French Wars

La Grande Guerre a entraîné la mutilation ou la mort de millions de civils et de soldats. Suivez les traces des militaires britanniques, allemands et américains qui détaillent la vie et les combats de la guerre dans un pays étrange et étranger.

The invasion across the Channel came in the early morning hours of June 6, 1944. That day, forever known as D-Day, the Allies commenced Operation Overlord by staging the largest and most complex amphibious invasion in human history. The complex operation would require tightly coordinated naval and air bombardment, paratroopers, and even inflatable tanks that would be able to fire on fortifications from the coastline, all while landing over 150,000 men across nearly 70 miles of French beaches.

Conçu sur le même style de récit que « Taupes », « Missions de l’ombre» nous entraîne dans les coulisses de quelques opérations de contre-terrorisme et contre-espionnage tant au Canada qu’à l’étranger. C’est aussi une plongée dans le quotidien peu banal de policiers et agents aux nerfs d’acier confrontés à de puissantes organisations étatiques ou criminelles qu’ils doivent infiltrer ou déjouer.

Janvier 1917 : Raymond Aumoine se marie. À Montluçon, la place de l'église Saint-Pierre est noire de monde. On vient fêter l'un de ces aviateurs risque-tout, héros de Verdun, qui portent les derniers espoirs de l'arrière. On vient toucher du doigt ces jeunes amoureux miraculeusement réunis par la tourmente. On vient en secret rendre hommage aux siens morts au combat. Dans les yeux de Marie Aumoine, la mère, se lisent peur et résignation.

France, 1939: A talented singer, Ruth Lacroix has left Maine to live with her aunt and uncle, dreaming of performing at the Casino de Paris. But with the outbreak of war, and the heartbreaking news that her cousin has been killed by German forces, that goal is supplanted by another—to support France in any way she can.

In this thrilling historical spy novel from New York Times best-selling author Alan Furst, two heroic resistance fighters smuggle valuable information to occupied Paris to turn the tide of the World War II and defeat Nazi Germany.

C'est l'histoire d'Adrien, un jeune ingénieur officier en 1914, à qui tout sourit. Mais, dans les premiers jours de la guerre, lors d'une reconnaissance sur les bords de la Meuse, un éclat d'obus le défigure. En un instant, il est devenu un monstre, une "gueule cassée". Adrien ne connaîtra ni l'horreur des tranchées ni la boue, le froid, la peur ou les rats. Transféré au Val-de-Grâce, il rejoint une chambre réservée aux officiers. Une pièce sans miroir où l'on ne se voit que dans le regard des autres.

Une odyssée familiale puissante et passionnante. Après le succès de L'Île des oubliés, le grand retour de Victoria Hislop à la saga historique. Athènes, milieu des années 1940. Récemment libérée de l'occupation allemande, la Grèce fait face à de violentes tensions internes. Confrontée aux injustices qui touchent ses proches, la jeune Themis décide de s'engager auprès des communistes et se révèle prête à tout.

In February 1793, in the wake of the War of American Independence and one year after British prime minister William Pitt the Younger had predicted fifteen years of peace, the National Convention of Revolutionary France declared war on Great Britain and the Netherlands. France thus initiated nearly a quarter century of armed conflict with Britain. During this fraught and still-contested period, historian Nathaniel Jarrett suggests, Pitt and his ministers forged a diplomatic policy and military strategy that envisioned an international system anticipating the Vienna settlement of 1815.

David Bell emphasizes the astonishing sense of human possibility that Napoleon represented. Bell emphasizes the importance of the French Revolution in understanding Napoleon's career. The revolution made possible the unprecedented concentration of political authority that Napoleon accrued. Without the political changes brought about by the revolution, Napoleon could not have fought his wars. Without the wars, he could not have seized and held onto power. Though his virtual dictatorship betrayed the ideals of liberty and equality, his life and career were revolutionary.

