V e s t i g e s o f W a r T h e A r c h A e o l o g y o f T h e B A T T l e o f N o r m A N d y

6 J u N e – 2 5 A u g u s T 1 9 4 4

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This touring exhibition was developed by the French National Institut for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) for the 70th anniversary of the Normandy Landings, with the support of the Regional Cultural Affairs Department (DRAC) of Lower Normandy and Mémorial de Caen.

The emergence ofWorld War II archaeology

Seventy years later, memories of the Longest Day still resonate in Normandy’s heritage and tourism industry. Through excavations and studies of both the built environment and the landscape, archaeology has shed new light on the countless remains of the conflict that still remain buried, or the scars left by the heavy fighting of the Liberation.

From Operation Overlord to the Liberation

Launched in the early hours of 6 June and coordinated by Dwight D. Eisenhower, Overlord began with air operations and was followed by the Invasion. The resources committed to the operation were tremendous; three million soldiers were thrust into the conflict, including 150,000 on the evening of D-Day. The region suffered greatly: the cities of Caen, Saint-Lô, and Le Havre were devastated by bombs, entire villages were razed and the population suffered major losses.

Saving by studying

The field of archaeology has contributed to the history of the conflict by offering distinct and complementary documentation of the historical archives. Through detection and excavation, archaeology has uncovered remains establishing objective facts, inventories, dates, and places. This essential aspect of the cultural heritage of France and, indeed, all of humanity, is thus protected from the threats of erosion, land development, and theft. To accomplish these goals, the French government has mandated systematic archaeological investigations, followed by excavations when important remains are discovered.

British ammunition boxes (Bourguébus excavation, 2013) © Hervé Paitier, Inrap

Unearthing components of a Sherman tank during an archaeological rescue excavation in the town of Bourguébus in 2013. © Anthony Lefort, Inrap

Studying Sherman tank treads uncovered during different rescue excavations. Evidence of repairs and welds are signs of the violent fighting from the Landings as well as the reuse of pieces of tread to reinforce Allied tank armour. © Cyril Marcigny, Inrap

Comparing an excavated gas mask to another, better-preserved one from a reference collection.© Cyril Marcigny, Inrap

At the archaeological research centre, painstakingly cleaning a tank track shoe. © Cyril Marcigny, Inrap

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The Atlantic WallThe imposing remains of the Atlantic Wall are Normandy’s most visible testaments to World War II. They consist of concrete fortifications built by occupation forces along the coasts of the English Channel and the Atlantic Ocean, beginning in the spring of 1942. On 6 June 1944, this yet-unfinished “wall” contained 12,000 bunkers, made of 13 million cubic metres of reinforced concrete and one million tonnes of steel.

A heritage under threat

With the exception of a few major sites including coastal batteries and radar stations, this military heritage remains surprisingly unknown. It faces disappearance through coastal erosion, integration in new buildings, or demolition by mine-clearing and scrap metal removal. Now, many of the Atlantic Wall’s bunkers are nothing more than imposing empty carcasses, painful reminders of the war.

From “bunker archaeologists” to archaeologists

Atlantic Wall archaeology was born during the 1960s and 70s, when architecture enthusiasts (nicknamed “bunker archaeologists”) took a first-ever inventory of the abandoned structures. Today, archaeologists continue these pioneering efforts by recording the state of conservation of the bunkers, any modifications they may have undergone, and possible threats. Each major construction category – forts, coastal batteries, or “pockets of resistance” – includes concrete structures, obstacles, and other constructions that archaeologists have only recently begun to study during surveys or digs.

1Belgian Gate

or Cointet-element

2Wooden stakefitted with mine

3Ramp fitted with mines (a)

or steel blades (b)

4Czech Hedgehog

(steel)

5Tetrahedron

(concrete or steel)

6Barbed

wire

a

b

7Concrete wall

low tide

high tide

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An individual bunker, or “tobrouk”, being emptied, in a fortification built by the German army in the spring of 1944 (survey in Cherbourg, 2013). © Ludovic Le Gaillard, Inrap

