The Normandy Landings: Myths, facts, and legacies of a complex liberation

How could GIs be persuaded to land on the beaches of Normandy and brave enemy fire? While patriotism and solidarity against Nazi crimes were powerful motivations, the U.S. military in 1944 also used a less conventional argument: “Think of the beauty of French women who are just waiting for you and will know how to reward their liberators.” Explore, with Julia Godart, how the American military command sold D-Day not just as a heroic act but also as an erotic adventure.

“The familiar image of an ecstatic American GI surrounded by adoring French women has become an icon of the liberation of Europe in 1944 [and] demonstrates how profoundly photography shapes national memory.” — Mary Louise Roberts, What Soldiers Do (2013).

Beyond heroism at the beaches

A critical point in the Second World War, June 6, 1944, was the day when the mainly American, British and Canadian contingents of the Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy to liberate France from the Nazi occupation and mount a second front in Europe. Operation Overlord, or the code name for the landings, was a military success that signalled the end of the Nazi regime and has become a solid fixture in our collective memory. People often associate D-Day with heroism, bravery and international cooperation and have an idealized image of the bond between the liberating soldiers and the local populations.

However, a more complex reality is bound up in this heroic legend. The Normandy people, who had been under occupation for almost four years, suffered terribly from the battles, bombardments, destruction, and civilian losses. The Allies’ operation was not a “clean” one, as civilians suffered through adjustments, tensions, and even violence in the weeks and months following the June 6 landings that were often swept under the rug. Sensitive issues surrounding sexuality, forced and consensual prostitution, sexual violence, and unequal economic and cultural relationships put a complicated twist on the liberation story, which is too often idealized as soldier-saviours coming to free an eternally grateful population.

« Allies Land in France ». The front page of Wilmington’s *Journal Every Evening*, June 6, 1944 (source: Journal Every Evening).

D-Day: Context, strategies and immediate consequences

Operation Overlord was the culmination of long preparations that had begun in 1943. The strategy of the England-based Allies was to massively assault the Normandy coast to gain a foothold in Western Europe. During the night of June 5 to 6, 1944, thousands of paratroopers dropped onto French soil, while dawn rose on the scene of an unprecedented military onslaught at the five beaches of Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. On that first day, over 150,000 soldiers landed in France, with Americans in the west and the British and Canadians in the east.

The fighting was extremely violent, particularly at Omaha beach, where the Americans sustained heavy losses. The Allies gradually liberated the towns of Normandy in the weeks that followed, but the intense fighting and the Allies’ air bombardments exacted a high and often deathly cost for the civilian population. Public infrastructure as well as houses, farms and villages were laid to waste. Already pushed to their limits by the German Occupation, the people of Normandy had to cope with a new type of chaos that left them scrambling for their supplies, security and daily survival.

Landing of several ships on Omaha beach, June 9, 1944 (source: Galerie Bilderwelt / Bridgeman Images).

The myth of the liberating soldier and the romantic idyll

Many of the young GIs who landed in Normandy had fathers who had fought in the First World War and who spoke of France as a fantasy land of pleasure and romance. Eager to sell the dream and build up the troops, the post-war American press helped spread this image of a free country where the wine and women abundantly flowed. The media added to this exaggeration by comparing France to a vast “brothel” of decadent pleasures and sexual freedom. These exaggerations fed the fantasies of a generation of young men who went to fight in Europe with the idea that their military mission would come with romantic conquests and instant gratification.

“The French have always been portrayed as easy-going people who live for love and the pleasures in life. We were told, ‘You’ll see how easy things are over there…”
— John Davis, American infantry soldier, 1945 letter.

Memories of the Normandy landings were shaped by powerful images, such as a GI being kissed by a young French woman or a tank flying the American flag. These photographs published by the Allied or military press aimed to boost troop morale and shore up public opinion back home. According to historian Mary Louise Roberts, these images gave rise to the “myth of the manly GI,” or the courageous, helpful soldier who was immediately seen and celebrated as a hero.

“[These images] portrayed the invasion in mythic terms as a mission to save French women from the evils of Nazism. Victory was defined as putting a smile on the face of la française who would duly reward the soldier with a kiss.”
— Mary Louise Roberts, What Soldiers Do (2013).

American propaganda, and Allied propaganda more broadly, cast France in the role of a feminine “seductress” awaiting its liberators. Some stories suggested that saving France meant winning the hearts of its women. This idea of military combat combined with an erotic adventure stroked the soldiers’ egos with the dual promise of a noble mission rewarded with physical gratification.

While this rhetoric motivated the troops, it also fuelled fantasies that led to bad behaviour. Far from being specific to Normandy, similar problems cropped up between Allied soldiers and civilian populations on many fronts of the war. Although the soldiers showed undeniable bravery during the liberation, this history is nevertheless marred by episodes of sexual violence, exchanges of paid “services,” supply shortages, and injustices.

“Here’s What We’re Fighting For”. Front page of Stars and Stripes, September 9, 1944 (source: Stars and Stripes).

For some soldiers, this idealized view also legitimized their reduction of French women to mere objects of entertainment. Some indeed behaved like “conquerors” who believed that liberating the country lent them some form of impunity.

