Amidst the celebrations, however, a darker undercurrent emerged.
Approximately 9,000 members of the pro-Nazi French Militia faced summary execution during this tumultuous time.
Many of these shorn women were merely prostitutes who had engaged in professional services for the occupying Germans.
Some were subjected to rape, while others became targets of personal vendettas, framed and falsely accused.
Many victims were young mothers, their husbands confined to German prisoner-of-war camps.
Regardless of their social standing or reputation, women accused ofcollaboration horizontalefound themselves exposed to public scorn.
Even French actress Arletty was not spared, found guilty for her liaison with a Luftwaffe officer.
The humiliation meted out to these women sickened many French people and the Allied troops.
In Bayeux, Churchill’s private secretary Jock Colville recorded his reactions to one such scene.
They were in tears, hanging their heads in shame.
So we were not the best judges."
