From the USA's 'good war' to Britain's 'great hurrah': how is D-Day remembered around the world?

American interest in the legacy of D-Day further intensified in the late 20th century. President Ronald Reagan gave a celebrated speech during the 40th D-Day anniversary in 1984. Speaking from Pointe du Hoc in Normandy, scene of a fierce D-Day battle involving American Army Rangers, Reagan recalled the landings as a heroic endeavour in which “the Allies stood and fought against tyranny in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history”. In the 1990s, the D-Day histories of Stephen Ambrose – which often focused on the valour of ordinary American soldiers – sold in enormous numbers and Stephen Spielberg’s blockbuster Saving Private Ryan (1998) met with critical and commercial acclaim. In 2000 a National D-Day Museum was opened in New Orleans (since re-named the National World War II Museum), followed a year later by the dedication in Bedford, Virginia, of a National D-Day Memorial.

Today, 6 June’s position in the American memory of the Second World War remains unrivalled. It is remembered as the battle which perfectly encapsulates the moral clarity of America’s ‘Good War’.

D-Day in Great Britain: a last hurrah

D-Day has similarly drawn engaged interest in Britain. British leaders were key architects of the Normandy operation; its troops took charge of two of the five invasion beaches (Gold and Sword), and on 6 June itself the Royal Navy provided the vast majority of the warships. Little wonder that the first D-Day Museum established in Normandy was built in the British invasion sector (at Arromanches). It was opened by the French president, René Coty in 1954. A national D-Day Museum followed in Portsmouth in 1984.

British memory of D-Day often has a more elegiac tone, something apparent in British films

But when compared to its American ally, British memory of D-Day has also often had a more elegiac tone, something apparent in British films. Take, for instance, the rather enigmatic Overlord (1975) as well as the more recent production The Great Escaper (2023). Both tell stories of D-Day that linger on loss rather than celebrating victory. Why is this?

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By September 1944 the balance of power in the Anglo-American alliance (in terms of boots on the ground in France) had shifted very firmly to the United States, and this imbalance would only grow into 1945. Herein lies the significance of D-Day to the British. It is remembered as a last hurrah, the redemption of Dunkirk, and a final moment of parity with their American allies (who were soon to be a superpower). It continues to draw national attention as such. In June 2021, a new British D-Day Memorial was unveiled in Normandy at Ver-sur-Mer.

D-Day in Canada: overlooked and overshadowed

Although the Americans and British often get the lion’s share of the attention, Canadian soldiers also played a crucial role on 6 June. Tasked with landing at Juno Beach (one of the five invasion beaches, sandwiched between the British at Gold and Sword), they are commemorated in a dedicated museum at Courseulles-sur-Mer as well as in the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery at nearby Beny-sur-Mer. In recent years, too, Canadian prime ministers have been regular attendees at the major anniversaries, and a docudrama telling the Canadian story of D-Day – Storming Juno – was released in 2010. Nonetheless, the nation’s important role on D-Day (and at Dieppe, in 1942) is still often overshadowed by the enormous sacrifices made in the First World War by the Canadian Expeditionary Force. In short, it is Vimy Ridge on the Western Front (scene of a battle involving Canadian forces in April 1917), not Juno Beach in Normandy, which looms most prominently in Canadian memory.

D-Day in France: liberation at last

For the French, D-Day – or le débarquement (the landing) – occupies a complex place in national memory. It is recognised as the necessary preamble to national rebirth after four years of Nazi occupation and as such returning Allied veterans have long been given a hero’s welcome. But it is also remembered for the destruction it brought with it – the city of Caen was almost entirely obliterated during the fighting in the summer of 1944. Unlike the British, Canadians, and Americans, and although Free French troops were involved in the landings, D-Day also casts the French in a more passive role: the recipients of liberation.

The French State has on occasion kept some distance from the annual commemorations

As a result, the French State has on occasion kept some distance from the annual commemorations. In 1964, President Charles de Gaulle – the famed wartime leader of the Free French – even refused to attend the 20th anniversary events in Normandy (his relationship with the Americans and British was often strained).

More recently, though, the French have fully embraced the major anniversaries as invaluable opportunities for international diplomacy. This will again be apparent during this year’s commemorations, as too will be the esteem in which Allied veterans are held by the people of Normandy.

D-Day in Germany: a blessing in disguise

Despite being a key Western ally (and a member of NATO since 1955), D-Day anniversaries have understandably proved rather awkward for German leaders. Things began to change though following German reunification (1990) and the end of the Cold War (1991), with historians Gunter Bischof and Michael Maier suggesting that German media now began seeing in D-Day a “blessing in disguise” – the beginning of German liberation from Nazism.

It was not until 2004 that a German Chancellor – Gerhard Schroeder – was invited to attend the official commemorations in Normandy

Even so, it was not until 2004 that a German Chancellor – Gerhard Schroeder – was invited to attend the official commemorations in Normandy. Today, D-Day is remembered in Germany as the fire from which the phoenix of a prosperous and progressive democracy later took flight.

D-Day in Russia: long overdue

Russian memory of the Normandy landings is distinct in several ways. As historian Olga Kucherenko has explained, it all comes down to a matter of perspective: when seen from the embattled Soviet Union, D-Day appears as welcome but long overdue (the Western allies had been promising to open a second front against Nazi Germany since 1942). In later years, Cold War tensions only further distanced Russians from D-Day, with the memory of the Allied invasion often seen from Moscow as something exploited by Western leaders to score propaganda points.

By the 1990s, though, the world was very different. The Cold War was over and the new agenda was to integrate Russia into the international order. In 2004 – the 60th anniversary – President Putin was invited to the commemorations in Normandy. He also attended in 2014.

There will be no such invitation this year (and nor was there one in 2019, the 75th anniversary), with the Russian invasion of Ukraine recently returning East-West tensions to the fore. Putin will no doubt declare indifference and focus instead on a key and on-going domestic policy: commemorating the heroism of the Soviet Red Army in the Great Patriotic War (as the Second World War is known in Russia).

Dr Sam Edwards is a historian of war, memory, and of transatlantic relations