We paid for a D-Day tour, it was money well spent. This is a great summary of the various D-Day landing beaches. It gives nice summaries (which I'll borrow from liberally below) of the places we went.
It's hard to capture in pictures the impact of what we saw, but below are a few. I strongly suggest reading up on the history of D-Day to truly understand what they went through, and why you aren't speaking German today. As we drove all over Normandy, we saw American flags still flying at private residences, 70+ years later!
Normandy American Cemetery
The Normandy American Cemetery, Memorial and Visitor Centre at Colleville-sur-Mer: every year, more than a million visitors come to pay homage at this beautifully sited, extremely poignant war cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach and the sea. There are 9,387 individual crosses dedicated to American soldiers who lost their lives on D-Day and in the ensuing Battle of Normandy. The names of 1,557 men missing in action are inscribed on the Walls of the Missing. At either end of the Memorial colonnade are large maps and explanations of the main military operations. In the centre of the memorial, the striking bronze statue is entitled ‘Spirit of American Youth Risin from the Waves’.
Hey! Look who we bumped into!
Omaha Beach
Notoriously, the American troops who landed at Omaha Beach suffered the worst on D-Day. The bombardments before the Landings proved ineffective in wiping out the many German positions dotted along the slopes above the beaches beyond Colleville-sur-Mer, Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer and Vierville-sur-Mer. On top of that, the Allied amphibious tanks were launched too far out from the shore and failed. The infantry coming ashore were decimated by German fire across the long beaches. Despite heavy losses, small groups of Americans made it up the slopes and took German positions from behind, so some gains were made, if at heavy human cost. At the end of the day, the forces that landed here suffered 3,000 casualties, of whom c.1,000 died.Carol reading up on a monument.
Pointe du Hoc
The Pointe du Hoc at Cricqueville-en-Bessin: this famous point was one of the strong points of the German fortifications. A museum set back from the headland covers the campaign here in detail. Follow the trail right around the point and you learn the moving stories of many of the individual American soldiers who took part in the attack here. The ground is still littered with German concrete defences. From the tip of the headland, with its memorial, you can appreciate just what a strategic position this was, with views stretching far to east and west.
We bombed this place relentlessly. You can still see the craters.
You can still see the craters on Google Maps.
Utah Beach
The most westerly landing sector on D-Day, Utah Beach lies on the Cotentin Peninsula, also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, and it was in fact in order to help take the vital port of Cherbourg rapidly that the Allied commanders of Operation Overlord, Eisenhower and Montgomery, decided that this further Landing Beach was required. It was extensive, going from the beach beyond the village of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont north to that by Quinéville.Extensive marshes separate Utah Beach from the other D-Day beaches. These wetlands caused havoc as American airborne troops parachuted down into the area behind the coast in the night of 5th to 6th June to try and eliminate German defences there. Most memorably, John Steele’s parachute got stuck on the tower at Sainte-Mère-Eglise as fighting took place around the church.
The landings from the ships also went awry in these parts, the bulk of the American forces coming ashore a couple of miles south of the designated zone. This error turned out to be a blessing, as the soldiers setting foot on French soil here met with relatively little resistance.
Riding on Utah Beach. The tides change the beaches by 100s of meters. This was near low tide.
Look who we bumped into!
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