French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday hailed the “spirit of sacrifice” of the soldiers who liberated Europe from Nazi occupation, as he prepared to join US President Joe Biden and King Charles III to mark 80 years since the World War II D-Day landings.
The three days of events in France, which will peak Thursday with ceremonies attended by world leaders on the Normandy beaches where the landings took place, are haunted by the new war shadowing Europe as Ukraine battles Russia’s invasion.
Macron will host Biden, King Charles III and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, representing the World War II Allied powers, to remember the heroism of the troops who gave their lives in the landings on June 6, 1944, to free Europe from Nazi occupation.
The most honoured guests will be the surviving veterans: Around 200 are expected, a number that is dwindling every year with most at least in their late 90s and some older than 100.
But with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky joining the Western leaders in Normandy, the ceremonies will provide a hugely symbolic backdrop to talks on how Ukraine can gain back ground after Russian advances.
Strikingly, no Russian official has been invited, underlining Moscow’s pariah status in the West after the invasion of Ukraine despite the massive USSR contribution to defeating Nazism in World War II.
– ‘Cherish those who served’ –
Kicking off events with a ceremony in neighbouring Brittany to remember French resistance fighters who landed in occupied France as D-Day got under way, Macron said he was sure today’s youth was “ready for the same spirit of sacrifice as its elders”.
“As the dangers mount… you remind us that we are ready to consent to the same sacrifices to defend what is most dear to us,” Macron said.
King Charles, whose visit to Normandy on Thursday will be his first overseas trip since his cancer diagnosis, led a day of commemorations in the English port city of Portsmouth, a key hub as Allied troops prepared for D-Day.
“As we give thanks for all those who gave so much to win the victory whose fruits we still enjoy to this day, let us once again commit ourselves always to remember, cherish and honour those who served that day,” he said.
While the sacrifice of Allied soldiers will be centre stage, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian President Sergio Mattarella will also be present in Normandy on Thursday as a sign of international post-World War II reconciliation.
Welcoming veterans as they arrived by air in Normandy, the French leader’s wife Brigitte Macron expressed France’s “deepest respect and deepest love”, in a video posted on Macron’s X account.
“I am glad we won the war,” one told her.
“Oh yes we did,” she replied in English, clasping his hand fervently.
– ‘Deepen Ukraine support’ –
Biden, who touched down in Paris earlier Wednesday, was also expected to promote the United States as a defender of democracy and international alliances, contrasting himself against election rival Donald Trump during a state visit that will last until Sunday.
On Friday, Biden will give a speech on defending freedom and democracy at the Pointe du Hoc, a clifftop promontory whose German bunkers were attacked by US troops in a daring assault during the landings.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters travelling to Paris that Biden would tell Zelensky “how we can continue and deepen our support for Ukraine”.
Macron has already sought to break taboos by refusing to rule out sending troops to Ukraine, a position that unsettled some EU allies.
But there have been shifts in recent weeks, with the West showing readiness to allow Ukraine to use Western-provided weapons to strike targets in Russia, and France pushing for the deployment of European military instructors in Ukraine.
The landings by Allied forces, backed by airborne operations that parachuted troops directly onto occupied soil, were the biggest naval operation ever in terms of the number of ships deployed and the troops involved.
By the end of what became known as “the longest day”, 156,000 Allied troops with 20,000 vehicles had landed in Nazi-occupied northern France despite facing a hail of bullets, artillery and aircraft fire.
The landings marked the beginning of the end of the Nazi occupation of Europe, though months of intense and bloody fighting still lay ahead before victory over the regime of Adolf Hitler.
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