Exploring Normandy and Ypres: Battle Plan Day 3 {Part 3}

Actual Date of Event: March 12, 2014

After spending our early afternoon in Arromanches and the Musée du Débarquement we were off to the remaining two beaches, the Juno Beach Centre, and the Canadian Military cemetery. 

Juno Beach Centre

Juno Beach is the beach the Canadians landed on that proved a military success but costly in terms of men lost. The main task of the Canadian 3rd Infantry Division upon landing was to move inland to cut the Caen-Bayeux road and form a connection between the British beaches, Gold and Sword.

The plan was to land at low tide so the German defensive obstacles would be exposed but low tide was three hours prior to their landing so they were partially submerged. The mines took a toll on the landing craft and destroyed or damaged 30% of them. The men, after wading ashore, were then met with heavy firepower with an estimated 50/50 chance of surviving the gunfire.

After fighting hard for Juno Beach they reached the German positions behind the beach and were able to move inland with some speed to reach their target by the end of the day. The price they paid was 1,200 casualties of the 21,400 men that landed on the beach.
 

Exhibits at the Juno Beach Centre

In September 1939, Canada declared the state of war and joined its allies by mobilizing the mightiest military force in its history at sea, on land, and in the air. The Juno Beach Centre tells the story of the Canadians who fought in the military, as well as those the waited at home for their return. In the first room we stood in a simulated landing craft to watch a film projected around us showing images of the war, D-Day, as well as families back home describing what they were thinking and feeling at the time.

The permanent exhibits have lots of photographs and other artifacts to tell the story but my favourites are always the more personal documents like letters to home, even the letters sent home with the sad news that a loved one wouldn't be returning. The batteries, bunkers, and guns can tell part of the story but those artifacts are always what gets me. One word. Heartbreaking.

For the Fallen

by Laurence Binyon

They shall grow not old

As we that are left grow old;

Age shall not weary them

Nor the years condemn;

At the going down of the sun

And in the morning

We will remember them. 

Sword Beach

 

Sword Beach

Sword Beach was the furthest east of the five beaches used on D-Day that was assigned to units of the British 2nd Army. The area around the beach was lightly defended by the Germans, but only as compared to some of the other beaches, and doesn't mean that the British troops didn't lose soldiers too.

The landings started at 7:25 am and by 8:00 am most of the fighting around the beach was over. By 1:00 pm that day the soldiers had met up with the paratroopers at the bridges over the Orne waterways, but on the right were unable to link up with the Canadian troops from Juno Beach. At 4:00 pm the 21st Panzer Division (German) launched an attack but it wasn't to last long. 

By the end of D-Day the British had 29,000 men landed with 630 casualties. German casualties were much higher and many German soldiers had been taken prisoner, but the Caen objective was still several kilometers away. 

Musée Radar

Musée Radar de Douvres

After our short visit to Sword Beach the sun was starting to set so it was time to make our way to the Canadian War Cemetery which was our last planned stop of the day. On the way though we realized we had come upon the Musée Radar (which was on our list for the morning) so we decided to make our stop then.

This is the site of a former German radar station that was one of the most important radar detection links in the Atlantic Wall defenses with a unique example of the Wurzburg Riese radar. The site was closed so we took in the views through the fence and therefore didn't stay very long. 

Canadian War Cemetery

Before the sun did set on us it was time to make our way to the Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery which is the very peaceful resting place of 2,048 soldiers. A large number of these soldiers were killed in early July 1944 in the Battle of Caen and the also those soldiers that fell during the D-Day assault on Juno Beach. Canadian prisoners of war, that were illegally executed at the Ardenne Abbey, are also interred here. 

After quiet wander it was time for another wonderful day out to wind down. Time to head back for a delicious {and romantic} dinner and our last night at our rustic and charming hotel in Crépon. 

In my next post I'll finish off our time in France as we spend the morning at Pegasus Bridge {with a guest post about this by L!} and at our last WWII cemetery in Ranville. The it is off to Belgium!

Exploring Normandy and Ypres: Battle Plan Day 3 {Part 2}

Actual Date of Event: March 12, 2014

Phew! It's been a quite awhile since we were last in Normandy visiting the Bayeux Cathedral and Tapestry but I'm back today to share more of our memories and photos from this great trip.

