Valognes suffered its first bombardment in the early afternoon of June 6^th. The Alleaume district was hit, and nearly forty people are known to have died.

   On the 7^th, at around 8.45 pm, Marauders from the Ninth US Air Force reappeared in the skies above the town. The railway station, where some activity had been spotted during the day, was a particular target. There were few civilian victims.

   The bombers returned the following morning, however, at around 9 am, and dropped several hundred bombs across the entire town centre of Normandy’s “Little Versailles”. This time, the death toll was extremely heavy. The heart of the town had been reduced to rubble and more than a hundred bodies lay beneath the ruins