D Day Landings

D Day Landings

I have forgotten to record in our last few posts that the European heatwave is not affecting us here in Normandy. Our first evening was warm until sunset and since then the weather has been great.

What a fascinating day we had exploring the landing sites of D Day (6 June 1944).

We left the Chateau in our comfortable coach and collected our tour guide from a local railway station. Her Name is Svetlana. She is Russian and lives in Normandy. She has several degrees and a masters. She has previously taught English and French and done tour guiding casually. Now it is her full time job and she admits to being obsessed with World War 2 history. This is just great for us as she gives the historical detail in story form so we found her to be very interesting. I understand it wasn’t to everyone’s taste, but we loved it.

As we drive towards the D Day beaches it starts to rain and Svetlana explains it rains 360 days a year in Normandy – maybe a slight exaggeration, but it sets our minds at rest that the weather will stay mild.

 

The 5 D Day landing beaches are Utah and Omaha ( US landings),  Gold, June and Sword. We will be visiting Utah and Omaha.

I realised how scant my history knowledge was when Svetlana told us things I had never heard of. For instance The Atlantic Wall (German: Atlantikwall) was an extensive system of coastal defence and fortifications built by Nazi Germany … Hitler ordered the construction of the fortifications in 1942. Almost a million French workers were drafted to build it.

It made me realise that when Ian and Doug talk about these things at trivia they know a whole set of information that has never been part of our education.

First stop was to see a church (see John Steele section below) and an excellent  museum at Sainte=Mere-Aglise.

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.

When we were back on the bus Svetlana told us there is now controversy over the John Steel story that has become part of history. She asked us to consider the height of the steeple on the church we had seen, then the length of the ropes on the parachutes we saw in the museum, and then decide for ourselves whether a paratrooper could stay out of sight of the Germans if he was caught on the steeple. We liked the way she challenged our thinking.

Next stop was the Utah landing site. We walked in the rain to see the bunkers and German gun installation areas above the 33 metre cliff face.  Their guns has a range of 12 miles which made it difficult for the rangers to land and scale the cliff face.

From here we went to the Omaha area and just stopped briefly for the dedicated photographers to get out in the rain – that was Paul’s job!

Then it was on to Gold Beach where we stopped at Arromanches allowing time for lunch, more museums and shopping.

The Gold Beach sector stretched east of the port of Arromanches (where action was deliberately avoided on D-Day, to keep it clear for the floating pre-fabricated Mulberry Harbour to be put in place after the invasion). Aerial and naval bombardments before the troops landed had successfully knocked out some of the strongest German defences around here. In this sector, east around Ver-sur-Mer, advances were generally rapid. West at Asnelles, German resistance was stronger. By the end of the day, the Allied forces here had practically met the objectives set for them, closing in on the town of Bayeux.

At Arromanches we had lunch in a hotel style eating house located at 5 6 Juin 1944. The street name is actually the D Day landing date. We had no idea that these parts of Normandy live the D Day invasion that resulted in their liberation every day. The allied flag fly daily and many place names etc are intrinsically linked to this event.

We had the best French lunch so far. Paul had fish soup and foie gras. I had sole, cooked with a beautiful butter. We also had lovely bread and again a taste of the Leffe beer we have grown fond of.

After lunch we travelled to Bayeaux to see the tapestry that tells the story of William the Conqueror’s rise to power as King of England.

The audio tour was excellent and walked you through step by step.

Between the tapestry and dinner we went to a local bar. There were several local biers on the menu, one which was named as blonde. Paul asked for the local blonde, but the barmaid did not get the joke.

Then we all met at a creperie across the rod for a delicious dinner , then went back to the chateau. It doesn’t get dark until about 10 pm or later so even though we had a long day of touring we still had daylight when we got home.