Our first stop on our D-Day tour was the Pegasus Bridge located just north of Caen. This the site of where Captain John Howard and his gliders of the British 6th Airborne Division landed to take and secure the bridge until relieved by other Allied troops on the morning of D-Day, June 6, 1944. It was crucial for the airborne to take control of the bridges and water ways to prepare for the British troops to soon be landing at Sword Beach.
This is the original bridge that was built in 1934, but was replaced by the current bridge as the original could not handle today's driving traffic. First known as the Benounville Bridge it was renamed the Pegasus Bridge in honour of the airborne troops that liberated it by using the unit's symbol of the flying horse Pegasus.
It is known as a bascule bridge or a movable bridge as it moves up and down to allow boats to come through the canal. We actually got to see it swing up. It rocks back and has little teeth along the ground that the corner rocks over.
We checked out one of the local memorabilia shops next to the bridge and Addison quite liked the dummy all dressed up.
This is the Gondree Cafe and it was the first building to be liberated in the area when the British airborne troops came. Major Howard used it as their headquarters on D-Day, but today it is filled with loads of memorabilia left by those former airborne troops who actually freed them on D-Day. Plus you could get a nice cup of coffee and some sweet treats.
We continued to drive along the coast until we reached Ouistreham. There we stopped at the flame monument which paid tribute to the 1st battalion of the Royal marines of the 4th Franco-British commando. These men were the only French unit used during D-Day. Their objective was to capture the casino which was turned into a German fort. Ouistreham was finally liberated by 1 PM on D-Day and only 60 of the 177 men were left to fight after that assault. We peaked over the hedges at the memorial to see the beginning of Sword Beach.
As we drove along through Riva-Bella you could see remains of German defenses out on the beach behind these cute little white beach huts. It was funny to see people today enjoying a nice day out at the beach but evidence of a crazy man's thoughts (Hitler) to set up a massive Atlantic Wall defense.
We popped out of the car again at Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer. Here we got a good look at Juno Beach where the Canadian troops landed. The Germans had fortified the sea front houses and turned into strongholds to hold canons, guns and ammunition.
This monument was dedicated to the 48th Royal Marine Commando who had to literally fight from house to house to open up breaches in the garden walls. There was an intact battery at the sight the held a 50-mm canon gun. As you can see it's back was to the water so that the thick concrete structure could protect it but it had a wide shooting range down each side of the beach.
We didn't stop in the Juno Beach Museum in Courseulles-sur-Mer, which is the only Canadian museum on the beaches, but it looked amazing. It would definitely be one to go back and see, but we had to press on if we were going see what we needed to see before the day's end.
15,000 Canadians along with 9,000 British troops charged beaches defended by pillboxes sheltering canons and machine guns and horrible obstacles set up on the beaches along with 14,000 mines. The Canadians sustained great losses at Juno Beach of men and machines as they set foot on Juno Beach at 8 AM on D-Day, but in places like Bernieres-sur-Mer they were setting up command posts before noon. It has been said that villagers were surprised to hear soldiers shouting out and singing in French after being liberated, but many of them were youngsters from Quebec and of French origin saying they returned to Normandy.
Our next stop was the overlooking cliff at Arromanches-les-Bains. Winston Churchill was famed for his idea to create an artificial harbour at Arromanches. Right in the middle of the bay you can see the remains of Mulberry B called "Port Winston" after Churchill.
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Here is a view of Arromanches from the west side and you can see a better outline of the harbour. They sunk 17 ships to form a break-water of blockships. Then 115 huge blocks of concrete called "Phoenix" blocks (each 200 ft x 60 ft x 50ft) were arranged with dozens of pontoons to essentially create roads out on to the water. The essembly took about two weeks, but after only 9 days over 300,000 men and 54,000 vehicles had disembarked here. It was protected from German air attack by 150 anti-aircraft guns and permanent barrage balloons.
Longues-sur-Mer is the site were the Germans set up a battery of four 150mm cannons that could should up to 12 1/2 miles. The concrete structures protecting these bad boys was just amazing (walls and ceiling were 6 feet thick) and they were half hidden by earth that was mounded up around them. This battery was heavily bombed the night before D-Day (124 planes dropping 600 tons of bombs), but they resisted and took fire on two major American warships and it's firing range over Gold and Omaha beach made landing there very, very dangerous.
Inside the pillboxes you could get a real good look at the remains of these powerful cannons.
About 300 yards ahead of the pill boxes was the German observation point No. 83 which had an amazing vantage point over the Gold and Omaha Beaches. We climbed up steel ladder to get inside an look out through the foot wide gap. We had a run it with a gentleman from Illinois at the site so we had a nice chat and then we found out he as traveling along with a guy from Ottumwa, Iowa...small world!!!
Near the small village of Colleville-sur-Mer is the American Cemetery. This was the most impressive site of the day and most emotional encounter we've had on our fast paced tour. The memorial surrounds a bronze statue created to symbolize the spirit of America and carries the inscription "My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord." Next to the memorial is a wall to commemorate those who went "Missing" that D-Day.
We caught up with a small tour group going around the grounds. The lady brought us to a look out point over Omaha Beach and explained that the treacherous journey for American soldiers at the waters edge to the cliff where we were standing. There happened to be a swell of water a few feet in from the see edge that soldiers thought was solid ground all the way up the beach but it wasn't. Many of them were pulled under and drowned in 6 feet of water and fast moving sand. But those who did make it had to endure heavy fire from the Germans and fight their way through horrible mine fields and large metal barriers. She told us that it took the American forces almost 2 1/2 hours to fight their way up the beach in a distance that could be walked by you and me today in 20 minutes.
