War Damage in France

Bridge after destruction and houses bombed in the background. Ville de Mouzon, France, June-July 1940.

France suffered staggering manpower losses and much property damage in the war of 1914-1918. She had not fully recovered from the effects of the war when she was plunged into a second conflict in which she sustained more terrible wounds than ever before. Her manpower losses were not as severe in World War II as they had been from 1914 to 1918, but the damage to her cities and towns was far more severe from 1940 to 1945 than it had been during World War I. France's structure of wages and prices, already threatened with inflation as a result of the prolonged period of hostilities from 1914 to 1918, was further weakened during World War II. Living conditions in France are so bad today that only the very wealthy are able to secure sufficient food, clothing, and fuel to maintain a healthful standard of living.

The German armies and air forces inflicted considerable damage upon France during their successful offensive in the spring and summer of 1940. The damage grew more extensive each year thereafter became of systematic German looting and Anglo-American aerial bombardment. Then, on June 6, 1944, the armies of the Western Allies landed in Normandy and commenced to fight their way across France into the Hitler Reich. The German armies resisted furiously, and countless towns and villages were destroyed in the bat-tles which ensued. Unfortunately for France, the invasion which liberated her brought about more destruction than she had suffered during the victorious onslaught of Hitler's armies in 1940.

Many cities, such as Brest, Caen, Dunkerque, Falaise, and St. L6 were almost completely destroyed. Hundreds of towns, villages, and farms suffered the same fate. All told, over 1,200,000 buildings were demolished or sustained major damage, and more than 1,000,000 people were made homeless! Several thousand kilometers of mainline railroad track were torn up, 2,300 railroad bridges were destroyed, and France lost about half of the railroad cars and nearly 8o percent of the locomotives which she had possessed in 1939! Tremendous damage was inflicted upon industrial plants. Many thousands of acres of the best arable land were rendered unproductive because of the war.

Source :
"War Damage and Problems od Reconstruction in France 1940-1945" by George W. Kyte