Étréham () is a commune in the Calvados department in the

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

in northwestern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Toponymy

''Oesterham'' in 1350. Probably Old Saxon ''*wester'' or Old English ''westre'' related to "west" (Old High German ''westar'', west-; see

Westerham Westerham is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located 3.4 miles east of Oxted and 6 miles west of Sevenoaks, adjacent to the Kent border with both Greater London and Surrey. I ...

, Kent) and ''hām'' "home, hamlet" René Lepelley, ''Dictionnaire étymologique des noms de communes de Normandie'', Presses Universitaires de Caen 1993. or, less probably, Old Saxon ''ōstar'' related to "east" (see

Ouistreham Ouistreham () is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy region in northwestern France. Ouistreham is a small port with fishing boats, leisure craft and a ferry harbour. It serves as the port of the city of Caen. The town borders t ...

). This place name corresponds to Saxon settlements in

Bayeux Bayeux (, ; ) is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy in northwestern France. Bayeux is the home of the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. It is also known as the fir ...

and in the surrounding

Bessin Bessin () is an area in Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Norman ...

Region (the so-called ''Otlinga Saxonia'') in the 5 - 6th century or to Anglo-Scandinavian settlements later in the 10th.

History

World War II

The village was bombed on 8 June 1944, two days after the

D-Day landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

, by the

Big Red One The 1st Infantry Division (1ID) is a combined arms division of the United States Army, and is the oldest continuously serving division in the Regular Army. It has seen continuous service since its organization in 1917 during World War I. It w ...

(U.S. First Division). It was liberated one day later, and about 600 German soldiers were taken prisoner. After the liberation, the Allies used the place called ''Mont Cauvin'' in the same commune to store their oil until the conquest of

Cherbourg Cherbourg is a former Communes of France, commune and Subprefectures in France, subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French departments of France, department of Manche. It was merged into the com ...

Population

References

Communes of Calvados (department) Calvados communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia {{Bayeux-geo-stub

Toponymy

History

World War II

Population

See also

References