In today's post we're far from the Mayan ruins, that we were actually in just a couple of weeks ago, and off to visit my favourite battery of our Normandy trip- the Longues Battery. It was here I did my best impression of a celebrity trying not to be recognized {this wasn't the reason this was my favourite one- I just thought it was neat}. I had a scarf around my neck and up over my head, then the hood from my sweater pulled up, and sunglasses on...it was SO windy and chilly! Thankfully L does not sneak pics of me in ridiculous get-ups like this so there is no photographic evidence of what a goof I am. But hey, I was warm!

Three of the guns as viewed from the top of the fourth gun {Photo by L}

Built in 1944 by the Kriegsmarine, the battery was later transferred over the German army. It consisted of four 152-mm navy guns that had a range of over 12 miles- able to fire upon the Omaha and Gold beaches and the landing fleet coming ashore there. The concrete casemates protecting the guns were themselves protected by piles of earth built up along their sides. This helped to cushion the blow, prevent them from tipping over if bombs fell nearby, and also to help conceal them.

One of the four 152-mm guns- they just look so ominous to me.

Three hundred yards ahead, on the edge of the cliff, was the range-finding post. It was fitted with a telemetric aiming device and defended by machine-gun nests, barbed wire, and mines. It was so foggy over the water the day we were there that even though we could look down the cliff's edge and very clearly hear the water beating against the rocks below we couldn't really see anything. I wondered how scared I would have been if I had been a soldier in that post not knowing what could be so close, hiding in all that fog, and getting ready to fire upon me.

During the night of June 5th to 6th the Allies dropped over a thousand pounds of bombs onto the battery but it didn't have a great effect. At dawn on the 6th the battery engaged in an artillery battle with several ships and by evening three of the four guns had been disabled by British cruisers.  The crew of the battery (184 men) surrendered to British soldiers the following day.

View from behind the range-finding post as it looks out to sea

After our visit to Longues Battery it was time to make our way to the town I remembered so well from my trip over in 2011- Arromanches-les-Bains.

Remnants of the Mulberry Harbour {Photo by L}

It was on the beaches of Arromanches that the Allies established an artificial temporary harbour that allowed them to unload heavy equipment before the deep ports of Le Havre and Cherbourg could be captured.  Arromanches is in the center of the Gold Beach {British} landing zone but it was spared as much fighting as possible on D-Day so the harbour could be installed as quickly as possible.

We purposely planned our visit for low tide otherwise I knew from my previous visit that most of the remnants would be under water. It was just good fortune on my visit in 2011 that I was there at low tide because it is so interesting to walk among the pontoons that once held up the floating roadway.

During 100 days of operation this "temporary" port allowed 2.5 million men, 500,000 vehicles, and 4 million tons of material to come ashore. To say this was an amazing engineering feat is an understatement.

It was still foggy when we arrived but to me that just made it seem all the more sombre. Standing along the boardwalk at the edge of the beach we couldn't see some of the pontoons and then walking out toward the sea they would start to appear before us out of the white blanket, which then cut us off from the town behind us. Not sure if L felt the same but it was a little eerie to me, especially when we couldn't see anyone else around us.

After wandering around for a bit we made our way into the Musée du Débarquement which had a great model of the artificial port with explanations of how it all worked. I highly recommend this for anyone, like me, that just can not visualize how the remnants on the beach fit together and the whole thing worked.

Depiction of the trucks coming ashore on the floating roadways {Photo by L}

Further out in the harbour big ships were able to unload their cargo

The museum had many other exhibits and we wandered through to see them but for me the model of the harbour was worth the price of admission. This museum was something I hadn't had time for when I visited previously so I was happy we had it on the Battle Plan for this trip.

After our visit to Arromanches it was time to make our way to the last two landing beaches- Sword Beach {British} and Juno Beach {Canadian}- and to pay our respects at the Canadian cemetery. In my next post about our Normandy trip I'll finish off our third day in Normandy and show you some photos from these places.

Exploring Normandy and Ypres: Battle Plan Day 2 {Part 3}

Actual Event Date: March 11, 2014

After visiting Utah Beach, the Utah Beach Museum and the German Military Cemetery our next stop on the Battle Plan was Pointe du Hoc.