Structures along the Atlantic Wall corresponding to models designed by the Todt organization. Above: an example of a tobrouk built around a circular shelter, or Ringstand, and a few variations: 1 - tobrouk housing a 50mm mortar; 2 - tobrouk housing a mortar with shelter for troops; 3 - tobrouk housing a gun turret. © Mathilde Dupré, Inrap

The extent of the Atlantic Wall in Europe, and German defence positions along the Normandy coast.© Mathilde Dupré, Inrap

Strategic layout for beach obstacles placed by the German Army to sink landing craft or puncture their hulls, to prevent Allied tanks from landing successfully. © Mathilde Dupré, Inrap

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Saint-Marcouf

Étretat

Le Havre

Cabourg

Merville-Franceville-Plage

Ouistreham

Caen

Bayeux

Carentan

Valognes

Arromanches-les-Bains

Pointe du Hoc

Barfleur

Cherbourg

Saint-LôBourguébus

Longues-sur-Mer

batterie lourde batterie légère point fortifié (abri, défenses de plage, trou bétonné)

2 Concrete Wall on Juno Beach (1-2 ). © Sandrine Lalain, InrapThe Saint-Marguerite blockhouse (3), intentionally demolished in 1995 for safety reasons.© JMS-BunkarcheodieppeEffects of erosion (4) on a blockhouse in Néville-sur-Mer © Henri Gandois, université Paris IAt Longues-sur-Mer, firing post bordering the cliff (5) and one of four pillboxes housing a cannon (6).© Mathilde Dupré, Inrap

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3 4

5 6

American soldiers sharing a foxhole, at rest (left) and on duty (right). © National archives US Air Force

Foxholes being excavated at Biéville-Beuville (2012). © Service archéologie CG14

Two types of foxholes.© Mathilde Dupré, Inrap

Two glass medicine bottles in a foxhole located in the central zone of the American parachute landings of June 6, and a gas mask (survey at Méautis, 2013). © Laurent Paez-Rezende, Inrap

Remains of an underground shelter uncovered during an archaeological survey in Touffréville, the only one known to still exist in the west of France. Extending down to the bedrock, its clay walls were reinforced with wire mesh and cables. A variety of objects (beer bottles, ration containers, bullets and cartridge casings) attribute the shelter to the British Army. © service archéologie CG14

Coca-Cola bottle and tubes of shaving cream uncovered near an American runway (excavation at Gainneville, Saint-Aubin-Routot, 2007). © Photographie Archéopole

Packet of instant coffee found at a 1944 Allied army encampment at Saint-Germain-de-Varreville. © Jean-Claude Fossey, Centre Michel de Boüard, CRAHAM (UMR 6273)

Burnt pages of a book, likely a War Department Technical Manual, uncovered at an encampment at Saint-Germain-de-Varreville.© Cécile Allinne, Centre Michel de Boüard, CRAHAM (UMR 6273)

Medicine flask (survey at Cagny, 2013). © Erik Gallouin, Inrap

Preparing for battleMany military installations from the war still remain, ranging from simple “foxholes” to massive logistical structures such as artificial harbours or airfields.

Thousands of foxholes

Foxholes are among the most common archaeological finds. They are individual spaces dug to provide shelter overnight or for longer periods of time. There are many different types. The vast majority are simply rectangular or oblong ditches, measuring 1.7 x 0.7 metres on average. Other larger or L-shaped shelters could house two soldiers. In places where troops were stationed for longer periods of time, the foxholes are deeper, covered and sometimes equipped with an access trench or various reinforcements. Some shelters, like the one excavated in Touffréville in the Calvados département, were subterranean structures, evoking the pillboxes of World War I.

Daily combat

These structures protected resting combatants and filled a tactical role as firing, listening, or observation posts, or installation points for heavy artillery. Their arrangement follows the organization of the front lines via three formations: a straight line following a slope, wall, or hedge; an arc; or a “hedgehog” shape, on a peak or hilltop. Objects collected during foxhole excavation such as eating utensils, toothbrushes and bits and pieces of packaging, shed light on combatants’ daily routine and may help identify their nationality or, more rarely, their fighting unit.

