Hi all!
So today I went on my D Day tour of some of the Normandy beaches. Initially I had booked one that would take me to both the American and British beaches, but due to the tour not reaching minimum numbers I was changed to one of just the American areas. But that's ok! I had a really nice group. My guide, Kate, who was French picked me up at 8.30 and on my tour was a really nice couple called Mark and Marcia from Florida. As well as an American family who live in Germany due to the dad being in the army. His wife and three kids were with him too!!
So I gave you most of the background to D Day yesterday, but today I'll be explaining where we went and the information Kate gave us that I found interesting. Firstly a brief recap...
D Day occurred on the 6th of June 1944 when the allies decided to invade France to take it back from the Germans. Last year the 70th anniversary was celebrate and Kate told us TWO MILLION tourists came here during the two days of remembrance ceremonies! Wow!!
Our first stop of the day was at the German Cemetery in La Cambe. It was created in 1963, up until this time German soldiers' bodies lay either strewn around battle fields or buried by locals in gardens, fields etc. To this day 30 German soldiers' bodies are still found in this area each year. They're identified by the dog tags they wore around their necks in battle. This cemetery had 21000 graves and one mass grave for 300 soldiers whose bodies were found but unidentified.
Next we stopped in a town called St Mère Église, where the US dropped 24,000 paratroopers in the early hours of 6 June. Due to high winds that night the paratroopers didn't always land where intended. Some drowned in the marshes being tangled in their chutes, some were captured by Germans and one even got stuck on the church steeple. John Steele was shot in the leg while hanging here and pretended to be dead for two hours, but was eventually captured by the Germans. However the allies a few hours later liberated the town so he was saved. We went into the church here and then walked around the town. You could see bullet holes and markings on lots of walls, fences etc.
Then we went to the Airborne Museum here which had three separate areas to explore. The first had a glider that would have dropped the paratroopers from the sky, the second a big plane and a movie and the third a 'D Day' experience with sound and effects to simulate you flying over France that night. Lots of artefacts were scattered throughout and it was quite interesting. Here I learned that the gliders could carry 1700kg, and that 20,000 civilians died during the battles of Normandy. Kate's great grandmother lived here during the time. Also, during the three months of fighting here 53,000 allied soldiers died while 200,000 German soldiers died.
Next we had a couple of quick stops. First we past La Londe, a field where the US soldiers created a runway using wire mesh that can be found scattered around villages here to this day. And then we stopped at a street sign. All the streets in the area commemorate a soldier who died on 6 June and explain their rank and some other information.
After this we went to Utah Beach. On D Day, the allies invaded five beaches all together. The US soldiers landed at Utah and Omaha beaches, which were names so because Eisenhower asked the two men working on his map of territory where they were from, and they said Utah and Omaha! Canadian soldiers landed at Juno beach, due to their commander naming it after his wife. And the British soldiers landed at Gold and Sword beaches due to Winston Churchill naming them after types of fish.
Because I was on an American tour we stopped at Utah and Omaha today, Utah first. 24,000 allied soldiers landed at Utah beach, only 197 of whom died. Bombardments before they landed killed a lot of the German soldiers manning this area so the allies had a much better shot at invading successfully here. We walked on the beach and then saw some memorials and a small house, which the Germans had attached a bunker to so the allies couldn't see it in their aerial photographs.
Back in the car and now we passed through some really cute little towns, eventually stopping in Grandcamp-Maisy for lunch. Kate took us to a lovely restaurant where I had codfish and chips with cream sauce, and Mark and Marcia kindly shared a cheese platter with me, and wouldn't let me pay a thing for it! Too kind of them. It was beautiful and sunny yet again today so the town looked really picturesque!!
We then drove to Pointe du Hoc, a German battery where six canons operated. Here there were bomb craters everywhere as the US bombed this area heavily to destroy the canons in May 1944 but only destroyed one. Kate said at the time there were 600 bomb craters, but some have now been filled in so there were "only" 200. Here we saw the sheer cliff faces the US troops had to ascend to invade this area on 6 June. It was so steep, they used a rope but once the Germans cut this they used only daggers!! We then went inside a German bunker. Of the 225 American soldiers that landed here only 90 survived. Wind caused them to land late here so as a result the commander didn't send reinforcements thinking the mission had failed.
Our next stop was the American Cemetery. I thought the British one I went to yesterday was big, this one was HUGE! 9387 graves and a memorial for the 1557 missing. Families of American soldiers who perished here were given a choice in 1946-48 as to whether they wanted their dead buried here or taken home. 60% of the bodies were taken back to the US.
I had a quick look in the information centre then walked around. At 4.30 they lowered the US flag and played 'Taps', a bit like the last post. I wandered through the seemingly endless graves and along the path from which you could see Omaha beach. It was a really lovely well kept cemetery, they've done a fantastic job here!
Our final stop for the day was Omaha beach. Of the first wave of 2000 soldiers that landed here on June 6, only 100 survived. But after reinforcements arrived, by the end of the day 2500 of 30,000 who landed had died. Kate also told us here that on D Day 6500 allied boats arrived along these beaches, each holding 20 tanks!
I got dropped back at my hotel and I'm now eating the sandwiches I packed for lunch for dinner due to our earlier big meal.
I learned a lot today and as I did at Gallipoli, I felt very lucky today to be able to pay my respects to those who died by visiting their graves and by educating myself and hopefully teaching you guys something about D Day and WWII as well. It's always very surreal coming to places like this though! But I'm really glad I came. Lest we forget.
Tomorrow morning I head off to Luxembourg bright and early (6.46am train - ergh!!). Cannot believe how quickly my time in France has gone, but I'll be back in a couple of weeks!!
See you in Luxembourg!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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