The Landing on Normandy

Source	"Cassandre" – the 11th of June 1944, P. 1, 4.
Event referred to	6th June 1944 : D - Day 944
Technological characteristics	Type of file: Image Extension : pdf Characteristics Dimension of the file: 1567 Ko Availability proposed: pdf document with zoom options
Description of the source	Kind of source: Weekly newspaper Origin of the source: Archives of the National Library of Belgium, Brussels Language: French Copyright issues: full availability
Contextualisation of the source	“Cassandre” is a weekly rexist* newspaper of Brussels published from 7th October 1940 till 27th August 1944. So it is a collaborator newspaper which reflects the political and military opinions of the German occupant. * Before the war, the nazi-inspired rexist movement had some 21 deputies at the parliament. During the conflict, numerous rexists served in the ranks of the Waffen SS.
Interpretation of the source	The article of the first page proposes to summarize the military situation on 11th June 1944. The journalist presents the landing on Normandy as a defeat since the Anglo-Americans, who are called “invaders”, are held back everywhere and the Germans merely “clean” the beaches. It stresses on the numerous losses of soldiers and on the “destroyed and overpowered” parachutists during an attack led “at great cost”. Speaking about the “unfavorable moment concerning the weather”, it underlines “the serious losses of the aviation” which takes its revenge by bombing the aerodromes that the Allies couldn’t take hold of. The allied fleet is presented as ridicule since it “has given up” to take possession of “Le Havre” and it is “ready to beat a retreat”. According to this article, the Landing on Normandy is a “hazardous and aborted attempt” to change the course of the war. In the columns « Echoes and indiscretions”, the journalist makes fun of those who believed to in their quick liberation, qualifying them as “stupid”. He sets their attitudes against the one of the greatest part of the population which keeps “very quiet”, according to him. Speaking about Roosvelt, Chuchill and Eisenhower, he lays stress on the fact that they give so little importance to their soldiers’ life and to the civilian population. He speaks ironically about the “invasion” that will definitely be a profit for “Moscow which will take the opportunity to realize all its objectives”, showing that way a possible communist hegemony in Europe. Finally, he expresses his hope to see Belgium escaping war horrors when “European armies” will have triumphed of “the enemies of the continent”. In the inner pages, one speaks about the American offensive on Cherbourg. If the military facts are related with some objectivity, the journalist lays stress on the “important American armored divisions” which try to take the city and on the “particularly high - even fearful - losses” inflicted by the Germans “who continue to defend themselves and to fight tooth and nail”. He criticizes in passing general Bradley who wants to take the city “without any consideration for the heavy losses he will suffer”. In short, the “Cassandre” newspaper tries to convince its readers that the Landing on Normandy has failed, inviting them not to hope. It criticizes on the same occasion the political and military personalities who are responsible of it. Inversely, it presents the Germans as the “defenders of Europe in front of the Bolshevik danger” and the Anglo-Americans as the “lackeys of Moscow”.
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Original Contents (English Translation)