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logistical structuresThe Battle of Normandy saw the deployment of enormous material and logistical resources. Some were important milestones in the history of modern warfare.

l o w tide

lo w tide

eastern pass

northern pass

western pass

Phœnix caissons

Phœnix caissons

Phœnix caissons

Phoe

nix

cais

sons

floating platforms(for unloading landing craft) floating platforms

(for unloading tank-landing ships)

floating platforms(for unloading cargo)

floating walkways

floating docksbarricade of sunken ships

Arromanches

Saint-Côme-de FresneAsnelles-sur-Mer

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Artificial harbours

The most notable are the two “Mulberry” harbours deployed by Allied forces on 6 June at Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer and Arromanches. Sheltered from the wrecks of scuttled ships and serving as breakwaters – codenamed “Gooseberries” – a jetty was formed from hundreds of submersible concrete blocks. Further back, docks for berthing are connected to floating pontoons – “Whales” – anchored to steel pylons – “Spuds”.

On 19 June, a storm destroyed the harbour at Saint-Laurent. From that day forward, the town of Arromanches supplied the Allied forces, providing a total of 2.5 million soldiers, a half-million vehicles, and four million tonnes of equipment. Certain structures have left visible traces on the landscape, as in Arromanches

Bayeux’s logistical platform

Supplied by Arromanches, an immense logistical platform was implemented around Bayeux, including workshops, vehicle fleets, warehouses, hospitals, and airfields. Oil tankers and an undersea pipeline linked to England supplied the region. Since the early 2000s, excavations carried out to the east of Bayeux in Nonant and Saint-Martin-des-Entrées have revealed sections of this structure, with segments of the first Bayeux bypass and two airstrips

Bailey Bridges

The British constructed the first Bailey Bridges in France across the River Orne. These metal structures are comprised of assembled segments called bays. Most of them have disappeared, but some traces remain visible on the shore today.

Cross-section: receiving platforms and floating pontoons at the Arromanches harbour.© Mathilde Dupré, Inrap

From left to right: platform; concrete floats and caissons; remains of the Arromanches harbour.© François Levalet

Allied construction of a runway with pierced steel planking (left) and mesh (right).© National archives US Air Force

Pierced steel planking (PSP), staples for square-mesh track (SMT), loading net and vehicle chassis revealing the presence of an Allied airfield (excavation at Bretteville-l’Orgueilleuse, 2011).© Chris-Cécile Besnard-Vauterin, Inrap

British tanks crossing a Bailey bridge over the Caen canal and the river Orne during Operation Goodwood, on 18 July 1944. © IWM (B7656)

Remains of a Bailey bridge on a bank of the river Orne.© Vincent Carpentier, Inrap

High tide

Low tide

Floating walkwaysFloating docks

Aerial view of the artificial harbour (Mulberry) established on 6 June 1944 at Arromanches© National archives US Air Force

Vue aérienne des vestiges du port artificiel en 2014.© Hervé Paitier, Inrap

Strategic map of the artificial harbour at Arromanches. Sheltered from the wrecks of scuttled ships and serving as breakwaters (1 – “Gooseberries”), a jetty was formed from hundreds of submersible concrete blocks (2 – “Phoenixes”). Further back, mooring platforms are connected to floating pontoons (3 – “Whales”) anchored to steel pylons (“Spuds”). © Mathilde Dupré, Inrap

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d-day ArchaeologyD-Day archaeology concerns the five major landing beaches: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword; as well as the combat zones accessed by American and British paratroopers.

Looking for small traces

Today, these places are part of a region of great historical value. At the end of the war, the beaches were cleared and demined to facilitate their reconversion as tourist destinations. Beginning on 6 June, the bodies of the fallen soldiers were placed into temporary cemeteries to await transport to their country of origin, or to one of the military cemeteries set back from the coast.

Archaeologists research and map the last identifiable traces of an event, such as shell craters or ruins, to compare them to archives or veterans’ personal accounts. Archaeology permits the dating and identification of remains in order to document the history of the battlefield, a task made impossible if the objects are removed from their context.

Sand: Memory of a Battlefield

Sand from D-Day beaches has revealed many secrets. In 1998, two American geologists, Earle McBride and Dane Picard, collected samples at Omaha Beach for analysis. They identified thousands of tiny shards, as well as steel and glass pellets from the explosions of bullets and shrapnel. They believe these fragile pieces of evidence would have disappeared in a century or two, leaving the sands of Omaha Beach as pristine as they had been before the war.

