Musée du 5 Juin 1944 « Message Verlaine »

The Musée du 5 Juin 1944 « Message Verlaine » (June 5, 1944 “Verlaine Message” Museum) in Tourcoing commemorates the “Verlaine Message”: the message broadcast by the BBC Radio program “Les Français Parlent Aux Français” to France at 9:15PM on June 5, 1944, which alerted the French Resistance to the imminent Allied invasion of Normandy. The message, which read “Blessent mon coeur d'une longeur monotone” – a line from French poet Paul Verlaine’s Chanson d’Automne – called for the Resistance to immediately engage in attacks and sabotage on rail transport and German supply lines, to aid in the success of the Normandy Landings.

The museum is located in a concrete blockhouse, part of the former military headquarters of the German 15th Army, where the radio message was first intercepted by German forces. The blockhouse has been preserved, and presents visitors with the history of the radio interception and of the 15th Army’s role in the Battle of Normandy.

The museum was inaugurated in 1991.