The most haunting moment of the day was the moment that we walked up and then around the trees surrounding the burial grounds of the soldiers. I instantly started to cry after seeing thousands and thousands of white crosses. Over 9,300 American soldiers were killed in Normandy and buried there. After the battles soldiers were buried in temporary cemeteries all over the coast, but once the war was over the American government gave the families a choice to repatriate family members or have them buried here. She told us stories of different soldier's stories who were buried here, but it was interesting to find out that 33 cases of brothers buried here. Even some cases of father's who died in WWI who were moved here to be buried next to sons who died in WWII.
We walked down several lines to see if we could find any names from Iowa or Illinois. Neither Kevin or I knew of any family members of ours to have served in WWII, but we found a connection with those who were from our home states. It was amazing to be able to see my son play about in the presence of such brave men who made such a difference in our world with their greatest sacrifice.
The cemetery was preparing for Memorial Day celebrations to be held in two days so they were working pretty hard on the grounds which were already immaculate. We took some time to get a patriotic pose in the amazing place.
I thought it was kind of interesting that she was French and doing tours at the American Cemetery, but she had an amazing story. She saved it for last but she told us of a lady who lived in the village whose was forced by the Germans to serve meals to the soldiers on the beaches everyday during the occupation while she cared for her children and farm. On the day of the liberation she remembers retreating to the countryside and upon returning to her village, she found her farm virtually untouched and she greeted the American soldiers with open arms. Every year after D-Day she continued to visit the American cemetery to pay homage to them. In 2006 she received a medal from one of the American generals and she was so proud that she ask her family to bury her with that pin. She died a few years later and was buried with her pin, but she happened to leave her secret diary with her granddaughter that outlined her encounters with the Germans and with the Americans on D-Day. Our tour guide was the granddaughter and to carry on the spirit of her grandmother she leads tours here at the cemetery.
We found our way down to the beach. I caught this amazing moment of my husband with our children walking down Omaha beach today. I reflected on the fact that this was the battle field for one of the most bloodiest battles in American history and I couldn't even imagine the chaos in what is now such a serene place.
This was a look up the infamous hill that the Americans stormed on D-Day at Omaha. At the top where the trees are is the American Cemetery which was actually a major battle site for the war which is now a place of peace and remembrance.
Both of the kids fell asleep on our way to Pointe du Hoc so we loaded them up in the pushchair and made our way out to this historically deadly site.
Just 4 miles west of Omaha beach, Pointe du Hoc was the site at which 225+ American Army Rangers scaled 100 foot cliffs to overtake a large German defensive site. There were 6 casements each holding 155 mm guns. The rangers scaled the cliffs with ropes and ladders and took severe casualities and injuries as after the assult only 90 men were able to continue fighting. Once the rangers made it to the top, they say it only took about 15 minutes to take control of the guns and destroy them.
We walked around in several of the underground bunkers and casements for the guns and the terrain was very rough at the site and it felt like a really linksy golf course. It wasn't until we got to the top of one of casements that was still in tact to see that the rough terrain was created from all the bombs that were dropped on the site as well. There used to be a look outside at the first point of the site but due to so many visitors over the years the cliff was starting to crumble apart so loads of construction was going on at the site.
This monument was on the way...I can't quite remember what it is called but it was something to do with peace and it was beautiful.
Our last stop of the day was Sainte Mere Eglise. One of this town's claims to fame is that in the very early hours of D-Day paratroopers from the US 82nd and 101st Airborne
divisions fell like rain from the sky. Unfortunately most of the city was on fire that night and that made it easier for the Germans to see them and casualites were heavy. One infamous paratrooper, John Steele, had his parachute get caught on the spire of the local church. He hung there pretending to be dead for almost 2 hours before the Germans captured him. They actually made a movie about the incident called The Longest Day. Today they have a stone statue of the soldier on the side of the church and a parachute hooked on the spire.
A closer look at the statue.
Inside the church they have a stain glass window of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus being protected by American paratroopers.
One thing that I found super cool and more so in this town, the unbelieveable display of American, Canadian, British and French flags all together. Even after all of these years and current politics, the people in this area are still greatful for what all these nations did to help liberate them.
Outside the town hall is a pinkish marker with Km0 (Kilometer Zero) on it which were set up by the French government in 1946 to mark the start of liberation and carried them out all the way to northern Africa to show the path of liberation.
Since it was later in the day we thought we would just get a bite to eat in Ste Mere, but ran into a small problem. Either I didn't read the tourism books well enough or this town is an exception, but there were absolutely no resturants open at 7:30 PM on a FRIDAY!!!! I don't know about you but I thought the French liked to eat out and like the rest of the world do stuff on a Friday, but this place was a ghost town. There happened to be a small walk up pizza place that we settled on and got some decent pizza and drinks and got to enjoy a super quiet supper in this little French town but it was so erie.
But maybe we should have known better when we did our little walking tour of town that we saw these public urnials that had no door and just open for business.
Just had to throw this picture in as it was a CAT rental store along the way and we like to give props the the mother company that allowed us to be here on this trip.
Overall Normandy and our scaled down D-Day tour was absolutely amazing. Some day we would like to come back and do a full guided tour and get more of the stories told to us, but this was still an amazing day that we can look back at and be proud of our nation and the nation we live in today.
