title: 6 June 1944: Soldiers in Normandy
author: Philippe Charbonnier
description: Philippe Charbonnier, born in 1962, is a journalist and editor of the French Militaria Magazine, and specializes in the United States forces of World War Two.
zlib_text: **Ken Follett - Jackdaws**  
  
    
  
  Exactly fifty women were sent into France as secret agents by the Special
  Operations Executive during the Second World War. Of those, thirty-six
  survived the war. The other fourteen gave their lives.  
    
  This book is dedicated to all of them.  
    
  THE FIRST DAY  
    
  Sunday, May 28, 1944  
    
  
  **CHAPTER I**  
  
    
  
  ONE MINUTE BEFORE the explosion, the square at Sainte-C‚cile was at peace. The
  evening was warm, and a layer of still air covered the town like a blanket.
  The church bell tolled a lazy beat, calling worshipers to the service with
  little enthusiasm. To Felicity Clairet it sounded like a countdown.  
    
  The square was dominated by the seventeenth-century chƒteau. A small version
  of Versailles, it had a grand projecting front entrance, and wings on both
  sides that turned right angles and tailed off rearwards. There was a basement
  and two main floors topped by a tall roof with arched dormer windows.  
    
  Felicity, who was always called Flick, lov