Pointe du Hoc

Photo by L

We had only allotted about 15 minutes for this site on the Battle Plan but after arriving we quickly realized we would be spending quite a bit more time here. There was quite a large area to roam around with gun placements, bunkers, and bomb craters to explore and then a beautiful view of the coast.

Pointe du Hoc is a 30 m (100 ft) cliff on a small rocky beach that offered no protection to the soldiers tasked with scaling it on their rope ladders. It is between Utah Beach and Omaha Beach and was a well fortified part of the Atlantic Wall that the Germans had created.

On D-Day the US Army Rangers Assault Group were assigned to land there, scale the cliffs, and overtake the German defenses. While they were shelled upon by the nearby Maisy Battery and German soldiers firing at them from the cliff's edge with machine guns and grenades, they reached the top and soon discovered that the guns in the emplacements had been replaced with telephone poles. The German troops had moved the guns inland to an apple orchard to save them from bombing and then left them unguarded. Once found by the Rangers they were quickly destroyed.

Although the Rangers mission on D-Day was considered a success as they seized this land from the German soldiers the casualties were many. Two hundred and twenty-five men landed on the beaches but at the end of the two days of fighting only ninety remained.

Omaha Beach

Omaha Beach is a six mile stretch of beach overlooked by cliffs that made it very difficult to attack for the Americans on D-Day. In addition to the cliffs the Germans had built intimidating defenses around the the beach with things like 'dragon's teeth' which were designed to take out the bottoms of landing craft and in case they didn't work they were mined as well. Gun emplacements covered the beach and there was a system of trenches in places to allow the German troops to move about.

Tasked with attacking this beach were troops from the US 1st Army and their plan was to land infantry troops along with Sherman tanks to give them a lot of fire power against the Germans. However, these tanks never made it as they were released from their landing craft too far away from the beach and all but two of the 29 were swamped and sank. In addition to this, due to strong tides and winds, many of the American troops landed in the wrong place which caused confusion about which unit was where and what they were to do.

The only way off the beach and out of the line of fire from the German machine guns was to sprint across the beach and then scale the cliffs. Some small naval crafts got as close in to shore as they could and attacked the German gun emplacements in order to provide some protection to the soldiers on the beach. Despite the odds, by nightfall the Americans had gained a hold on the beach with 34,000 troops successfully landed. Sadly though it was at a high price as 2,400 soldiers died on Omaha Beach that day.

On the center of Omaha beach is the 'Les Braves' monument for the American soldiers who helped to liberate France. The sculptor Anilore Banon said this:

I created this scuplture to honour the courage of these men:
Sons, husbands and fathers, who endangered and often sacrificed their lives in the hope of freeing the French people.

Les Braves consists of three elements:

The wings of Hope
So that the spirit which carried these men on June 6th, 1944 continues to inspire us, reminding us that together it is always possible to changing the future.
Rise, Freedom!
So that the example of those who rose against barbarity, helps us remain standing strong against all forms of inhumanity.
The Wings of Fraternity
So that this surge of brotherhood always reminds us of our responsibility towards others as well as ourselves.
On June 6th, 1944 these man were more than soldiers, they were our brothers.

Normandy American Military Cemetery and Memorial

Built on a bluff overlooking Omaha Beach this cemetery is the resting place for 9,387 soldiers, 307 of whom are unknown.

On June 8, 1944 the US First Army established the first American cemetery on European soil in WWII. After the war the current cemetery was established just a short distance from the original one. Like all other military cemeteries France has granted the United States a special, perpetual concession to the land which means it's free of any charge or tax.

Only some of the US soldiers who died in France are buried here because when it came time for a permanent burial the soldier's next of kin were given the choice to have their loved ones repatriated for burial in the US, or to let them rest in France.

In addition to the cemetery there is a memorial at this site that commemorates the lives of 1,557 Americans who lost their lives in Normandy but could not be located or identified. At the center of a semicircle of columns is a 22 foot bronze statue called 'The Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves'. In front of the memorial is a reflecting pool where visitors can watch the ceremony of the Lowering of the Colors that happens at the end of each afternoon to the sound of a military hymn.