CabourgOuistreham

Bayeux

Arromanches-les-Bains

Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer

Saint-Martin-de-Varreville

SWORD

J U NOGO L D

OMAH A

UTA

H

Beach Group helmet (excavation at Saint-Aubin-d’Arquenay, 2013).© Emmanuel Ghesquière, Inrap

Soldiers of the British 3rd Infantry Division at Sword Beach, Queen Red Sector, approximately 8:45am, on 6 June 1944. Foreground: sappers of the 84th Field Company of the Royal Engineers, attached to the Number 5 Beach Group. Their helmets can be identified by their typical white bands. Middle: medics of the Royal Army Medical Corps, 8th Field Ambulance, tending to the wounded. Background: commandos of Lord Lovat’s 1st Special Service Brigade arriving on their landing craft, just before their departure for Colleville and Saint-Aubin-d’Arquenay. © IWM (5114)

Current-day photograph of Sword Beach, one of the landing beaches. © Vincent Carpentier, Inrap

The invasion on the Normandy coast. Map of the American and Anglo-Canadian sectors. Inset: facsimile of a tract distributed by the thousands on 6 June to inform the population of the Operation. © Mathilde Dupré, Inrap

June 1944 landing at Omaha Beach. © National archives US Air Force

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Wreckage of the landing Although scrap metal dealers have cleared the beaches and countryside of armoured vehicles and aircraft, most of the wrecks sunk on 6 June remain at the bottom of the Channel.

A sunken heritage

The estimated 20,000 wrecks recorded along the French coastline form an important piece of history, protected in the same way as land artefacts. The French Department of Underwater Archaeological Research [Département des recherches archéologiques subaquatiques et sous-marines] (DRASSM) is responsible for inventorying these artefacts, and also oversees underwater prospection operations assigned to specialists, such as the CERES Underwater Research Center [Centre européen de recherches et d’études sous-marines] or the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, E-U).

Studying D-Day wrecks

Archaeologist-divers are currently identifying and studying between one and two hundred wrecks lying 30 metres deep, in an area of 450 square kilometres surrounding the landing beaches. They include ships, barges, armoured vehicles, and aeroplanes, but also infrastructures from the artificial harbour at Arromanches, mapped via undersea images obtained by sonar surveys.

First-person accounts have been collected from veterans of the British and American navies. Their recollections help divers to locate the wrecks, identify them, and provide a timeline of their sinking.

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Sonar images (recording echoes to locate objects underwater) of different wrecks detected around the artificial harbour of Arromanches: 1 – Mulberry floating walkway; 2 – Amphibious DD Tank; 3 – Tank lighter; 4 – SS Norfolk (American cargo ship) © Bertrand Sciboz, CERES

Underwater views of the American transport barge Le Carbonel and its cargo, which included tanks.© Jacques Le Lay

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Prison camps At the end of the Battle of Normandy, Germany left a contingent of 250,000 prisoners in the Allies’ hands. Until 1948, a total of one million German soldiers remained prisoners in France.

Beach enclosures at the first camps

The day following the June 6th invasion, German prisoners were rounded up in beach enclosures to await transfer to Great Britain, where overcrowding was quickly becoming a problem. Beginning in August, they were held in Normandy.

In 1945, the Allied camps were placed under French authority, and its detainees put to work in the towns. They were used for demining operations and the Reconstruction, alongside the French.

An emerging theme

In 1998, a British camp was partially excavated in the small village of Mosles, near Bayeux. Ditches and remnants of construction were cleared, as well as various everyday objects of both Allied and German origin.

In 2009, English archaeologists organized an excavation on the site of an American camp located at La Glacerie, next to Cherbourg. The excavated remains include 180 partially buried 10-square-metre cabins, arranged in rows and heated by makeshift stoves. A large collection of 4,000 objects still provides insight, even today, into the conditions endured by detainees.

Between 2009 and 2013, archaeological studies were performed on three other camps at Nonant-le-Pin in the Orne département, Urville-Nacqueville in the Manche département, and Fleury-sur-Orne in the Calvados département; another excavation is planned for the latter in the spring of 2014. The relics found there will be compared with the archives and testimony related to the camp’s history.

