The First Step on French Soil
Extract from the manuscript Hommes de la nuit, written by Laurent Casalonga in the 1980s.
In this passage, Laurent Casalonga recounts his first steps on French soil during the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944. He chose to recount these events in the first person, as though he himself were a direct witness to the scenes unfolding before his eyes.
…It is hell on earth; in places, through the artificial fog, we can make out the first obstacles set up on the beach. The explosions become sharper and closer together. Fortunately, the tracer rounds pass over our heads. Smoke, explosions and flames engulf the shore.
A crack; the landing craft comes to a halt. Forward! Pinelli, Casalonga and Beux descend the left-hand ramp. The men land; the water is up to their chests. A nearby explosion: the left-hand ramp is blown to pieces! They struggle forward amid the explosions and enemy fire. The obstacles rise before them like Calvaries leading them to their death!
In the midst of the curtain of smoke, breathing is difficult; take care not to catch on the wires connecting the Teller mines mounted on posts. Enemy bullets whistle and ricochet off the water. A hundred metres to cover through the waves and among all these traps. Lifeless bodies are tossed about by the waves. The poor pioneers of the South Yorkshire Regiment, tasked with clearing the obstacles, have been wiped out.
At last, the French Commandos reach dry land. Pinelli, down on one knee, kisses French soil; beside him, Casalonga, surprised by the gesture, does the same. Troop No. 1, led by Vourc’h, arrives, and now, into formation and forward! At a run, they all charge towards the top of the beach; another two hundred terrible meters to cover!
They break through the curtain of smoke; explosions, tracer rounds, fire, flames, bodies and wounded men lie scattered across this Norman shore. A tremendous explosion throws a dozen men to the ground. “Pinelli! Take command!” shouts Captain Guy Vourc’h, wounded. “Faure! Take command!” Pinelli replies, himself badly wounded. About ten men have been hit; some get back to their feet with wounds to their legs, only to collapse again onto the sand.
The explosions continue; the Germans intensify their fire. Barely twenty metres away stands an enemy bunker; the Germans fire their machine guns and throw grenades to finish off the wounded. British Commandos will eventually succeed in blowing it up and killing all the Germans inside.
A few metres from the barbed wire, at the top of the beach, Bucher, Lahouze, Dumenoir, Beux, Piauge, Léostic and Casalonga lie on the sand, seriously wounded, alongside Pinelli and Vourc’h. Further down, Laventure, Cabellan, and the two inseparable friends Flesh and Rousseau are also wounded. Derrien comes running, stops beside his friend Casalonga and tries to help him; Casalonga tells him to “get the hell out of here” as quickly as possible. Derrien kisses him on the forehead and disappears into the smoke.
The Commandos continue to arrive at a run amid the shells and tracer rounds. The bloodied wounded can receive no help. Thousands of sand fleas infesting the beach leap onto their wounds. Lahouze is wounded again, as is Beux. Casalonga, wounded in the legs and kidneys, takes his entrenching tool and digs a hole to shelter his torso and head from the shrapnel. Eight-inch shells and mortar rounds fall without interruption. Vourc’h and Léostic shelter their heads in a hole. It is a veritable hell of fire, flames and explosions… Bodies lie scattered everywhere.
On the right, Troop Lofi and Section K. Guns come running forward. A wounded man from Troop No. 1 sees them and shouts, “Forward, lads! Vive la France!” The exploding mortar rounds are drowned out by the fire of individual automatic weapons. Dumenoir, with a handkerchief in his mouth to keep from crying out in pain, has his abdomen torn open and holds in his hands the intestines spilling from his body. He will die without a complaint. Rousseau is dying; Flesh, beside him, will die too…
Casalonga, lying on the sand and unable to get up, sings the Marseillaise to encourage his comrades. Evacuated to England for treatment, he refuses to remain away from the fighting.
At the end of July 1944, he voluntarily rejoins his unit and takes part in the Normandy campaign, followed by the fighting in Belgium and the Netherlands, notably the capture of Flushing, on the island of Walcheren, in November 1944. His unwavering commitment continues until the end of the war in Germany.
© Hommes de la nuit – Laurent Casalonga – 1980
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