Jean-Pierre
BARRET
Lion-sur-mer
Jean-Pierre Barret, aged 12, in the front row at D-Day
My name is Jean-Pierre Barret. I was born in 1931, on 12 December, in the Paris region at Le Perreux.
In 1944, I was 12 years old.
My daily routine was to go to school in Lion-sur-Mer, at the end of the village. And I remember it was quite a long walk from the beach to Haut Lion.
For a very long time, my parents came here in the summer and my mother ran a shop on the beach, under what is known as the Casino.
Jean-Pierre and the British liberators
First there was the exodus in 1939. Perhaps the worst French defeat in history. It was staggering, people were completely despondent. This inexplicable rout.
We didn't stay long because we were afraid of being looted.
At first, we were surprised by these young Germans, who had plenty of Deutschmarks, or rather an Occupation Mark.
My father asked me to guard the shop, the stall we'd set up in front, under the casino, and the young Germans were all around. And my father said to me: ‘Be careful, they mustn't steal anything!
But it was quiet. During the occupation, they behaved relatively well.
We were in the business a bit because my father repaired or made radios. So it was very popular at the time because everyone wanted to hear the news.
I suppose everyone listened to Radio London. We didn't talk about it amongst ourselves. And the Germans too! In German.
In early 1944, there was a German officer who always came in the evening. We couldn't stop them coming in because we were shopkeepers.
We shut everything down and he listened, glued to the loudspeaker. He listened to Radio London in German. He'd pout, never comment, and leave. Secret, secret.
Otherwise, things went pretty well because we children went to school.
The only problem was that some of them passed through mined areas. That was the tragedy. The Germans had put ‘Achtung Minen’ on many of the barriers. And on that occasion, I had two friends who were blown up by mines. It was quite atrocious.
They would go and look for rabbit weed in mined areas because it grew well.
All the shops were open. In the main street, there was Pagny's greengrocer, the patissier, the baker and the grocer. Everything was open.
Photos of Rommel's visit in May 44 recovered by Jean-Pierre
It was quite separate, the French didn't look after the Germans, the Germans didn't look after the French.
Besides, they were in their villas, so we didn't see much of them.
For the whole month before 6 June, there was a lot of bombing in Le Havre.
They weren't bombing here. But when, at around 6.00 am, we saw this whole horizon, which was actually quite close, of boats, we immediately understood.
In the morning, I don't remember what time it was, we saw these warships and landing craft appear, quite close... they weren't very far away. We looked at them through binoculars until it blowed up.
They started spitting fire, those boats... So we flattened out on the ground and waited for it to happen, but it wasn't funny. Ah, it's terrible! Fear is really the first emotion that explains everything in life.
We were bombed for an hour and a half. But as I always say, the casino may well have been a target for them because there were machine guns up there.
And then at some point, it calmed down, so we put our noses outside.
They walked along the walls, smeared with mud, some still wearing their lifebuoys. At that point, they came to see us and were surprised that there were still people living there. The British, the 41st commando I think.
So they went on towards La Hague and then left their packs under a guard in the market square. That's when we started talking to the Englishman who was guarding. So we said, ‘How long are you staying? He said, ‘We're staying 2-3 days’.
Otherwise, we fraternised a lot, because they were handing out treats. British lorries would drive past and throw jams and sweets at us.
We've never forgotten. Humans are animals, don't forget that. There will always be Putins, Hitlers...
If you want peace, you're preparing for war. That's my message!
Don't let them get to you...Don't let them get to you.