From 6 June 1944, the first and terrible bombardment of Caen took place, the town was burned. Our house was badly hit, the walls, the windows, the ceilings, everything blew apart. It was on 8 June that we left our dear house to go to the German shelter in the rue Isidor Pierre, but we were sent away because the general staff from the castle were settling in there. So, not knowing where to go, we went to the University, where we stayed eight days. Then after these eight quite peaceful days, we began to get frightened again because everything was burning and everything was a heap of ashes. But we didn’t stay long among the ruins because one morning Monsieur Maurot told us that everything was on fire nearby, so Papa went back to the house and found the car, which he parked in the Fleury Quarries. We were walled in there, you couldn’t sleep very well, and we slept on wet straw, and it was there that our poor Mummy was killed.
Michèle Oudinet, ‘Débarquement de nos libérateurs les Anglais’, Témoignage écrit 14, Mémorial de Caen.
Courtesy Mémorial de Caen, TE14.
