PARIS: In the coming week, western leaders will mark the beaches of northern France with “80 years since Allied troops surged into ‘Nazi occupied Europe’, in the World War II D-Day landings”. They are ‘haunted’ by the war which is raging through the continent, as Ukraine battles the Russian invasion.

French President Emmanuel Macron, is due to host the President of the Unites States Joe Biden, King Charles III of Britain and the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau along the shores of Normandy. These leaders represent the three central countries, who were involved in the landings on the 6 of June, 1944. An (unexpected) ‘symbolic act’ will also see the Ukrainian President, ‘Volodymyr Zelensky’ in attendance.

No official from Russia has been invited. Paris went back on plans to host lower-level representatives of Russia, in recognition of the Soviet Union’s immense contribution in the second world war.

The guests who will receive the ‘highest honours’ are ‘surviving veterans’, with around 200 veterans expected to be in attendance. This is a number which is dwindling with every passing year, with most veterans well into their late 90s and some over 100 years’ old.

However, as leaders pay their respects to the veterans of World War II, the ‘all-too-modern war’ which has raged for over two years (since the Russian invasion of Ukraine), will be ‘on their minds’.

‘Galvanise our resolve’

Biden, Macron and Zelensky are coming together at a critical juncture in the conflict. Kyiv is warning that Russia risks ‘gaining the upper hand’, without a significant increase in Western support. Macron has already sought to break taboos by ‘refusing’ to rule out sending troops to Ukraine (a position which has unsettled some of their EU allies). However, there have been noticeable changes in recent weeks. The West is showing readiness to permit Kyiv to use Western weaponry to engage targets in Russia and France, as well as ‘pushing’ for the deployment of European military instructors in Ukraine.

Macron, who once sought to build a relationship with President Vladimir Putin, has repeatedly warned about the existential nature of the Ukraine conflict for Europe, saying in a speech in April that “our Europe is mortal, it can die.” “Never will we forget the sacrifice of thousands of young soldiers” who crossed the Channel that day, the French president said in a statement (ahead of the ceremonies), whilst expressing the “unending gratitude” of France.

Referencing the war in Ukraine, he said the current time “is a period that challenges us to ask what price we are prepared to pay for our freedom and for defending our values.

“May the example of these heroes, whether renowned or anonymous, galvanise our resolve and our belief in a future of peace and security.”

‘The longest day’

The landings by the Allied forces, backed by airborne operations which parachuted troops directly onto ‘occupied soil’, was the biggest naval operation ever (in terms of the number of ships deployed and the troops involved). By the end of what came to be known as “the longest day”, 156,000 Allied troops (with 20,000 vehicles), landed in Nazi-occupied northern France, despite facing a hail of bullets, artillery and aircraft fire.

In an operation hidden from the Germans, the Allies landed on five beaches across the coast of Normandy: ‘Omaha and Utah’ for the Americans, ‘Gold and Sword’ for the British and ‘Juno’ for the British and Canadians. The landings marked the ‘beginning of the end’ of the ‘Nazi occupation of Europe’. Months of intense and bloody fighting did lie ahead, before they emerged victorious over the regime of Adolf Hitler.

On Wednesday, the first of three days of ceremonies will see Macron pay tribute to French victims of Nazi occupation, including 70 members of the French Resistance executed by the Germans at Caen prison in Normandy on D-Day. On Thursday, the 80th anniversary will see leaders attend national ceremonies at the heart-stoppingly vast war cemeteries on the Normandy coast, with an international ceremony attended by all the main guests at Omaha.

On Friday, Biden will give a speech at the ‘Pointe du Hoc’, which is a clifftop promontory whose German bunkers were attacked by US troops in a daring assault during the landings, to defend ‘freedom and democracy’. Macron will then deliver a keynote speech in ‘Bayeux’, which was the first French town to be liberated.

On Saturday, Biden will continue his trip in Paris, with the first state visit of his presidency to France. This gives Biden and Macron a critical chance to push for peace in Ukraine and Gaza, in talks scheduled to take place at the ‘Elysee Palace’.

In Moscow, the Kremlin spokesman ‘Dmitry Peskov’ batted away the lack of an invitation for Russia, saying the “most important for us will be the commemorations next year for the 80th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War” (using the term most widely used in Russia for World War II).

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2024