We met at 8:20 am in Place du Quebec in the center of town. There were 8 people on our Omaha/Utah tour and we were loaded into a mini van with our tour guide, who was also the driver.
First stop was Longues-sur-Mer Battery--artillery batteries that formed part of Germany's Atlantic Wall coastal fortification. Four guns, each protected by cement casements, fired at both Omaha and Gold Beaches.
Colleville-sur-Mer--a tiny commune where tanks rolled through after disembarking from Omaha Beach.
Omaha Beach--this section preserved the natural pebble bank barrier that provided the only cover for the 1st US Infantry Division as they disembarked from their boats.
Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer. The cemetery is open daily except Christmas and New Year and admission is free.
Bronze statue "Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves" in the center of the semicircular colonnade.
9387 are buried here. Their grave sites are marked with simple crosses
or stars of david.
One of 2 granite statues at the west end of the central mall. This one represents France. The other statue represents the US.
At the overlook, you can see a display showing the landing beaches. From west to east: Utah (US), Omaha (US), Gold (British), Juno (Canadian) and Sword (Australian).
We spent 45 minutes here. You could certainly spend a couple hours here to see everything. We didn't even get to see the Normandy Visitors Center, where you can watch 3 films ("Letters," "On Their Shoulders," and "OK, Let's Go").
Les Braves Sculpture on Omaha Beach--stainless steel sculpture to honor the men who landed on Omaha Beach to liberate France. There are 3 elements: 1) Wings of Hope, 2) Rise, Freedom! and 3) Wings of Fraternity.
National Guard Monument on Omaha Beach. This is located where the 29th National Guard Division broke through German defenses on D-Day.
Pointe du Hoc promontory where German artillery was set up to fire on Omaha & Utah Beaches.
Pointe du Hoc Ranger Monument was erected by the French to honor the American Second Ranger Battalion who scaled the 100 ft cliffs to seize the German artillery that could have fired on Omaha and Utah Beaches.
We stopped in Sainte Mere Eglise for lunch. We were there on Thursday and it was Market Day.
We got sausages with bread for €3. They were delicious.
We also got a ham, egg and cheese galette for €4.70 (just okay) and a nutella & banana crepe (better than the galette) for €3.
After lunch, we visited the Airborne Museum. Admission (€8.50) was included in our tour.
This was a great museum and I could have spent a few hours there. There are 3 buildings: Waco building with a glider on display, C47 building and Operation Neptune building. Kids would really enjoy the museum because there are full-size models and you can walk through many of them.
Iron Mike statue commemorating the capture of La Fiere Causeway, which allowed Allied troops to cross the Merderet River and block German reinforcement from the south.
Observation Table in the shape of a partially unfolded parachute recounts the chronology of the Battle of La Fiere.
Our next stop was Utah Beach.
Higgins Boat Monument--the Higgins boats were made of plywood and carried a platoon of 36 men. Eisenhower declared the boats to be crucial to the Allied victory in Normandy.
Utah Beach was very different from Omaha Beach. Utah Beach had a wide expanse of sand.
Utah Beach Museum. Our tour did not include a visit to this museum.
Liberty Road Marker lining the route taken by the Allied troops on D Day. The entire route is 1146 km.
Our last stop was at the church in Angoville-au-Plain, where just 2 medics took care of 75 wounded American and German soldiers and 1 French civilian on June 6-8, 1944. The church is riddled with bullet holes and blood stains.
We arrived back in Bayeux at 6:30 pm. We paid €175 per person to our tour guide for both the Omaha/Utah and the next day's 101st Airborne tour. Be prepared to pay in cash. Our guide was very knowledgeable and brought to life the evens of June 6, 1944. I'm not a history buff but I still found the tour very interesting.
2017 05 25
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