D-Day Battlefield Tour

Wednesday saw the beginning of our time on the D Day coastline.  We crossed over the Pegasus Bridge on the way, with the intention of riding our bikes back to look at the museum.  Unfortunately, we didn’t make it back there though.

Having initially parked up in Ouistreham, we had a change of heart and ended up in a little village called Hermanville sur mer, predominantly because, being free, it saved us the €8 we had initially planned to spend at Ouistreham.  Once we’d set ourselves up for the night, we headed off on the bikes to Sword Beach, 1.5 miles down the road.  It’s hard to believe what happened there some 70 years ago.  The majority of the Sword Beach area just looks like any other beachside resort, with cafes, kite surfers and Go Kart tracks.  It was difficult to imagine so many British soldiers were killed or injured right there just 70 years ago.

Kite surfer on Sword Beach

There were a number of monuments scattered around, giving thanks to the various British regiments who were involved in the D Day landings, in addition to a couple of museums, but given our budget and the prices to visit said museums, we opted not to go into any of them.  We saw the monument below, which attracted us because of the Scottish link (you know who you are guys!).

We later discovered that Bill Millin had actually survived; nice to hear a happy (ish) ending in all of the sadness.

I also saw a memorial to the soldiers of the South Lancashire Regiment.  A little internet research told me that they were amalgamated on a couple of occasions to eventually become the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment; who my dad served with for a good few years.

We weren’t aware until we got back to Dora, that we’d actually parked round the corner from Hermanville British Military Cemetery, one of the many British Commonwealth War Graves in France, paying tribute to 1005 service personnel who were killed or missing in action during the D Day fighting.  Of the 1005, 986 were British soldiers, 13 Canadian, 3 Australian and 3 French.  Maybe it was fate that we ended up there after all.  As was only right, we wandered across to the beautifully peaceful site to pay our respects.  It was really rather emotional reading the epitaphs, knowing that every single one of these brave souls had gone well before they should have.  I’m not ashamed to say that I cried then and a good few times over the next few days.  Call me soft, but I think you’d be made of something harder than flesh and bone not to feel something akin to sadness, pride and gratitude, not to mention an enormous sense of awe at the sheer enormity of it all.

On Thursday, we headed to Arromanches, home to Gold Beach and to the remains of one of the two artificial harbours built to ensure that once landed, the troops could be sustained until the bigger ports were back under allied control.  The harbor was prefabricated in the UK then constructed and fully operational within 12 days of arrival in Normandy; quite a feat of engineering when you see the size of it.

Harbour remains

Although we are on a budget, we made the decision to visit the Arromanches 360 circular cinema.  At €5 each, it was a splurge to us, but it was money well spent.  It’s only a short film, but as the name suggests, it’s displayed in high definition on 9 screens, in the round, requiring you to look all around you, rather than just straight ahead, while the film plays.  It tells the story, predominantly through music and archive footage, of the battle of Normandy, paying tribute to all of those, both military and civilian, of all nationalities, who lost their lives during this terrible but liberating time.  It also serves as a reminder that peace is the only way forward.  There weren’t many dry eyes in the building at the end of the film.

Friday started with a moving visit to Colleville sur mer, to see the Normandy American Cemetery and Visitor Centre.  The visitor centre, which is free to enter, tells the story, not only of the American’s involvement, but of the Second World War in its entirety, including the run up to the D Day landings and the resulting 100 days war.  It also singles out a number of extraordinary stories from all nationalities on the allied side, some of survival, some of sacrifice, all heroic.  The combination of information boards, photographs and film make for an informative, if emotional visit.  The centre leads out onto the American cemetery, where over 9,000 soldiers killed during the battle for Normandy, are buried.  Aptly, the site overlooks Omaha Beach.  The American Battle Monuments Commission are responsible for this and many other battle monuments around the world.  This was the first we had visited and we couldn’t fault it.  The spot is beautiful and the cemetery and surrounding area was immaculately kept.

After lunch, we headed up the road to visit Pointe du Hoc, another area maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission and as a result, also free to enter.  Pointe du Hoc was one of many German artillery batteries along the Normandy coastline.  As it was on high ground between Utah and Omaha beaches, it was strategically imperative to take the ground there to ensure the success of the D Day landings.  Today the site remains a grisly reminder of the violence of the Normandy Landings.  Despite the craters in the ground, the barbed wire and the broken bunkers, it was still hard to imagine what it must have been like; and I’m glad of that.  Of the 225 Rangers who were tasked to take the battery, only 90 remained after 2.5 days of fighting.

We knew about D Day, but actually being there gives it a whole new perspective.  It’s a strange feeling, somewhere between horror that it had to happen at all and awe at the will of those civilians, soldiers, sailors and airmen to carry on under such hellish circumstances.  It really puts things into perspective.  We missed a few sites, but simply couldn’t have fitted them all in, unless we’d had much more money and much harder constitutions.

I’ve always known it but, for our tomorrow they really did give their today.

More photos to follow when internet speed allows.