After the Battle of the Falaise Pocket, between 30,000 and 40,000 German prisoners were held in a camp close to the village of Nonant-le-Pin. © National archives US Air Force

Left: aerial view of Fleury-sur-Orne dating from 1947, with the clear outline of a German prisoner of war camp established by the British army. © IGN

Right: remains of the camp in a survey dugout. One section of the camp will undergo a rescue excavation led by INRAP in 2014. © David Flotté, Inrap

Panorama of the German prisoner of war camp in the town of La Glacerie in August 1944.© CICR (V-P-HIST-00768-18A)

Foundation of a cabin in the La Glacerie camp, with the remains of a heating stove (excavation at La Glacerie, 2009). © Oxford Archaeology

A selection of the 4,000 objects collected during excavation of the La Glacerie camp: a German prisoner’s dog tags, a button from a German Navy uniform, a toothbrush, a lid from a box of aspirin, a tube of prophylactic ointment. © Hervé Paitier, Inrap, sauf plaque d’identité © Oxford Archaeology

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casualties: Archaeologyand human remains

The loss of life caused by the Battle of Normandy was substantial, resulting from heavy fighting, bombings, and German acts of retaliation.

Temporary gravesites in military cemeteries

Military cemeteries were constructed after the war, following bilateral agreements established between France and the other nations concerned. Bodies were collected over the course of the 1950s and 1960s, under the aegis of various organizations tasked with identifying the remains: The American Battle Monuments Commission, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and the German War Graves Commission [Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge].

As a result of this regrouping of remains, most of the temporary cemeteries are still unknown today. Archaeological expeditions have made some findings, such as in Cagny in 2013, where several temporary German gravesites were uncovered.

Archaeology in light of fallen soldiers and war crimes

The bodies of many soldiers and civilians have never been recovered, and as such, archaeologists have an important role to play when human remains are discovered during excavations. These findings are reported immediately to police or military recovery services.

Although their participation may not be prescribed in usual procedures, the knowledge of specialists in funeral archaeology may be useful in determining causes of death, detailing the circumstances surrounding burial, or helping to identify the deceased, whether they are military personnel killed in action or civilian victims of war crimes.

JOHN ABCDEFG12345678 T42 AMARY ABCDEFG250 W 42ND PLLOS ANGELES CAL P

JOHN ABCDEFG12345678 T42 AMARY ABCDEFG250 W 42ND PLLOS ANGELES CAL P

2/ Inf. Ers. Batl.45A

536

2/ Inf. Ers. Batl.45A

536

The dog tag is an element of the military uniform allowing for the identification of deceased personnel. First and last name, identification number and blood type are stamped into these pieces of metal, for which each country has their own standard format.

Depending on the year they were produced, some American dog tags may contain the name and address of the next-of-kin to be informed in case of death, as well as the city and state of residence in case of emergency.

Aerial and close-up views of an American military cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, overlooking Omaha Beach. © Cyril Marcigny, Hervé Paitier, Inrap

Temporary grave uncovered during an excavation at Cagny in 2013. © Erik Gallouin, Inrap

American dog tags

German dog tags8

destruction/reconstruction

Destruction and war stratigraphy

The Battle of Normandy was devastating. For archaeologists, this reality is most apparent in urban contexts, across the strata, or layers, uncovered while clearing the ruins. Surveys reveal the strata to be of uneven thickness and limited size.

In Caen, for example, they are nonexistent in the city centre, but are several metres thick in the castle moat. These layers have also been exposed in the outskirts of smaller towns like Cabourg, where they served to fill bomb or mine craters.

Archaeology of shelters: the quarries of Caen

Between June and July 1944, following Allied bombings, thousands of Caen inhabitants moved to the quarries which had surrounded the city since the Middle Ages. 15-20 metres deep, they form vast shelters, hundreds of hectares large.

Speleologists Laurent Dujardin and Damien Butaeye have been studying them for two decades; they have determined that 15,000 to 20,000 people lived there during the summer of 1944. Evidence of their stay has been fossilized in underground spaces, providing archaeologists with a snapshot of history.

