Leaflets

Allied airplanes drop leaflets that warn the inhabitants to evacuet. An Urgent message
to the inhabitants of this town, they say. Depart immediately to open country.
Bombers
Crossing the English Channel (canal de la mancha) at midnight, 12 airplanes approach
the coast of France, they count to 20 and drop bombs on the walled city.
The girl
sixteen-year-old named Marie-Laure LeBlanc
a model – (maqueta): contains scale replicas of
the hundreds of houses and shops and hotels
within its walls.
Places: the cathedral with its perforated spire,
and the bulky old Chateau de Saint-Malo, and
row after row of seaside mansions studded
with chimneys.
Marie-Laure runs her fingertips along the
centimeter-wide parapet
With her adept fingers, she studies a small
but accurate model of Paris carved by her father, she learns to "see" the world through
touch.
The boy
Werner Pfennig, a white-haired eighteen-year-old German
He´s in the hotel.,. L´hotel des Abeilles
Saint-Malo
Only the poor, the stubborn, and those physically unable to leave are still in Saint-Malo.
Some take refuge in bomb shelters. Some hope this is merely a drill. Two months ago,
on D-Day (Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi control that took place from
June to August 1944), much of France had been liberated by the Allies, and the tide of
war had turned. Yet the fortress city of Saint-Malo remains a last stronghold for German
forces. Rumors abound that a vast underground facility has been constructed that will
allow the Germans to live in safety for a year and to bombard with mounted guns any
ship seeking to attack from the sea.
The fortress city, part of France's Brittany peninsula, is surrounded by ocean and
connected to the rest of France by "a causeway, a bridge, a spit of sand." On an outer
island a quarter mile away stands another fortress, this one a prison. As antiaircraft
shells howl over the sea, the 300 inmates of the prison wonder whether it means
liberation or annihilation.
Históricamente, se utiliza el término día D para referirse al 6 de junio de 1944 en la
Segunda Guerra Mundial, día en el que comenzó a ejecutarse la denominada Operación
Overlord. Dicha operación consistía en llevar a cabo un gran desembarco en las playas
de Normandía como estrategia para abrir un nuevo frente en la Europa Occidental y
reducir el dominio alemán, aunque empezó de madrugada con el aterrizaje de tres
planeadores de la 6.ª División Aerotransportada del Ejército británico y la posterior
toma del puente Pegasus por la Compañía D del 2.º Regimiento de Infantería Ligera de
Oxfordshire y Buckinghamshire, integrada en la Brigada de Desembarco Aéreo de dicha
División. En esta fecha la operación Overlord consiguió una cantidad importante de sus
objetivos previstos, logrando que las tropas aliadas se adentraran en la costa francesa
e iniciasen así la liberación de la Europa occidental ocupada por la Alemania nazi
durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial.
Las playas de Utah, Omaha, Sword, Gold y Juno, a lo largo de casi 80 kilómetros de
litoral, fueron protagonistas del “Día más largo” y a la postre definitivo de aquel año
1944 en que miles de soldados norteamerianos, canadienses y británicos alcanzaron
Normandía para liberar Francia del dominio nazi. Es obvio que el recuerdo de aquel 6
de junio está presente en numerosos monumentos conmemorativos, bunkers, cráteres
producidos por las bombas y un sinfín de parafernalia militar conservada en distintos
museos.
Number 4 rue Vauborel
In her sixth-floor bedroom, Marie-Laure kneels beside the model of the city and traces
the path from its outer ramparts to 4 rue Vauborel. She has lived in this "tall, derelict
bird's nest of a house" owned by her great-uncle Etienne for four years. In the sky
above the city, "a dozen American bombers roar toward her."
The floor under her is starting to vibrate as her fingers find a hidden catch that releases
the little house from the model. Lifting it out, Marie-Laure twists the tiny chimney and
slides off three wooden panels of its roof. Then she tips the little house, and a teardrop-
shaped stone the size of a pigeon's egg falls into her hand.
Cellar
In the Hotel of Bees, Werner Pfennig has taken refuge in the cellar. Hacked out of the
bedrock, it will be safe from the bombing. With him are Staff Sergeant Frank
Volkheimer and engineer Bernd. The cellar is crammed with confiscated treasures.
Werner starts up a two-way radio. It will allow him to communicate with the antiair
battery upstairs, on the third floor, as well as two other batteries inside the city walls
and the defense forces stationed underground, across the river. Through his
headphones Werner can hear the Austrians upstairs as they load and fire the gun.
Overhead, the ceiling lights flicker. The crackling of the radio reminds Werner of home,
Frau Elena, and his little sister, Jutta. He also hears the radio voices of his childhood.
Bombs Away
The 12 planes reach the city and release an avalanche of bombs—480 in all. The roar of
the explosions drowns out the warning sirens. The antiair guns fire until empty. The
bombers rise and peel away, unscathed.
On rue Vauborel, in her sixth-floor bedroom, Marie-Laure takes cover beneath her bed.
She is clutching the stone and little model house.
The cellar beneath the Hotel of Bees goes dark.

1- Allied airplanes drop leaflets that warn the inhabitants to evacuet, it is an urgent
message to the inhabitants of this town, they say. Depart immediately to open country
2- They are crossing the English Channel at midnight, 12 airplanes approach the
coast of France
3- Marie-Laure is blind, her father, builds models of the cities where she lives to
give her the opportunity to travel in the city but in a safe way. There are places like:
the cathedral with its perforated spire, the bulky old Chateau de Saint-Malo, and row
after row of seaside mansions studded with chimneys. Maybe it's the places where she
was and now, she can't go visit
4- The boy is Werner Pfennig, a white-haired eighteen-year-old German. He´s in the
hotel, L´hotel des Abeilles he is part of the Austrian troops, he is in charge of
communications. In recent weeks, the hotel has been converted into a fortress.
5- Historically, the term D-day is used to refer to June 6, 1944 in World War II, the
day that Operation Overlord began to run. This operation consisted of making a landing
on the beaches of Normandy as a strategy to open a new front in Western Europe and
reduce German rule. Saint-malo is one of the cities that were liberated by the allies.
6- With her fingers, she studies the model of Paris carved by her father, she learns
to "see" the world through touch, there is a diamond inside of the model.