Normandy 2: Blasts from the Recent Past

Notwithstanding all of the significant historical events that have occurred in Normandy over the past centuries, the Allied military campaign that began with D-Day on June 6, 1944 is still hugely present in the French consciousness. Anniversaries of D-Day and the Normandy campaign that end in "5" or "0" are commemorated more than usual, but even more so those anniversaries that are multiples of "25", such as this year's 75th anniversary.

Many of the larger towns we drove through were

flying this D-Day 75th anniversary flag. 

We kicked off the WWII portion of our trip with an afternoon at the Memorial Museum of the Battle of Normandy in Bayeux. There are dozens of museums in the region devoted to World War II topics, from the general to the very specific. We chose this particular museum because it was specific to the Normandy campaign and we were already in Bayeux for the day. We hoped to get a good understanding of events before actually going to the landing beaches and other pertinent sites. I wish I could say that it was overwhelmingly good, but it was so "text heavy" that we only lasted about an hour before calling it quits.  On our way back to the parking lot we stopped at the Bayeux War Cemetery. With over 4,000 war graves, Bayeux is the largest Commonwealth military cemetery from the Second World War in France.

I need to stop going to British war cemeteries--they always make me cry. Families are allowed to have a message

inscribed on their loved ones' tombstone, and some of the inscriptions are enough to break your heart

Saturday and Sunday, September 7 & 8, were our days for visiting various Normandy battle sites. With an Airbnb centrally located with respect to the landing beaches, we went west on Saturday to focus on America's involvement in Normandy, and as we headed east on Sunday to a different Airbnb we were able to visit sites not in the American zone.

Our first stop on Saturday was the Normandy American Cemetery located just above Omaha Beach at Colleville-sur-Mer. A new Visitor's Center was opened on June 7 of this year, and had a marvelous--NOT text heavy--overview of the campaign and included individual stories of some of the soldiers who fought in Normandy. The cemetery contains the graves of over 9300 soldiers who fell in combat, as well as a "Garden of the Missing" where the names of over 1500 soldiers are engraved.

A quote from General Omar Bradley: "The

battle belonged that morning to the thin, wet line

of khaki that dragged itself ashore on the 

channel coast of France."

English Channel in the background, American flag flying high, gratitude

for the sacrifice, sorrow for the sheer numbers. 

The markers seemed to go on forever.

American grave markers don't contain family statements.

Royd Keys left this flag and message "IN HONOR OF THE

FATHER I NEVER MET." His father (also Royd)

died on  6/6/1944.

After the cemetery we went to Omaha Beach, one of two American landing beaches on D-Day. (Utah Beach, further west, being the second.) The U.S. 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions had a terrible time of it on Omaha Beach. The beach was filled with obstacles, and they had to cross an open area of up to 200 yards and attack up steep bluffs in order to reach the plateau where the Normandy American Cemetery now stands.

Flags to the left, memorial (metal artwork) to the right as Lon walks to

the beach. It was hard to imagine the mayhem of 75 years ago on this

peaceful and sunny day. The beach is used for swimming and other

water activities in the summer months.

The tide was out, which made the beach big and broad and allowed

us to stroll at will. This photo shows a better perspective of some of 

the cliffs that the soldiers landing on the beach had to contend with.

A few kilometers to the west of Omaha Beach stood Pointe du Hoc, a strategic point in the German defenses on the Normandy coast. On D-Day the 2nd Ranger battalion was given the assignment to scale the cliffs and seize the artillery battery located there.

Perspective of the coast looking toward the "point" of

Pointe du Hoc

Former artillery gun emplacement

The land still bears the scars/craters from the Allied naval and air bombardment of the site.

When the Rangers scaled the cliff they discovered that the guns had been moved elsewhere. Fighting was nevertheless intense, and Ranger casualties approached 70 percent. The guns were found and destroyed as the Americans pushed inland.

Our one "non-American" stop of the day was in the town of Port-en-Bessin, on the coast very close to our Airbnb. Royal Marine Commandos captured this small fishing port, which then became an important depot for supplying petroleum to the Allied forces.

Port-en-Bessin: The port--and a several-hundred-years-old Vauban

fortification tower.

Shop fronts in Port-en-Bessin and elsewhere were

decorated with thanks and welcomes

These "WWII Heroes" signs were posted

in most towns to recognize soldiers 

significant to the battle in a particular town.

Peter Ford was with the British commandos
 who captured Port-en-Bessin. He survived
 the war.

Port-en-Bessin's maritime past and present are reflected

in the parish church, filled with ship models. The church

also has a memorial plaque to commemorate those who have

died at sea from 1810 to present day.

On Sunday we checked out of our Airbnb in Commes and started working our way to our new "base" in the town of Honfleur, on the coast about 60 miles east. The driving route allowed us to easily visit two WWII sites of interest to us on that part of the coast.

A mere two miles from Commes stands the site of the German gun battery at Longues-sur-Mer. The only battery to be listed as a Historic Monument, it includes a firing command post and four reinforced concrete pillboxes, each housing a 150 mm piece of long range artillery. It is the only gun battery today to still be equipped with guns from the period. The site also includes a number of individual pillboxes that were formerly equipped with smaller anti-aircraft guns. Some of these smaller pillboxes are part of the "groomed" site and accessible to visit; some are present in the surrounding farm fields, their presence indicated by tufts of vegetation amidst the crops, and are not open to the public--an example of trying to achieve a balance between historical preservation and the needs of present day citizens.

Standing on one pillbox and looking at three blending into the 

landscape. English Channel on the horizon.

The guns were deactivated after capture by British troops 

on June 7, but not completely destroyed.

Lon at Longues-sur-Mer.

The fortifications at Longues-sur-Mer, like those at Pointe du Hoc and numerous other locations, were part of the "Atlantic Wall". Constructed by the Germans between 1942 and 1944, the Atlantic Wall was an extensive system of coastal defenses and fortifications stretching along the coast of continental Europe from Norway to the French border with Spain as a defense against an Allied invasion from the United Kingdom. Historical hindsight shows that as a defensive measure it worked about as well as the post-WWI Maginot Line did to keep Germany from invading France in 1940.

A few miles further to the east stands the town of Arromanches and the British landing site of Gold Beach. Arromanches was liberated on June 6, and two days later the British began installation of an artificial port--a Mulberry Harbor they called "Port Winston"--to facilitate the landing of the soldiers, supplies, and vehicles necessary to continue the push into Normandy. The Mulberry Harbor was actually two artificial harbors that were constructed in England and towed across the Channel. Mulberry A was installed at Omaha Beach and Mulberry B at Arromanches. Each harbor consisted of about 6 miles of flexible steel roadways that floated on steel or concrete pontoons. These "docks" were protected from the force of the sea by line of scuttled ships, sunken caissons, and a line of floating breakwater. A severe storm about two weeks after D-Day destroyed the harbor at Omaha Beach, but the harbor at Arromanches continued to function throughout the Normandy campaign.

Arromanches and "Gold Beach". Traces of the Mulberry Harbor can still be seen offshore. 

A building block of the harbor now deposited on shore.

And yet more remnants of the harbor

There were many more sites we could have visited, but after two emotionally intense days we were ready for a change of focus for the last two days of our time in Normandy.