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History of the D-Day landings
During World War Two (1939 -1945), the so-called D-Day
Beaches, stretching across the northern coast of Normandy
between the beaches of Sword and Utah were the
scene of the largest military operation ever mounted. The
scale of the Allied 'Operation Overloard' launched
on 6 June 1944 against Nazi Germany still seems amazing today;
vast numbers of landing craft, part of a fleet of 7000 boats,
hit the beaches and thousands upon thousands of Allied troops
from the UK, USA, Canada and elsewhere swarmed onto German-held
French soil. The landings were followed by the Battle of
Normandy, 76 days of fighting, that eventually led to
the defeat of the Nazis and the liberation of Europe.
As befits an operation of such scale and historical importance,
there's much still to be seen in the area. Caen's Memorial
Museum, housed in a striking building within a wonderfully
landscaped park, gives a good overview of the events. From
here you can make their way to the coast where you'll find
a well-tramped circuit of battle sites, cemeteries and memorials.
Key sites to visit
- At Bénouville, the Café Gondreé
is a proudly maintained symbol of the landings. The plaque
in the bar claims that it was the first house in France to
be liberated on the night of the 5 to 6 June.
- East of the seaside town of Arromanches you can view
one of the remaining prefabricated ports towed across the
Channel by the Allies, Port Winston (named after British
war prime minister Winston Churchill who proudly declared
against the threat of Nazi war on the home front 'we will
fight them on the beaches').
- Four miles west of the town, near Longues-sur-Mer,
you can see the massive 152mm German guns, designed to hit
targets around twelve miles away, still sitting in their concrete
encampments.
- The harshest fighting of the campaign took place along Omaha
Beach and the American cemetery overlooking that coastline
is a powerful testament to the sacrifices of war with its
rows upon rows of perfectly white crosses among immaculately
kept grass. Traditionally, Commonwealth soldiers were buried
where they fell. The 18 Commonwealth military cemeteries follow
the advance of British and Canadian soldiers.
- Inland from Utah Beach, Ste-Mère-Eglise has
another fascinating war museum. It was here that American
parachutist John Steele, immortalised in the film The
Longest Day, drifted down over the town and got stuck
on the church steeple as the village became the first French
settlement to be liberated.
- The Musée des Troupes Aéroportées
remembers the many men involved in the aerial assault
and explains the operations in detail. |
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Other things to see and do:
Mont St Michel
Mont St Michel is France's biggest tourist attraction outside
Paris - a stunning abbey perched on a tiny rock island in
the middle of a shallow bay, architecturally tweaked and augmented
over a period of a thousand years. It's almost as famous for
the tides of its bay. The difference in sea level between
low and high tides, depending on the orbits of the moon and
the sun, can be as much as 50ft. It's an incredible sight
to behold, all in the shadow of an equally amazing structure.
St. Michel is not just a tourist attraction, it's a real
place of worship. In recent years the French catholic church
installed a young, progressive order of monks and nuns - average
age 30 - to live and worship here. They even have their own
website! |
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Justine Shapiro outside Mont St Michel
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