The Museum blog
Learn and understand the story, whether it’s the one with a capital “H” or the anecdotes that make it up. Find resources as part of your studies. Or discover the objects of the museum, are all reasons to consult this series of articles that we offer here. Most of them were written by our team and by one of the founders, Patrick Fissot, history professor and collection director. If you too would like to help spread the story, contact us.
Behind the barrels of a cellar, three helmets found bear witness to the horror of the fighting
Discovered under a barrel, still covered in dust, these three helmets are riddled with impacts from the fighting. A camouflaged German helmet from a Heer unit, an SS helmet with remnants of camouflage and a heavily damaged American light helmet can be seen.
The A10 Airfield at Carentan, an American airfield in 1944
Did you know? The Normandy Victory Museum is located on a historically famous former American military airfield: the A10 Airfield. It is still in operation and small aircraft can still use its shortened 400 metre long runway.
Let’s discover the Resistance in the Manche through some objects of the museum.
This small wooden coffin was sent in 1944 to a shopkeeper in the Saint-Lô area, a notorious economic collaborator, along with a letter full of “recommendations” for the years to come and how to behave… It reveals a strong spirit of resistance.
June 17, 1940, in La Manche…
As the German 7th Division under Rommel advanced inexorably towards Cherbourg and the war drew closer to La Manche, a handful of die-hards clung to the defensive lines in the Cotentin region and tried to halt the enemy’s meteoric advance.
Food rationing in La Manche during the Second World War
Because of its agricultural situation and a certain self-sufficiency in food, La Manche, even if it suffers, seems to be somewhat spared from the shortage, at least as far as food is concerned.