La place du Commandant Kieffer

It was on the heights of Amfreville that Commando Kieffer carried out its last mission on June 6, 1944. The French had been ordered to hold this lock east of the D-Day beaches, repelling any German counter-attack.

British commandos set up defensive positions around the central square, dominated by the church, on June 6, 1944. When the French Commando Kieffer troops arrived at Le Plain in the late afternoon, they took up positions facing the German lines just a few hundred meters away in Bavent, Bréville and, further north, Sallenelles.

Preparing for a war of position, the French dug trenches for their first night in France, to the east of the church, opposite Bavent, then at the edge of a grove opposite Bréville.

It was on this large lawn, now known as Place du Commandant Kieffer, that the British erected a monument "dedicated to the memory of the officers and men of the 1st Special Service Brigade who lost their lives in the fighting for Normandy in June and July 1944".

Inaugurated on July 14, 1944, the monument is like a challenge to the Germans 300m away. Between the pennant of the commandos, that of the commune carried by a 14-18 veteran, the tricolor flag and the Union Jack, the population gathered to pay tribute to all the soldiers who have fallen since June 6.

Considered the first commemorative site in Normandy, it has been completed since June 6, 2019, by a bronze bust of Philippe Kieffer, a tribute to the Frenchmen who fought at Amfreville before leaving the commune on June 29, 1944. On June 6, 2024, a bust of Lord Lovat, patron saint of the Commandos, was inaugurated opposite the "Commandos Farm".

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