| Original caption: “Resistance to the Germans – French Army Returns to France.” A Frenchwoman hands flowers to the crew of the M4A2 Sherman tank “Brive-La-Gaillarde,” (a Commune in South-Central France) of the Douzième Régiment de Cuirassiers d’Afrique, Deuxième Division Blindée (“Twelfth African Cuirassier Regiment, Second Armored Division”) as it passes through La Haye-du-Puits, the assembly area for the Free French 2nd Armored Division. The tank has kicked up a lot of dust; it is actually mid-day, but the dust obscures the scene. The town had been liberated in a pitched battle July 5-9, 1944, when the American 79th Infantry Division and 749th Tank Battalion fought through hedgerows, sustaining heavy casualties. Much of the town, including Eglise de La Haye seen in the background of this view, was destroyed, either during aerial bombardment in June or during the July liberation. The south bell tower of the church was destroyed during the fighting and never rebuilt. The Deuxième Division Blindée under Free French Army General Philippe Leclerc (November 22, 1902 – November 28, 1947) received the news of the June 6, 1944, with a mix of joy and frustration. Joy that the invasion of their homeland to remove the Boche (derogatory term – “German”) forever had begun; frustration that their unit was still in the United Kingdom. It was not until July 31, 1944, that the Deuxième Division Blindée was able to move to France, and that was largely due to Leclerc’s insistence. The transport of the entire division would take nearly a week; the General’s own vehicles would be some of the last to be offloaded. Leclerc is strangely silent as he returned to his homeland. “It gives a strange impression,” he said to his subordinates, in a strained voice. By August 1, the Shermans of Douzième Régiment de Cuirassiers d’Afrique had trundled from Utah Beach and Saint Martin de Vareville, where a marker stands today to commemorate the landing of Deuxième Division Blindée, to the unit’s bivouac at La Haye-du-Puits. Everywhere, the horrors of war greeted the men of Deuxième Division Blindée. Leaving the bivouac was forbidden because of the presence of antipersonnel mines everywhere. Only the meadows assigned to the units were cleared of explosives. Many houses and farms were in ruins. In many places there were German and American corpses, often in piles, and rotting animals. The tanks were covered in their brown and green camouflage nets are lined up under the trees. Leclerc dined with his cousin, François de Hauteclocque (October 25, 1888 – May 23, 1956), a local mayor, who had endured imprisonment in Germany for a year on the charge of hiding a gun in his home. His son Wallerand (November 16, 1920 – March 3, 2010), who joined him at the dinner, was the 1st native of France who lived through the occupation to volunteer for the Deuxième Division Blindée. He had been hiding from the Germans to avoid forced labor in Germany. The next day, the 166th Signal Photo Company filmed the armored vehicles and tanks of Deuxième Division Blindée as they begin to move to the front. All along the path of the Division, joyously incredulous men and women celebrate the arrival of a Free French fighting unit. They celebrated with them and offered them everything they had left, apples from their apple trees, wine, cheese, cider that they had hidden. Young Normans came out of hiding or off the farms and joined the Deuxième Division Blindée, even as Normandy was torn apart by Allied bombing and German shelling. 4 years of Nazi German occupation spurred them to sign up to fight. The M4A2 was a twin-diesel-engined version of the Sherman; 10,968 were produced in 6 factories from April 1942 to July 1945. Most went to the United Kingdom and Commonwealth forces. Deuxième Division Blindée operated 206 Shermans with the 75 millimeter gun, which had acceptable armor penetration against the Panzerkampfwagen (“armored combat vehicle”) Mark IV tank, but couldn’t defeat the frontal armor of the Panther Panzerkampfwagen Mark V or the Tiger I or II Paznerkamfwagen Mark VI. It could be an effective high explosive weapon against soft-skinned vehicles, urban areas, or personnel. Later M4A2s had “wet” stowage that protected the crew from the ammunition exploding when the tank was hit, but this early model in this photo carried its ammunition in dry racks. Note the extra track length and appliqué armor on the sides of the tank. The M1919A4 bow hull-mounted machine gun is covered. The Division’s symbol – the Cross of Lorraine over the map of France – is on the tank’s side hull, while the French tricolor is painted on the front. Under Leclerc, Deuxième Division Blindée all but destroyed the 9th Panzer Division and participated in the Battle of Malaise, inflicting heavy casualties on the Nazi German 7th and 15th Armies. The Division then raced for Paris to relieve the Forces Françaises de l’Intérieur (FFI – “French Forces of the Interior”) in their fight to expel the Nazi German garrison before they turned on the populace. In Paris, deliriously happy Parisians rode the Sherman tanks of Deuxième Division Blindée after they engaged and defeated their Nazi German counterparts and the garrison surrendered. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0421.jpg |
| Image Size | 589.13 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2916 x 2157 |
| Photographer | JM Hall |
| Photographer Title | United States Army Signal Corps |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | August 2, 1944 |
| Location | |
| City | La Haye-du-Puits |
| State or Province | Normandy |
| Country | France |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | NLR-PHOCO-A-65638(94) |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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