After our very full day filled with history we decided that dinner that evening would be something we both enjoy- a picnic in our room. We stopped at a grocery store on the way back to the hotel, picked up some cheese, a baguette (mais oui...we were after all in France!), and some other treats and enjoyed our very casual and relaxing dinner.

Bon appétit!

In my next post about this trip we'll start in Bayeux where we visit the Bayeux British Cemetery but also took a little detour from WWII history and stepped further back in time to visit the Bayeux Cathedral and Tapestry.

Day Trips: A Drizzly Day at Dover Castle {Part 2}

Actual Date of Event: October 13, 2013


Last Sunday was the first part of our day in Dover spent wandering through the great castle, church, and the grounds but today is something a little unexpected- the Secret Wartime Tunnels.

* All of the photos in this post were taken by L...well except for the last one as he tends not to take pictures of his food, unlike me. :-) *

In the Middle Ages tunnels were constructed under Dover Castle to be used as a protected line of communication for the soldiers stationed in the northern outposts and to allow for the garrison to gather before attacks without being seen. Later during the Napoleonic Wars the tunnels were expanded to prepare the castle for a French invasion. Seven tunnels were dug to serve as barracks for soldiers who had already filled up the castle and the town. These tunnels were capable of holding 2,000 troops and are the only underground barracks ever built in Britain.


In WWII the tunnels were used again as the center from which Admiral Ramsay and his team worked around the clock for nine days on Operation Dynamo- the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force and French troops from the beaches of Dunkirk. It was estimated that 45,000 troops could be brought back to Britain but on May 26th there were about 400,000 troops awaiting rescue on the beaches. By June 4th, nearly all were evacuated with 338,000 men brought back. Admiral Ramsay used as many Royal Navy vessels as the could gather, along with a now famous flotilla of 'little ships'- the civilian and merchant boats. Churchill called it a 'miracle of deliverance'.

Communication Post inside the tunnels

Various rooms along the tour

Some parts of the tunnels were dark and a little eery.

During the Cold War the tunnels were expanded again to form a Regional Centre of Government in the event of nuclear war but with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 the need for this facility decreased. In the early 1990s it was decommissioned and areas of the tunnels were open to the public.

When visiting you have to take the guided tour as many parts of the tunnels are not open to the public. It was a really good tour though and we didn't feel rushed along as we visited communication centers, hospital bays and even dining areas that smelled like roast beef! There were also many places along the tour where they projected video along the walls of the tunnel sometimes making it seem like you were in the room as actual events played out as the shadows of the officers went about their duties.

This video does a much better job of showing you the tour than I can explain.

*Please note that some scenes may be upsetting.

After such an interesting tour of the tunnels and around the grounds and look out posts we had worked up an appetite! Well not really after such a good lunch but there was cream tea to be had so off we went back to the café for a spot of tea and that oh so delicious clotted cream with raspberry jam on a scone. Is there a better afternoon snack to have in this world? At this point I'm going to have to go with no and think I will be hard pressed to ever find anything that will make me change my mind.

For more information about Dover Castle and the other castles under the care of English Heritage you can visit their site here. I can't wait to move over and become a member- there are over 400 sites to visit. I'm going to be a busy bee!

Exploring Normandy and Ypres: Battle Plan Day 2 {Part 2}

Actual Date of Event: March 11, 2014

Last Friday we left off having just visited the Crisbecq and Azeville batteries and now we were on the short drive to Utah Beach and the museum that has been built at this beach.

The US Navy Monument which is the only monument dedicated to the US Navy outside of the US

Utah Beach

Utah Beach was the code name for the westernmost of the Allied landing beaches during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, as part of Operation Overlord. The US 4th Infantry Division landed on this beach, a little off course, but with relatively little resistance as compared to Omaha Beach that suffered with fierce fighting.

The landing was a success due to several military divisions who played a part in the D-Day landings.

It started at 11:00 PM the night before with the first Allied bombs falling near the planned landing beach. Then at 1:15 AM, 13,000 paratroopers dropped behind the enemy lines with a mission to neutralize German defenses, secure the landing area, and prevent the arrival of German reinforcements.

Naval Forces 

At 5:36 AM the Allied fleet of battleships, cruisers, and destroyers launched an uninterrupted barrage of fire at the German defenses along the coast and even further inland to the Crisbecq and Azeville batteries. One German soldier noted upon seeing the armada as the sun rose that "The sea was black with ships."

