French Paratroopers on D-Day

They are among the forgotten men of the history of the Normandy Landings. In the night of 5 to 6 June 1944, while the men of the American 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions and those of the British 6th Airborne Division were preparing to jump over Normandy, thirty-six French commandos were dropped over Brittany. They belonged to the Special Air Service (SAS), a British special forces unit created in July 1941 whose motto is "who dares wins". Although their numbers were far more modest than those of their Allied paratrooper comrades, their mission was no less vital: to coordinate and train the Resistance — highly active in that region — to prevent the German forces stationed there from reinforcing the troops already deployed on or near the coast. The thirty-six men about to jump were pathfinder elements; their task was to establish two bases to allow the arrival of the rest of the unit and their equipment in the following days, in order to launch guerrilla and sabotage operations: Samwest, in the forest of Duhault (Côtes-d'Armor), and Dingson, in the forest of Saint-Marcel (Morbihan). Throughout the Battle of Normandy, the strength of the French SAS continued to grow and they played a major role in the liberation of Brittany. It is their little-known story that is told in this book, from their training in Great Britain to their final engagements in Holland in April 1945. Featuring a wealth of period photographs, objects and weapons that belonged to some of these paratroopers, along with maps and infographics to bring the daily lives of these elite fighters as close as possible during the summer of 1944. Published in partnership with the Musée de la Résistance bretonne de Saint-Marcel (Morbihan).