#Story
General de Gaulle’s return to Normandy
On 14 June 1944, General de Gaulle decided to leave England for Normandy. He intended to lay in Bayeux the foundations for the authority and legality of the Republic, to be restored in the newly liberated territories.
De Gaulle came ashore between Courseulles and Graye-sur-mer, where the destroyer ‘La Combattante’ had anchored offshore and on Mike sector of Juno Beach. He landed after long and difficult steps to gain authority and permission for him to go and visit the Allied bridgehead.
De Gaulle was driven from Mike sector directly to the headquarters of General Montgomery in Creully. The French delegation, which was led by François Coulet and Colonel de Chevigné, headed to Bayeux where the General went go on to deliver an important speech.
De Gaulle, Chief of France Combattante eventually entered Bayeux, and after being welcomed by the municipal council, he settled in the sub-prefecture. He appointed Coulet First Commissioner of the Republic for the liberated territories and Raymond Triboulet as new sub-prefect of the district of Bayeux. This was in place of the sub-prefect Rochat, who was dismissed immediately.
After greeting crowds in the streets of Bayeux, de Gaulle visited the Place du Château. It was here that he held a speech imposing the authority of the Provisional Government of the French Republic (GPRF). By placing in Bayeux as the first cogs of a new administration, De Gaulle intended to short-circuit the project of the Allies. The Allied plan was to establish a military administration in the liberated French territories, known as the Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories (AMGOT).
After leaving Bayeux, De Gaulle visited the small village of Isigny-sur-Mer. Located at a strategic point between the beaches of Utah and Omaha, up to 80% of the village had been destroyed by the devastating firepower of the American Navy. He then continued on to Grandcamps-les-Bains, west of the Pointe du Hoc. This was also liberated along with Isigny on 8 June. After this, De Gaulle returned to Courseulles, to board the Combattante and return to the port of Portsmouth, England.
Today a Cross of Lorraine, installed in 1990, stands at the limit of the two communes of Courseulles and Graye-sur-mer, on the sandunes. It is 18 metres high and symbolises the return of General de Gaulle to French soil on 14 June 1944. This date was also four years almost to the day after his exile to London, where he launched his appeal to the Resistance on 18 June 1940.