Air Forces 

From 6:10 to 6:25 AM all along the coastline was pounded with the bombs from B26 bombers. The timing of this operation was critical because with only five minutes to spare the first landing craft were due to arrive at 6:30 AM and going off schedule at all would put those troops in danger of friendly fire.


One of the men, Major Dwight Dewhurst, led the final bombing run over Utah Beach. In the museum an original B-26 is painted in the colours of his plane called the "Dinah Might". Major Dewhurst was born in San Antonio, TX and enlisted in the Air Force six months before the attack on Pearl Harbour. Over the course of WWII he accomplished 85 combat missions against the Germans but sadly, shortly after returning home to Texas after the war he was killed in a car accident and left behind his wife and two young sons.

B26 Marauder in the hangar of the Utah Beach Museum

Land Forces

After spending a night at sea crammed into the landing barges the troops start landing on the beach at 6:30 AM. When they landed they needed to wade through 220 yards in the water, carrying 70 lbs of equipment, and then run another 550 yards under fire from the Germans. Fortunately due to the actions of the Naval and Air Forces the enemy lines were greatly weakened and they were able to reach the anti-tank wall in just 30 minutes.

By nightfall of June 6th, 23,000 men had landed on Utah Beach.

Examples of obstacles on the beaches that the troops had to contend with

View of Utah Beach Museum - photo by L

Utah Beach Museum

The museum stands on the actual site where the American troops landed and tells the story of the war through different sections set up in chronological order.

The story starts with the German defenses and Rommel's part in the building of the Atlantic Wall. It continues by telling visitors what life was like for the local people living under the German Occupation. And finally, visitors learn about D-Day through the preparation of the landings to the final outcome and success.

There were lots of artifacts, photos, letters, and machinery- the ones below are some that made me stop and linger on them.

From Left to Right- 1) Bulky, heavy boots (weighing up to three lbs each) worn by German soldiers. Sadly the felt often contained human hair from prisoners in concentration camps;  2) Documents, cards, money etc. found in the wreckage of the USS Rich; 3) Respect for the fallen- American soldiers often witnessed French civilians covering the bodies of fallen soldiers, praying for them, and placing flowers on their bodies.

This museum, and certainly the beach, are well worth the visit for everyone- not just Americans. I think it's important for us to learn about the contributions of all the Allied countries that took part and not to limit ourselves to only our own country. We should learn the whole story.


German Military Cemetery at La Cambe

After visiting Utah Beach we then made our way to the German military cemetery and Peace Garden. Even though the soldiers lying here are the "enemy" they are, still, fellow human beings. Many of them were very young, did not ask to go to war, and were someone's father, husband, brother, or son.

In the centre of the cemetery is a large mound of earth that covers the common grave of 207 unknown and 89 identified German soldiers. At the very top is a large dark cross with a statue on either side made of basalt lava. This is then surrounded by 49 rectangular grave fields with up to 400 graves each, identified with flat grave markers. All total there are 21,139 fallen German soldiers laid to rest in this cemetery.

The sign in front of the cemetery reads as follows:

The German Cemetery at La Cambe: In the Same Soil of France


Until 1947, this was an American cemetery. The remains were exhumed and shipped to the United States. It has been German since 1948, and contains over 21,000 graves. With its melancholy rigour, it is a graveyard for soldiers not all of whom had chosen either the cause or the fight. They too have found rest in our soil of France.


The German War Graves Commission cares for their cemeteries as well as the Commonwealth War Graves Commissions do and this cemetery was a somber and peaceful place of rest.

After our visit we decided it was time to think about some lunch and make our way to the Maisy Battery. We opted for a quick picnic in the car and ended up eating outside the battery as it was closed when we arrived. Turned out that was OK as Pointe due Hoc was next on the itinerary and it had so much more to see than anticipated and ran well over the 15 minutes we had allotted for it on the Battle Plan.

In my next post we'll visit Pointe du Hoc, Omaha Beach, and the American Military Cemertery to finish off our second day of the trip.

