• Home
  • The special forces of the Liberation: exceptional outdoor exhibition

The special forces of the Liberation: exceptional outdoor exhibition

Exhibition

Le 21 septembre à 09:30

Les 21 et 22 septembre prochains, à l’occasion des Journées Européennes du Patrimoine 2024, l’Airborne Museum mettra en place une exposition éphémère dans son parc, sur le terrain entre le bâtiment WACO et le bâtiment Reagan. Intitulée “Les forces spéciales de la Libération”, elle mettra à l’honneur les agents de l’ombre qui ont oeuvré en petits effectifs avant, pendant et après le Débarquement en Normandie, afin de favoriser son déroulement, et sa réussite à moyen et long terme, ainsi que ses suites.

On September 21 and 22, to coincide with the Journées Européennes du Patrimoine 2024, the Airborne Museum will be staging an ephemeral exhibition, part of which will be indoors, in the hall of the Neptune building, and the other in its grounds, on the ground between the WACO building and the Reagan building. Entitled “Les forces spéciales de la Libération” (Special Forces of the Liberation), it will showcase the shadowy agents who worked in small numbers before, during and after the Normandy landings, in order to help ensure the success of the operation in the medium and long term, as well as its aftermath.

More specifically, operations Jedburgh, Sussex and Proust, as well as the OSS Operational Groups, will be detailed in an installation combining exhibits and explanatory panels, supervised and animated by specialists in uniform, who will be happy to answer your questions in French and English. They will also present the equipment of the typical American paratrooper, to illustrate the differences and similarities with that of the various special forces.

Access to this exhibition is included in the price of admission to the museum. It is not possible to access it without paying a museum admission ticket. The exhibition will run continuously during the museum’s opening hours, i.e. from 9.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m., with a lunch break.

Small glimpses of the soldiers in the operations in question:

Jedburghs receiving instructions. The British and American soldiers are seated, while the French soldier (standing right) and the British officer (standing left) give instructions. Credit: US OSS
Jedburghs before a training jump. Credit: US OSS
Resupplying a Jedburgh team. Credit: CIA Archives
Members of Team RONALD prepare to jump into occupied France on August 4, 1944. LT Shirley R. Trumps (foreground) and T/SGT Elmer B. Esch (behind Trumps) were American, while Lieutenant Georges Deseilligny, facing the camera, was French. Credit: Soc.Mil
A Jedburgh and its equipment, 1944. Credit: DR/D-Day Overlord

Operational Groups de l’OSS

Chinese paratroopers in training and their OG instructors before their first mass tactical jump, China 1945. Credit: Soc.Mil
Members of Greek OG Group IV coordinate with Bulgarian soldiers in Macedonia, October 1944. Credit: Soc.Mil
OG Team LAFAYETTE in August 1944. Many of these men then took part in the SEWANEE mission in northern Italy, from March to May 1945. Credit: Soc.Mil

Back to all events

Stay informed

*
*
*
*