The Normandy Beaches are a full size open air museum
The Normandy beaches stretches from Utah Beach in the west to Sword Beach in the east.
Everywhere you’ll find a WWII monument, a museum, a cemetary or some other kind of remains of the D-Day invasion. All designated to the memory of and a tribute to the courage and sacrifice of the British, Canadian and American soldiers who fought here more than seventy years ago.
Together with troops from several other countries like Poland, Denmark and Norway they carried out the largest military operation in the history of warfare. Beginning at the crack of dawn on July the 4th 1944, they gained a foothold and from then on the Nazi regimes of Europe were doomed.
The march on Berlin had begun and though it would take almost a whole year before the germans finally surrendered, the importance of the Normandy invasion can hardly be overestimated
Though the Allied invasion of Normandy took place several generations ago, Normandy’s inhabitants uphold the memory of what happened and the sacrifices of the servicemen who fought here. Actually it seems like D-Day tourism is the main means of livlihood in these parts. Everywhere you can buy memorabilia and souvenirs.
The Normandy sites are spread along 75 miles of coastline,
As you travel the narrow lanes of this still-rural area, you’ll get a taste of the boldness, complexity, and hardship of the Allied undertaking. The Germans had flooded the marshes and many paratroopers even drowned on landing there. One of them, John Steele, even got stuck in the bell tower of the church in Ste Mere Eglise.
John Steele and the Bell Tower of Ste Mere Eglise
On the night before D-Day (June 5–6, 1944), American soldiers of the 82nd Airborne parachuted into the area west of Sainte-Mère-Église in successive waves. The
The Pointe de Hoc
The most dramatic campaign of the whole landing was the assault on the Pointe de Hoc, the most heavily fortified German position on the coast.
Arromanches and the Mulberry Harbour
A good place to start a tour is the town of Arromanches. Here the Allies build a artificial floating harbour a so-called Mulberry in just
The American Cemetary at Colleville-sur-Mer
On June 8, 1944, the U.S. First Army established the temporary cemetery, the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II. After the war, the
The Airborne Museum in Ste Mere Eglise
Another “must-see” is the new Airborne Museum in Ste Mere Eglise. It’s set up to commemorate the paratroopers who liberated the town as the first
Staying at the “Band of Brothers House”
At the church square in the small village og Ste Marie du Mont there is a spacious vacation rental that shall meet all your expectations.