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Published: July 14th 2008
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July 11, 2008
We began our tour of Normandy at 0830, meeting our English guide, Dale, at the "Battlebus" (9 passenger van) which would take us around the D-Day sites. Dale enlisted in the British infantry at 17, and while he was too young to have served in WWII (he spent most of his time in Northern Ireland), he was a student of military history with an encyclopedic knowledge of everything about the Allied invasion of the Normandy coast.
We began by talking about the paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne ("Band of Brothers") whose mission was to jump behind German lines in the dead of night and secure major roads and causeways so that the Germans could not move reinforcements to the beaches once the invasion began. We visited a small village where two young medics established a hospital in a small church built in 1056. We then visited St. Mere Eglise, a crucial town sitting at the crossroads of major routes along the Normandy coast. We heard stories about the paratroopers who secured the town, and toured a museum full of memorabilia.
On our way to Utah Beach, we stopped to view the "bocage" (hedgerows) originally constructed by
the Normans as wind breaks for their fields. Unknown to the invading soldiers, the bottom half of these hedgerows was a dirt mound through which a tank could not pass. These hedgerows provided excellent cover for the German forces, and created huge delays and loss of life for the invading troops.
We visited Utah Beach, where the aerial bombardment successfully decimated the German "weiderstandneste" (resistance nest), a circular placement of bunkers, guns, and other defenses, so that the troops landing on the beach suffered few casualties. Seeing the landing craft up close, one is struck by the fact that (1) they are quite small and (2) the hulls are made out of thin wood which would provide little or no protection from sea or guns.
From there we traveled to Point du Hoc, a major German gun emplacement on the point between Utah and Omaha beaches. The evidence of Allied aerial power was everywhere, as huge concrete and steel bunkers were blown to bits and slabs weighing several tons were thrown hundreds of feet through the air. Army Rangers scaled the cliffs from the ocean to take and hold Point du Hoc.
Omaha Beach ("Saving Private Ryan") was the other
extreme from Utah Beach, where everything went wrong at great cost of American life. The aerial assault failed due to low cloud cover, and the young soldiers who exited the landing craft were sitting ducks for the German gun emplacements. The beach was a resort town prior to the war, and it remains so to this day. As one looks at the wide expanse of beautiful beach with people walking dogs or playing in the surf, it is difficult to comprehend the tremendous loss of life on that strip of sand 64 years ago.
Our final stop was the American cemetary, which has a beautiful memorial and chapel along with the graves of 9000 young men and women who lost their lives in Normandy. The day was truly moving, and makes one appreciate the incredible courage and sacrifice of those who took part in the invasion. One thing which was clear from our visit to the various locations was the tremendous appreciation and affection which the French people have for the sacrifice made by other nations and peoples to free them from Nazi tyranny, as the many monuments and plaques in every town and village were paid for by the
citizens of that town -- the people of France -- to honor the brave warriors of D-Day.
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