French Text Before the war, the young Air Minister chooses Carpiquet in order to create, far from the future front, an airfield dedicated to bomber instruction, strafing and surveillance. In June 1940, the Germans created there a significant military base dedicated first to the Battle of Britain (previously unpublished photos), then to the Dieppe Raid. Throughout its time, the base suffered heavy bombing, and between June and July 1944, it became the cornerstone of the Battle of Caen. Additionally, the Hitlerjugend put up a fierce resistance to Canadians at this site. After the war, it was employed to train hundreds of pilots involved in the Algerian conflict and would become army base before returning entirely to civilian use in 2010. The reader will find here outstanding documentation about a military base that found itself at the heart of history.