Exploring Normany and Ypres: Battle Plan Day 2 {Part 1}

Actual date of event: March 11, 2014

The second morning of our trip we awoke bright and early, had a delicious breakfast at our hotel and we were on the road by 9:00 am just as we had planned. We had a very full day ahead of us with lots of history to see and learn about!

Our first stop was the Crisbecq Battery which is also known as the Marcouf Battery. From research before the trip L knew this site wasn't open this time of year but when he looked at it on Google street view he could see that it was close to the road and parking lot so since we'd be able to get a good look at it we kept it in the plan.

This was a WWII artillery battery that was made by the German Todt Organization and formed part of the Atlantic Wall. The site was originally planned to be more armed than it was but due to supply problems it only held three 210-mm navy guns (instead of a total of 11 guns). Two of these three guns were protected by large concrete casements as shown in the picture above. The site also had a command post, shelters for personnel (300 naval personnel to be precise) and ammo, and several defensive machine-gun placements. Except for the batteries at Cherbour and Le Havre, this was the most powerful battery in the Bay of the Seine with a range of more than 30 km (19 miles).

photos by L

 
Despite many bombings during the spring of 1944 and a large bombing the night before the D-Day landings, two of the guns remained operational and opened fire on Utah Beach on D-Day which aided in sinking the USS Corry. A few other battleships, including the USS Texas (which we recently toured just this past January!), fired against the battery and knocked out both guns. One of the guns was repaired and fired again on June 8th.  The battery was taken the morning of June 12th, without a fight, by the 39th Regiment after the 9th US Infantry Division landed at Utah Beach.

The only thing I wish was different for our visit to this site was that I had learned all of what I just shared before we visited. I did quite a bit of reading before our trip but mainly I focused on the war in general and didn't get too much into the specifics of each place we intended to see. While I'm really enjoying learning more about these places now, next time I think I'll dig a little deeper beforehand.

After a pretty short visit, due in part to not being able to get into the actual site and it being a wee bit chilly and windy (though it was going to get even more so as the day went on), we put the next address into the SatNav and drove off down some of the narrowest roads imaginable. We decided (at many points during this day) that the SatNav must have decided to forgo anything that resembled a real, two-lane, marked road of any kind. We drove down roads that winded through tiny villages where we were mere feet from the houses and then down roads that just criss-crossed us through farmer's fields. We saw very few cars along the way, which was just as well since there wasn't really room on the road to meet oncoming traffic. It was actually very nice and peaceful in this area  and even though we kept saying to each other "Really? Surely this can't be the way"... every time it was the right way and we made our way on to the Azeville Battery.

This battery wasn't fully open either but we were able to wander and climb around in bits of it so we wandered through corridors inside, poked our heads out look-out holes, and for just a moment were tempted to climb down this trap door that wasn't locked. We decided it was likely best to just close the cover and leave well enough alone. Besides would you climb down in there? Kind of surprised actually, that klutz that I am, I didn't drop my camera down there and then one of us (i.e. L) would have had to climb down there to get it.

Also built by the Todt Organization between 1941 and 1944, this battery was another of the key fortifications of the Atlantic Wall. It was built to protect the beaches along the Cotentin Peninsual and had an underground complex in addition to its defense system (4 x 105 mm guns). There were about 170 soldiers that manned this battery but because there weren't any accommodations for them they were billeted in local houses.

Photos by L- Different views inside and around the grounds. Bottom corner picture is a camouflaged pillbox that was made to look like a house but on top was an anti-aircraft emplacement. This was right across the road from the main bunker.

This battery was one of the Allies' prime objectives on June 6th, 1944 but despite an early attack it continued to fire upon Utah Beach for three days. At one point in these three days it even fired upon its neighboring Crisbecq Battery in order to clear the US troops that were on top of those bunkers! Finally after fierce fighting on June 9th it was silenced when it was captured by the 22nd Regimental Combat Team of the US 4th Infantry Division.

Our next stop on the Battleplan was to visit Utah Beach that had been fired upon so much by these two batteries, and the museum that is there. In my next post for this series I'll take you on a little tour of each of those places.

WWII Commonwealth War Cemeteries

Last week I wrote about the WWI Commonwealth cemeteries L and I were able to visit in Belgium and this week I'd like to finish this series of posts with a little tour of the WWII cemeteries we visited in France.


