Suddenly, walking down from the Basilica you’re confronted by a restored Sherman tank, the Blindé Jeanne d’Arc, preserved on Place du Colonel Edon in Marseille.
It commemorates the fierce fighting during the Liberation of Marseille in August 1944, particularly the assault on Notre-Dame de la Garde on August 25-26. After the landings on the Var coast, Moroccan goumiers and Algerian riflemen advanced alongside American tanks. On August 25, as one Sherman rolled up Boulevard Gazzino (now named after Resistance fighter, Boulevard André Aune), it was disabled (reportedly by a grenade). Three crew members were killed instantly.
Restored and displayed at the foot of Notre-Dame de la Garde, the Blindé Jeanne d’Arc stands as a monument to these events and to those who fought for Marseille’s liberation.
