30. Against the Allies, there was four ill equipped German division. During the first day the Allies lost 2 500 men and the Germans lost 4 000 to 9 000 men. 

The battles continued till 22nd of August 1944, as the Allied advance was slowed by the difficult terrain, which was full of thick bushes and hedges (Bogage) and the cities were full of German troops. The city of Caen was occupied by the Allies on the early part of the July, after some fierce battles, where the city was turned into a pile of rubble and 5 000 French civilians died in the Allied bombing on 7th of July. The bombs were dropped into the city, but the German troops survived as their positions were outside of the city, on the North side. The bombing wasn't necessary, as there was no military targets in Caen. The only thing that the bombing did, was to block the streets and made it impossible for the Allies to advance through the city. The Allies captured Saint-Lô exactly 60 years ago and they bombed the city into ruins, immediately after the landings. There was only few walls and brick piles remaining. It showed the bitterness of the whole Normandy campaign. The places which were left intact from the American bombers, was destroyed in their artillery fire and the destruction just continued, is written in the memoirs of the unit that captured finally the city. The Allies lost a total number of 37 000 soldiers in the Normandy campaign and 172 000 was wounded and missing. The casualties for the Germans were 200 000 soldiers dead and wounded and 200 000 soldiers were captured. The French civilian casualties totaled some 20 000.

DARK TOURISM

- The researchers of tourism call the tourism that is concentrated around destruction, grief, war and death, as a dark tourism. Visiting the battlefields is a familiar thing in every country that has fought some war. The battlefield tourists visit historical locations, but the most eager battlefield tourists want to see the result of war, while those marks are still fresh. Hardly anyone visit a tourist sight just by accident, when they see an interesting sign. There's probably not too many people who happen to end into the town of Oswieczim in Poland, but in the concentration camp of Auschwitz, some 750 000 people visit every year. The number one target for these concentration camp tourists is the concentration camp of Dachau in Germany. The history of catastrophe tourism is as old as the history of man. There probably was curious people looking at the ruins of Pompeij, but the Titanic is considered the first global event. Each exhibition of Titanic draws people to watch it. The ship sunk relatively quickly, but the people onboard had time to think about their life and death and a possible rescue. The items and letters which are shown, makes the event a really touching and real. What would I have done? There's probably also this search of a human drama around the Ground Zero, where curious people were swarming in New York. In Finland the murder tourism is concentrated around the Bodom-lake and in Sweden the real target for these tourists is the Knutby village. Although it's hard to find the village, as someone has already taken the sign to the village, as a souvenir. The grief tourists are visiting the places, where famous people have died. The Dallas county has established a museum to the book storage, from where Lee Harvey Oswald shot the president J. F. Kennedy. There's paper dolls on sale there, which show the family of the president. Sometimes these tourist targets and offers of the travel agencies go too close to the line of a good taste. Or who would like to travel the last journey of princess Diana, using the same kind of Mercedes-Benz S than the princess used?