Civilians caught in the grips

Scenes of jubilation were indeed part of the liberation of Normandy, whose people had endured great hardship during the Occupation. They offered soldiers cider, bread and smiles and finally took out their tricolour flags that had been banned for four years. Stories of communion, mutual aid and solidarity abound during this time, while photos of a grinning GI, a bouquet held out by a Normandy woman, and a joyful embrace immortalized these moments. This iconography—which was widely used by Allied propaganda—helped forge the myth of salvation by men who came to “rescue” French women from the clutches of the Nazis.

However, these snapshots hide a much harsher reality. Even before June 6, the people of Normandy had to cope with the daily strains of war and its non-stop restrictions, censorship, pressure from the Germans, requisitions, and the risk of reprisals. The Allied bombing raids to break down the German defences intensified in the spring of 1944 and hit civilians hard. Daily life in Normandy was precarious due to the lack of food and water, roads jammed with military convoys, and destroyed infrastructure. The rare items brought by the Allied soldiers (chocolate, cigarettes, etc.) quickly became currency that led to a flourishing black market. Although the people of Normandy were cordial and sincerely welcoming, they had to cope with the constant harsh realities of a campaigning army that was liberating yet invasive.

“We were shown a picture of a smiling soldier giving gum to a little girl but not of the endless line she had to stand in to fill her water bucket.”
— Testimonial collected in Carentan (Oral Archives, 1945).

A packet of chewing gum (source: Private collection).

A leaflet dropped by the Allies warns Normans of forthcoming bombardments (source: Archives du Calvados, 149J/12).

American soldier giving sweets to women and children in France, 1944 (source: Private collection).

Josephine Baker (singer, dancer, spy) distributes rations to Parisians (source: Gallica Digital Library).

Sex as a commodity: Prostitution and the dynamics of dominance

As the war came to a close, a prostitution market formed around the thousands of American soldiers stationed in France. Accounts and documents from the months following D-Day show how sex became a prized “commodity” to the same degree as alcohol or some food items.

“When we got to Le Havre, we saw girls lining up near the camps like they were selling wares at a market… That was war, and we didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.”
— Testimonial of an American soldier (Le Havre Oral Archives, 1945).

Military newspapers like Panther Tracks even listed the rates of prostitutes in Paris and other cities. The sex trade was considered so commonplace that, when recounting his experiences in the war, an American soldier talked about women and bread in the same sentence. In cities such as Le Havre, local authorities and residents complained about how the sex trade had taken over public spaces day and night among the ruins, at parks and even in cemeteries. “Respectable” women did not dare go out alone for fear of being harassed by the stationed troops.

“In Paris, you’d often see ads in black-market newspapers from GIs looking to trade a silk stocking for ‘a night out on the town’.”
— Testimonial of Lawrence Cane, Logistics Officer (collected in 1947).

City administrations and local authorities tried to respond by setting up police patrols. Prostitutes were taken away by train to Paris, but they soon returned to where the money was. Proposals for regulated, medically controlled brothels were rejected by the US Army, which shifted the responsibility to the local civilian authorities. They refused to provide institutional support to alleviate the problem and simply gave out condoms to the troops. The locals, however, felt the impact on their daily lives from these military units always ready to consume what they saw as a typical French “product.”

Sexual violence and the racialization of these crimes

While paid and forced prostitution was a dark aspect of the liberation, rapes were also reported in the summer of 1944. These stories depict the liberating, democracy-bringing soldiers as predators, thereby piercing the myth of the chivalric GI. Aware of the optics that this would create, the American authorities published “Pocket Guides” for the troops that urged them to respect the local women. On the ground, however, things were not so cut and dried.

Cover of “A Pocket Guide to France”, published in 1944, Washington, D.C. (source: War and Navy departments).

Table of contents of “A Pocket Guide to France”, published 1944, Washington, D.C. (source: War and Navy departments).

American military archives show how power dynamics impacted who was accused of what. For example, out of the 152 American soldiers who stood trial for rape in France, 139 were African American, even though Black people made up only about 10% of the army. Court-martials issued the death penalty to most of these men, revealing the persistent racism rooted in the American army: rape became a “Black crime,” which reinforced colonial prejudices and exonerated white soldiers for the same acts.

Teasing out the nuances of a complex memory

The Normandy landings were indeed a key moment of the Second World War that marked the beginning of the end of the Nazi regime. However, the heroic images hide complex realities of civilian suffering, cultural tensions, inequalities, and abuses. These grey areas of history show not only the bravery of the Allies but also the human contradictions and challenges of the liberation. By acknowledging these contradictions, we can more fully grasp the phenomenon of war and honour the diverse experiences of both civilians and soldiers. This understanding also strengthens our collective memory and ability to think critically about the legacies of the past.

Cover photo: A young woman embraces an American soldier, August 25, 1944 (source: GrandPalaisRmn (Château de Blérancourt)/Gérard Blot).

Article written by Julia Godart, PhD candidate in history at the Université du Québec à Montréal for Je Me Souviens. Translated by Amy Butcher (traductionsamyb.ca).