1944

Karl Muenter, who was sentenced to death in absentia by a French court for his role in the massacre by his SS division of 86 male civilians in the northern French village of Ascq during World War II, and who last year appeared on German television saying he had no regrets over the events and denied the deaths of six million people in the Holocaust, has died of natural causes in Germany at the age of 96.

President Hollande will pay tribute to the terrible civilian casualties suffered by the French due to Allied bombing during liberation of France.

Soldier Jean-Louis Cremieux-Brilhac wrote up the invasion instructions for the French people that were broadcast via the BBC.

President Hollande leads celebrations, joined by new Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, but warns more needs to be done to ensure full equality.

Charges against the 88-year-old man relate to Oradour-sur-Glane in central France where 642 people were murdered by SS troops in 1944.