Normandy
We hired a driver to pick us up in Paris and take us on a tour of Normandy. Normandy is a region of northern France. Its varied coastline includes white-chalk cliffs and WWII beachheads, including Omaha Beach, site of the famous D-Day landing. Just off the coast, the rocky island of Mont-Saint-Michel is topped by a soaring Gothic abbey. The city of Rouen, dominated by Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen, is where military leader and Catholic saint Joan of Arc was executed in 1431.
Arromanches - A Mulberry harbor or, portable temporary harbor, was developed by the British to facilitate rapid offloading of cargo onto the beaches during the Allied invasion of Normany.
Longues-sur-Mer - The battery was designed by German engineers and built with forced local labor. While the villagers were made to toil day and night, they gave the Allies crucial intelligence for the invasion.
Colleville-sur-Mer - Site of Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery and Memorial. The cemetery overlooks the beach and is the resting place of 9,387 American war dead.
Pointe du Hoc - The 2nd Ranger Battalion scaled ropes as German bullets and bombs rained from above. The craters from the bombs are still clearly visible.
We spent the night in Port-en-Bessin at the La Cheveiere Hotel.
Bayeux - The first city freed by Allied forces. Very little fighting occurred here so the city remains intact. The La Cathedrale de Bayeaux was consecrated in 1077. Some of the homes date back to the 13th century.
The German Cemetery was not a scheduled stop on our tour but we asked that it be included. The Shinglers and Ritchies, who had been there, said it was a must see due to the sharp contrast to the American Cemetery. Presently containing in excess of 21,000 German military personnel of World War II, it is maintained and managed by the German War Graves Commission.
Utah Beach - The code name for the right flank, or westernmost, of the Allied landing beaches during the D-Day part of Operation Overlord. Utah Beach, about 3 miles long, was the westernmost of the five landing beaches and part of the greatest amphibious invasion in history.
Ste Mere-Eglise - The early landings of the 101st Airborne resulted in heavy casualties for the paratroopers. Some buildings in town were on fire that night, and they illuminated the sky, making easy targets of the descending men.
A famous incident involved paratrooper John Steele whose parachute caught on the spire of the town church where he could only observe the fighting going on below. He hung there limply for two hours, pretending to be dead, before the Germans took him prisoner.
The paratroopers actions here have been captured in the stained glass windows in the church.
