Francois Hollande becomes first French president to visit D-Day war graves

Francois Hollande has become the first French President in history to visit the graves of thousands of British soldiers who died liberating his country on D-Day.

Francois Hollande (2ndR), flanked by French Junior Minister for Veterans, Kader Arif (2ndL), reviews the troops prior to a ceremony to mark the D-Day’s 68th anniversary

He paid a visit to the Ranville Cemetery to mark the 68th anniversary of the famous invasion.

It contains the graves of 2,564 British soldiers, many of whom were members of the 6th Airborne Division who died in the early hours of June 6 1944 after landing by glider and parachute.

Mr Hollande’s decision to place a commemorative wreath in the village near Caen, Normandy, will help lay to rest past accusations that the French have underplayed the British contribution to victory in World War Two.

As rain poured down at the end of his visit, Mr Hollande said: “The rain doesn’t matter, being here does.”

He shook hands with Parachute Regiment veterans, as well as serving British and French Army soldiers.

In previous years, French D-Day commemorations have concentrated on American invasion beaches, and on the sacrifice of Free French and Resistance forces.

“The President is, like millions of French people, hugely indebted to the British,’ said a source in Mr Hollande’s ruling Socialist Party.

“Their airborne division was responsible for the first liberation of a town on D-Day, and that’s why Mr Hollande wanted to be in Ranville to pay tribute.”

Mr Hollande was joined in Ranville by Philip Hammond, the defence secretary, and the pair attended a commemorative service and laid wreaths.

In 1944, Britain’s 6th Airborne Division took part in a daring raid to capture two heavily defended bridges across the River Orne and Caen Canal on D-Day.

An assault group made up of men from the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry landed in six gliders, earning themselves a place in military folklore which was immortalised in the classic war film The Longest Day.

Following liberation, the Ranville churchyard was immediately used to bury those who were killed, before an official cemetery was opened next to it after the war.

Jean-Luc Adelaide, the mayor of Ranville, said that French President Vincent Auriol had visited nearby Benouville in 1948, but that no head of state had ever visited the cemetery at Ranville, either on D-Day or on any other day.

As well as the thousands of British servicemen and 76 Canadians, those lying in Ranville also include 330 German soldiers.

There was controversy in 2009 when, on the 65th anniversary of D-Day, Buckingham Palace said there would be no members of the Royal Family at commemorations because they had not been invited by the French.

Instead, the then President Nicolas Sarkozy took part in commemorations at the US Omaha Beach.

Some French officials referred to the event as “primarily a Franco-American ceremony”.

Francois Hollande becomes first French president to visit D-Day war graves