Where war reached its crossroads
French villagers remember human cost of liberation
By CNN Senior Correspondent Jim Bittermann
TILLY-SUR-SEULLES, France -- Until recently, historians say, the subject was almost unmentionable, but there not all emotions about the liberation of Normandy are positive... in few places is it more evident than in Tilly-sur-Seulles.
When the villagers here remember D-Day they remember the vicious battle that destroyed their town and killed many of their relatives.
Here in Tilly sur Seulles is what the fighting was all about -- the intersection of two small country highways.
The crossroads no more important than any other in Normandy.
Except that a British tank column was trying to pass through and German armor was blocking the way.
For ten days the battle raged with control of the small town changing hands 23 times.
Three hundred artillery pieces pounded the town from both sides while British and American planes dropped 500 tons of bombs.
When it was over Tilly was flattened, with ten per cent of its population killed.
Madam Renee Lenoble remembers hiding in a narrow trench with 40 others.
It is overgrown now. They were here for days leaving only to search for food in nearby houses.
Then a bomb fell on the trench: twenty people including her husband and father died.
Says Lenoble: "We were waiting for the liberation but it would have been different if we could have all kept our lives. To liberate the country there were not a lot of alternative solutions."
Still as the allies bombed and marched through Normandy, there was tremendous destruction. Today there are mixed feelings about the way the campaign was handled.
Says historian Robert Paxton: "The allied bombing is what killed most Normands....40,000 people got killed by allied bombings in France.
"That's been a taboo subject because people were really glad to be liberated and they welcomed the Americans, but it was a little heavy handed. And I think its coming out more."
On a recent weekend, residents of Tilly gathered to record memories of the war. Schoolchildren were given awards for projects about the liberation. And the mayor reminded all of the high cost of both.
I watched them singing the French national anthem. Six decades after their occupiers left, the residents of Tilly are happy for their freedom.
But they would be happier still if their families and community had not paid such a terrible price.