Traces of the Reconstruction

Reconstruction began in Normandy in September 1944 and continued until the 1960s. Besides the war strata and prison camps, archaeologists have gained an understanding of this period through the remains of the first prefabricated buildings in France, or the series of structures built alongside industrial sites, such as those on the outskirts of Caen.

Or ne

Fleury-sur-Orne

Cormelles

gare

Lechâteau

carrière limite de commune

Fouquet

Pochiet

Grottesdes Coteaux

Saingt

Saint-Julien

Ferme de Coomanrue d’Authie

Kaskoreff

Bowling

0 500 m

Archaeological survey led by INRAP at Cabourg, which uncovered World War II artefacts. © Vincent Carpentier, Inrap

Fragments of dishware from the destroyed Grand Hôtel de Cabourg found in the embankments during a survey in Cabourg (1-2-3). © Vincent Carpentier, Hervé Paitier, Inrap

Caen in ruins. © US Government Library

1-2-3 – Débris de vaisselle issus de la destruction du Grand Hôtel de Cabourg retrouvés dans les remblais lors d’un diagnostic à Cabourg. © Vincent Carpentier, Hervé Paitier, Inrap

Quarry in Fleury-sur-Orne which served as a shelter in 1944, uncovered by archaeologists.© Cyril Marcigny, Inrap

Brick made of compressed paper, similar to those used to build pre-fabricated houses at the end of the war (excavation at Cagny, 2013)© éric Gallouin, Inrap

Map of Caen quarries.© Jean-Marc Palluau, Inrap

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Aerial view of Pointe du Hoc, a fortification that was overrun on the morning of 6 June 1944 © François Levalet

Effects of erosion on a blockhouse in Néville-sur-Mer between April 2009 and December 2013© Henri Gandois, université Paris I

conclusionThe archaeological remains of the Battle of Normandy shed light on numerous aspects of the history of the conflict, all too rarely discussed in written sources. They reveal the human and material impact of the war and its objective reality Archaeologists are confronted today with the urgent need to record this important heritage being gradually erased by erosion, pillaging, and land development. Their task is bring to light this hidden facet of the memory of the land, even as the dwindling number of direct witnesses brings this piece of history ever closer to oblivion.

INRAP

Vincent Carpentier, archaeologist and operations manager

Mathilde Dupré, graphic designer

Bénédicte Hénon-Raoul, editor

Sandrine Lalain, Cultural Development and Communications officer

Cyril Marcigny, archaeologist, scientific and technical assistant in Lower Normandy

Hervé Paitier, photographer

Vincent Tessier, archaeologist

DRAC de Basse-NormandieFrançois Fichet de Clairfontaine, Regional Archaeological Curator, Heritage Curator

Mémorial de CaenChristophe Prime, collection curator, historian

Thanks

INRAP : Chris-Cécile Besnard Vauterin, David Flotté, érik Gallouin, Emmanuel Ghesquière, Gabrielle Lamerant, Anthony Lefort, Ludovic Le Gaillard, Laurent Paez-Rezende, élise Sehier

Cécile Allinne, Centre Michel de Boüard, CRAHAM (UMR 6273)

Nicola Coulthard, service archéologie du CG14

Rob Early, Oxford Archaeology

Henri Gandois, université Paris I

Cécile Germain-Vallée, service archéologie du CG14

Maryse Hubert, iconographer

Jacques Lelay

François Levalet, photographer

Bertrand Sciboz, CERES

Service des archives du Comité International de la Croix-Rouge

Service des archives de l’Imperial War Museum

TranslationsBureau des traductions de l’université de Bretagne occidentale

Caen

Cagny

Cabourg

Bourguébus

Arromanches-les-Bains

Cherbourg

BayeuxBiéville-Beuville

Saint-Aubin-d’Arquenay

Fleury-sur-Orne

Saint-Lô

Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer

Touffréville

Sainte-Marguerite

Méautis

Gainneville/Saint-Aubin-RoutotColleville-sur-Mer

Nonant-le-Pin

NonantSaint-Martin-des-Entrées

Bretteville-l’Orgueilleuse

Mosles

La Glacerie

Néville-sur-Mer

Saint-Germain-de-Varreville

Map of sites mentioned in the texts.

www.inrap.fr