D-Day Beaches

This was a long day, took a lot of photos and will likely be a long blog post.  Currently sitting in our hotel in Paris, the day after this trip, but wanted to at least post something to keep in the habit.

Another day trip with our guide Cedric, who was absolutely outstanding on all the trips he's taken us on.  The D-Day beaches tour involved a number of trips to the famous towns and beaches involved in the D-Day landings, as well as a stop off at the Overlord Museum, which contains the personal collection of a gentleman who spent a good number of years after the war, gathering material and equipment from the Normandy countryside.

First stop was Sainte-Mere-Eglise, a town targeted to be captured on D-Day by American Paratroopers.  Unfortunately a fire had broken out during the night near the town, which put the German garrison on high alert.  Whilst monitoring the French civilians fighting the fire, the German troops saw the white parachutes of the American's as they came into land and as a result the first wave of American Paratroopers suffered very high casualties and a number were taken prisoner.  One (un)lucky paratrooper, John Steele, became stuck on the church roof and was shot at a few times before playing dead, he was later captured.  Strangely following this first wave, the German soldiers locked up the prisoners and then retired for the night, so the second wave of paratroopers took the town with little resistance a few hours later.

Dummy of John Steele hanging from the church roof.

Stained glass window in the church depicting the American Paratroopers

Sainte-Mere-Eglise Church

Next stop was Utah Beach, one of the five sectors that the Allied forced landed at during D-Day.

Replica Higgins boat

Willem and James manning the Higgins boat

Utah Beach looking North

Utah Beach looking south towards Omaha Beach

Horses on Utah Beach

Next stop was the German Military Cemetery at La Cambe.  It contains just over 21,000 German soldiers and is one of six major German cemeteries in the Normandy region.  This cemetery certainly has a much more solemn feel to it than the American cemetery, lots of dark stone and areas shaded by the trees.

Entryway to the German cemetery, the lines radiating out are to call the spirits of the dead in.. but they can only walk through the entrance in single file.

Entrance to the German cemetery

Map of the cemetery plots

Central mound feature in cemetery

Top of the mound looking back towards the entrance

One German Soldier, Five German Soldiers.

..14 soldiers

..10 soldiers.  At one point we found five graves, side by side accounting for 25 German soldiers. 

Michael Wittman, the 'Black Baron' was a German tank commander credited with destroying 14 Allied Tanks and 15 Troop Carriers in 15 minutes.  Two months after this he and his crew were killed when their tank was destroyed.  They are all buried together here. 

Next stop, Pointe du Hoc, another allied target during the D-Day landings.  This was a heavily fortified section of the 'Atlantic Wall' which contained four 155mm guns which could fire onto both Utah and Omaha beaches.  US Rangers were sent in by sea, and had to scale the cliffs below to attack the position and disable the guns.  Prior to the attack, the US and British Navies heavily bombarded the point and the craters are still visible today.

Barrel of a 155mm canon.

Damaged gun emplacement

Crater

Willem and James snuck into a damaged bunker.

Willem, James and I snuck into this damaged bunker.. don't think we were supposed to.

Damaged gun emplacement

Willem and James running through a crater.

Steps down to observation / command bunker

Cliffs of Pointe du Hoc looking west

Cliffs of Pointe du Hoc looking east.

Steps down to command bunker

Roof of the communications room in the command bunker, during the battle flamethrowers and grenades were used to clear the rooms.

Hole for dropping grenades onto anyone coming up the steps.

Craters at Point du Hoc

Next stop was Omaha Beach, where the Americans suffered the heaviest casualties on D-Day.  Nicknamed 'Bloody Omaha' as the seas literally ran red on the day.  American troops were pinned down on the beaches under machine gun and mortar fire for around 12 hours before making a break through.  Today it's actually quite a nice looking seaside town, with a beautiful beach.

Omaha Beach memorial

Omaha Beach memorial

Omaha Beach, the promenade, road and house were mostly built post WW2, can still make out the bluffs.

Following a quick lunch stop, we then head into the Overlord Museum.  This is a collection mostly gathered together by one man of items gathered in Normandy after the war.

Sherman tank, they're much bigger than I expected.

German Flak 36

Water Bottle with bullet hole

Canadian helmet with bullet hole.

German SS Uniform

German Panther tank

German Panzer IV Tank

American APC with bullet holes

Panzer IV 

V1 Rocket

The American Cemetery and Memorial at Colleville-su-Mer has a far lighter feel than the nearby German cemetery.  Crisp white tombstones, sandstone monuments and perfectly manicured lawns make for a dignified and respectful resting place for the 10,000 soldiers buried here.  While we were here, two Eurofighter's flew quite low overhead, and they both dipped their wings in salute as they passed over.

An unknown soldier

So many tombstones.

Jewish tombstone

Theodore Roosevelt Jr, at 52 he was the oldest soldier involved in the D-Day Landings and the only General to land on the beaches with his troops in the first wave.  Died from a heart attack a few weeks after the invasion.  He's buried next to his brother Quentin, who was a pilot shot down in WW1.

The Wall of Names

Next stop was the Longues-sur-Mer battery, another coastal gun emplacement on the Normandy coast, between Omaha and Gold beaches.  These emplacements contained re-purposed Naval guns capable of firing to around 20km.

Destroyed gun emplacement

Destroyed gun emplacement

Piece of destroyed gun emplacement buried near bunker.

(mostly) intact gun emplacement.

Spotted a French Navy vessel off the coast.

As the story goes, this particular coastal battery was not quite finished when Rommel came to make his inspection, in fact, the cement was still wet.

Shell casing mark left in cement.

Boot print from German soldier in cement.

Multiple boot prints in the cement

Final stop was a quick visit to the beach at Arromanches, unofficially named 'Port Winston' the area contains the remnants of the British 'mulberry' artificial harbor, that was towed over from England and assembled off Gold Beach during D-Day to give the Allies a port that could be used for unloading supplies.