On the morning of 7 June 1944 British armoured units enter the centre of Bayeux, the first city in France to be liberated by the Allies following the D-Day landings. With the 11th century Notre Dame Cathedral as a magical back-drop, the crews of the Churchill and Cromwell tanks receive a jubilant reception from the local resistance fighters and civilians. A week later on 14 June, General de Gaulle, commander of the Free French Forces, would establish his new government here before Paris was liberated in August 1944.