June 2010: An Adventure Through France

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Normandy:



We disembarked at Le Harve, another gorgeous day. We picked up the keys to a Chevrolet Matiz from the rental agency. We joked about its ugliness then got in. the American turned to me from the driver's seat and said, “ I have a confession to make. I haven't driven 'Stick' in years and don't remember how to..”. I gave him a refresher of clutch control. After about five minutes of grinding, revving and inevitably stalling, I offered to drive, in a flash he was outside the passenger door, so I took the wheel.

The decision was to head to Arromanches to view a part of Gold Beach and what remains of the Mulberry Harbour there. The giant concrete 'breeze blocks' littering the beach and shoreline were an interesting sight. There was also a lot of activity in the area, we had seen several Willys MB's and a few trucks, along with a half-track and a Sherman tank. The drivers and passengers all clad in period costume. This was the same all over Normandy, I would come to find. There was also an aerial flyby consisting of two modern day C-130's that flew incredibly low, which I was told, would be dropping paratroopers further along the coast.

In all the excitement we had completely ignored the fact that we had no planned accommodation. With a quick look at the map, it was noticed that we were very close to Bayeux, another interesting place, one which the American knew nothing about. En route I explained the significance of Bayeux and its famous tapestry. When we arrived it was closed, oh well, we found a camp-site and headed into town. We drank for hours at a small Irish pub, just opposite Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux which is, as the name suggests, is the location of the tapestry. We met some interesting folk and drank well into the night.

The Following morning we were to head to the American related regions of Normandy, Omaha Beach was our first stop, the beach was much more exposed than I had thought, it was so long it disappeared into the distance, the shore front was surprisingly straight, and there were large banks that rose up high from the beach. A few concrete prism like objects were laid out in one spot, these were as far as I am aware, an example of obstacles that were strewn out across the beaches of Normandy to help defend it from Allied invasion.

In a few places along the embankment and cliffs running up from the beach, remains of bunkers could be found. We paused at one.

As I looked out It struck me how clear the visibility was of the beach and coastline. This would have given some confidence to German forces that day, however, picturing the several thousand ship strong, Allied armada on the horizon, and the sustained shelling of their fortifications, I thought of the fear that would have been apparent on both sides of the Atlantic Wall. The horror that was to unfold would surely have been like nothing I could truly understand. With both sides sustaining huge casualties the beachhead and surrounding landscape, would have been devastated, littered with spent munitions, craters from explosives, with many buildings ablaze/reduced to rubble, the dead and dying scattered throughout.

In the afternoon we visited the American Cemetery and War Memorial, this was a disturbing place but one kept so pristine. The rows upon rows of crosses were a sobering sight, they gleamed in the sun, not all were crosses, many adorned with a Star of David atop. There was also several monuments and many plaque's inscribed with inspirational paragraphs and quotes. Our final moments in Normandy were at Pointe du Hoc where we explored a pivotal location of the main invasion operation. It was the location of a large calibre artillery gun at the top of a sheer cliff. U.S. Soldiers were tasked with climbing the rock face, using grapple hooks and rope, to overrun the cliff top above. From the view at the top, it was clear that defending this place would be easy, trying to overrun it would be difficult. There was a range of partially intact concrete bunkers and the entirety of the area immediately at the cliff edge and just inside, was covered with large pits caused by heavy shelling.

This whole experienced gave a sense of the bravery of the soldiers at that time, but also why the cemetery was so vastly populated.

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