In the spring of 1940, the aspiring but unknown writer Albert Camus and budding scientist Jacques Monod were quietly pursuing ordinary, separate lives in Paris. After the German invasion and occupation of France, each joined the Resistance to help liberate the country from the Nazis and ascended to prominent, dangerous roles. After the war and through twists of circumstance, they became friends, and through their passionate determination and rare talent they emerged as leading voices of modern literature and biology, each receiving the Nobel Prize in their respective fields.

The life story of Major Robert Rogers, the New England frontiersman who recruited companies of colonial soldiers, known as Rogers' Rangers, to fight for the British in the French and Indian War, is a compelling mix of military intrigue and national identity. This feisty major codified colonial military strategies into a document, known as Standing Orders, and put these principles to practice in many battles, campaigns, and scouting.

Published in the 200th anniversary year of the Battle of Waterloo, a witty look at how the French still think they won, by Stephen Clarke, author of 1000 Years of Annoying the French and A Year in the Merde. Two centuries after the Battle of Waterloo, the French are still in denial. If Napoleon lost on 18 June 1815 (and that's a big 'if') then whoever rules the universe got it wrong. As soon as the cannons stopped firing, French historians began rewriting history.

This is the story of a rifleman's resourcefulness in a single-handed war against the forces of Napoleon. Separated from his regiment, he uses a band of undisciplined Portuguese guerrillas to battle his way back to his own lines.

Susan Tate Ankeny was sorting through the belongings of her late father - a World War II bombardier who had bailed from a burning B-17 over Nazi-occupied France in 1944 - when she found two boxes. One contained her dad's Air Force uniform, and the other an unfinished memoir, stacks of envelopes, black-and-white photographs, mission reports, dog tags, and the fake identity cards he used in his escape. Ankeny spent more than a decade from that moment tracking down letter writers, their loved ones, and anyone who had played a role in her father's story.

In 1914, while visiting her friend Madeleine, Lady Elspeth Douglas's life is thrown into chaos when war breaks out and the Germans quickly overrun Belgium, threatening France. Having just agreed to marry Alain, Madeleine's dashing brother, Lady Elspeth watches him leave to join his unit, and then she sets out for England, only to find herself trapped on the French coast.

" Que vaut-il mieux ? Que votre enfant meure avec vous, ou qu'il reste en vie loin de vous ? ". Cristelle Ledroit met son émotion et sa voix claire au service de ce second tome bouleversant. Dans l'enfer d'Auschwitz, Ester caresse doucement les cheveux de Pippa, son bébé. C'est un miracle que sa petite fille soit blonde, car grâce à ce détail l'enfant pourra rester en vie. Bientôt, les nazis viendront prendre son bébé pour le donner à une famille allemande. Mais Ester veut croire qu'un jour, après la guerre, elle retrouvera sa Pippa.

The fateful days and weeks surrounding June 6th, 1944, have been extensively documented in histories of the Second World War, but less attention has been paid to the tremendous impact of these events on the populations nearby. The Lost Paratroopers of Normandy tells the inspiring yet heartbreaking story of ordinary people who did extraordinary things in defense of liberty and freedom.

In February 1944, the French Resistance in the Amiens area was in turmoil. Its strength had been decimated by German aggression and the work of a number of traitors in their midst, and hundreds of its members languished in the city's formidable jail, awaiting an almost certain death at the hands of their captors. When two Allied intelligence officers were incarcerated alongside them it became clear that immediate action was imperative.

Muguette Szpajzer, fillette de 10 ans, a quitté Paris avec sa famille pour aller se réfugier non loin de la capitale, dans le village de Champlost. Les mémoires de Muguette, présentés en une série de petits tableaux, ont l’innocence et le charme de l’enfance. Ils offrent un aperçu unique de la vie rurale en France durant la tourmente de la guerre, et rendent hommage à la fois à la force de caractère de sa mère et au courage des habitants de Champlost.