Bayeux War Cemetery

We woke the morning of March 12th to a very foggy day and set off for our first visit of the day- the Bayeux War Cemetery in Bayeux, France.

The Allies began their offensive in this part of Europe with the D-Day landings along the coast of Normandy on June 6, 1944. There wasn't much actual fighting in the city of Bayeux but it was the first French town of importance to be liberated by the 50th British Infantry Division on June 7, 1944. As the troops moved through Bayeux towards the landing beaches they ran into difficulties bringing the heavy equipment through the city. It was dangerous and very slow moving so the British Army's engineering department decided to build a big boulevard around the city. This became known as "the by-pass" and was the first ring road ever in France. The term and the road are still in use today.

 
The Bayeux War Cemetery is the largest Commonwealth WWII cemetery in France and was completed in 1952. It contains 4,144 burials of Commonwealth soldiers with 338 of those unidentified. There are also 500 war graves of other nationalities with the majority of those being German.


The grounds were given to the United Kingdom in perpetuity by France for the sacrifices made by the British Empire in the defense and liberation of France.






The Bayeux Memorial stands just across the road from the cemetery and commemorates more than 1,800 men from the Commonwealth forces who died early in the fighting after the D-Day landings and have no known grave.

The Latin epitaph along the front of the memorial is in reference to William the Conqueror and the Invasion of England in 1066. It reads: "We, once conquered by William, have now set free the Conqueror's native land."

Bayeux Memorial

Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery

About 20 km to the east of Bayeux is the little town of Reviers and it is here out in the peaceful farmer's fields that you will find the Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery.

This cemetery contains 2,048 WWII burials with the majority of them Canadian and 19 of them unidentified. Many of the 2,048 men buried here were from the 3rd Canadian Division who died either on June 6th or in the few days following it, when the Division engaged in battle with the German 716th Division and the 21st Panzer Division. The cemetery also includes the graves of four British soldiers and one French resistance soldier who fought alongside the Canadian soldiers and had no known family. This cemetery commemorates the graves of nine sets of brothers.







Ranville War Cemetery

Our last stop in France on Thursday, March 13th was the Ranville War Cemetery and church. Ranville was the first village to be liberated in France when the British 6th Airborne Division captured the bridge over the Caen Canal in the early hours of June 6th. Those soldiers landed nearby by parachute and gliders. Many of this division's casualties are buried here or in the churchyard next to the cemetery.

The cemetery contains 2,235 Commonwealth burials of WWII with 97 of those being unidentified. There are also 330 German graves and a few graves for other nationalities. In addition to the soldiers, the mascot of the 9th Bn Parachute Regiment a dog named Glenn, is buried with his master, Private E.S. Corteil. The churchyard next door contains another 47 Commonwealth graves, one of which is unidentified and one German grave.

"We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; 

we shall never surrender."

~ Winston Churchill

Exploring Normandy and Ypres: Battle Plan Day 1 {Part 3}

After strolling around Honfleur it was time to get back on the road and head to the first WWII site we had on our itinerary.

We made our way through the narrow and winding roads until we came upon the quiet seaside town of Villerville. According to the census in 2008 there were about 770 people living here and it looks to be about the same today. The site we had come specifically to see here were some pillboxes along the coast and it could not have been a more perfect day for it. It was bright, sunny, and just about the perfect temperature. All those warm clothes I packed were left in the suitcase and we set off down the beach in just our short sleeves. Besides when we got out of the car and looked down the beach the pillboxes were just there, on the other side of those rocks. It would just be a quick walk and then we'd be there so no need for sweaters. Oh how wrong we were. Not about not needing the sweaters but how far away the pillboxes actually were.

Looks close doesn't it? Don't let that fool you.

As it turns out pillboxes on a beach in Normandy are just like a mirage in the desert. You walk and walk and get over that pile of rocks that they are behind and find you're no closer to them now then when you got out of the car miles and miles ago. Well that might be a wee bit of an exaggeration but we were surprised at how far down the beach they actually were. Of course that might have also had to do with the fact that we took the most difficult route across the beach to get there that we possibly could. *Note to L- when your girlfriend says "We should walk on the rocks because it'll likely be harder to walk on the wet sand"...yeah just tell her she's a nutter and go walk on the sand. :-)  Because as it turns out the sand was basically like a paved sidewalk while the rocks were a sprained ankle just waiting to happen. But L held my hand over all the slippery mucky patches and big rocks that needed to be climbed over and in the end we made it. So how does a girl say thank you to the guy that kept her off her behind, out of the mud, and with no sprained ankles so she would be able to enjoy the rest of the trip ahead of her? This is how...

