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| The 80th Anniversary of D-Day talk by Professor Robert S. Coale on 6th June 2024 |
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| He is an expert on the Spanish Loyalist exiles in France and on "La Nueve", those Loyalists who joined the Free French and wound up in the French Second Armored Division, otherwise known as the Leclerc Division, one of the most famous Gaullist units in World War Two. Through a twist of fate, these men ended up being the first Allied troops to enter Paris on 24 August 1944. After Paris they continued the campaign for the remaining nine months of the war. The lucky few original men still in ranks were in Berchtesgaden, Austria, when the German Army surrendered to the Allies. In this talk, Professor Coale analyses the autographs that a few of these men left in Vera Kidd's childhood notebook while they spent the months of June and July training with other Allied units in Pocklington and the East Riding of Yorkshire prior to their deployment to France in August of 1944. |
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