Thanks L...next time we'll walk on the sand. :-)

Awwww...yes sometimes you just have to write your initials in the sand like you're still in grade 8. :-)

But back to the task at hand- exploring pillboxes and the really great beach we were on because the tide was coming in and we didn't want to have to walk back through all the rocks again!

Port of Le Havre can be seen in background of photo on left

Pillboxes are basically concrete guard posts whose primary function was to protect the German troops from artillery bombardment. Some of them were solely for that purpose but others, like the ones we saw on this beach, had a opening, called a loophole, in which to fire guns through too. They were low and often covered in debris to make them harder to see. The smaller ones could hold about five men with some bigger pillboxes holding 10-20 or even 40 men. 

The ones we visited looked like they had slipped down the side of the cliff along the beach and unfortunately they were also covered in graffiti and had lots of trash inside them. L braved climbing inside them but I stayed firmly outside on two feet and then just stood there saying "What do you see?" , "What does it look like in there?", "Be careful of the puddle that guy just stepped in and got his foot all wet" etc. until I'm sure he must have been thinking I should have just gone in there myself. So for those of us that haven't ever climbed inside a pillbox here is what they look like inside...at least what they look like now.

Photos by L

I can't imagine even back all those years ago they were a nice place to be. With all that concrete and metal it must have been so loud, and frightening, when bombs hit nearby or even directly. These pillboxes were part of the Atlantic Wall that Hitler ordered built in order to defend against the Allied invasion he was anticipating.

View of the Port of Le Havre from inside the pillbox- photo by L

Photo by L

With the tide coming in on us we decided it was time to head back to the car and on to our next site. It was a much quicker walk back and along the way we met up with other folks out for a walk along the beach and some guys fishing from the beach.

Back at the car I couldn't resist taking a photo of these two old guys enjoying their drink, chatting about the good old days, and looking out to sea.

The next stop on the Battle Plan was the battery at Mont Canisy that sits atop a hill overlooking the Seine and the harbour of Le Havre. It was an important part of the Atlantic Wall but was barely used in the battle in Normandy so it is still very well preserved.

Photo by L

Because of its elevation it has been used as a defensive site since the Middle Ages and then in 1935-1940 the French army built a battery to protect Le Havre, however the Germans overtook it and realized the importance of its location to build their own coastal defence here.They placed four 155mm guns here, initially open with a 360° traverse, but then, like other sites, they built casements to protect those guns, leaving them open to fire towards the coast only.





The Allies knew about this battery, calling it the Batterie de Bénerville, but despite their repeated bombings the guns were not damaged. After D-Day the guns became a meaningless target for the Allies because they could no longer fire inland (due to the earlier built casements) so they just bypassed this battery from that point.

Photos by L

Today this site is open to the public and you can wander the above ground emplacements as you wish. Over the years the trees have grown up and the site is quite heavily wooded but there are still a few places that offer some beautiful views out across Normandy. There are also hundreds of metres of tunnels connecting the casements but we didn't get to go down inside them. Even without being able to do that it was still very worthy of a visit and the climb up the hill.

With it getting on in the afternoon and still another hour to drive to get to our hotel we decided we best get back on the road again. It is really a beautiful drive through that area and we got to our hotel, la Ferme de la Rançonnière, in Crépon about 6:00 that evening. Our hotel was every bit as charming as the photos we'd seen on TripAdvisor before our trip suggested it would be and we settled into our very comfortable and quiet room. As part of the package we reserved with this hotel we were also treated to the most delicious four course dinner with a selection of local dishes. At the end of this series of posts I'll do one devoted solely to this lovely hotel and our meals as we would recommend it highly to anyone visiting this area.

Up next in this series of posts will be Day 2 of the Battle Plan with our visit to some other batteries, Utah and Omaha beaches, Pointe du Hoc, and American and German military cemeteries.