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Published: June 16th 2017
Guarding the door to the Cabinet Room
Churchill's Bunker: There would have been a guard like this posted outside the door to the Cabinet Room. That is the actual door.Geo: 51.5002, -0.126236
Peg
thought we would give you some more info from the Churchill War Museum. It was extremely well done. Not only do you tour the rooms that it all really happened in, with an audio guide, but they also have a huge interactive section chronicling Churchill's life. You could spend hours in there if you are really interested in his life and history.
With the audio tour, there were options to listen to real recordings and interviews. That's how we got to hear the recorded call from Truman to FDR.
You would expect big rooms and stuff, but because it was all underground and reinforced concrete, it was tiny and like being in a bunker. They had living quarters for a lot of his leaders and of course, their secretaries, but they were one room - cot, desk, phone. The big wigs got a small piece of carpet and slightly better furniture. Everybody shared crappy bathrooms and no flush toilets. you could see the buckets near the beds in the sleeping quarters.
I added some additional photos below with descriptions of some of the things we saw.
We also took 2 trips to the Imperial War Museum, which is free and amazing. I included
Map Room in Churchill's bunker
This is the Map room. The whole wall is a giant map with a million colored pins in it charting movements and hits. quite a few photos from there too. They had a WW2 section, WW1, holocaust. A whole room for heroes and some of the modern wars. Basically all wars from WW1 to current. It was incredibly interactive and very well done. The hero room - they had all recipients of the Victorian Cross and each person's story, in various categories. It was pretty cool.
We didn't make it through the Holocaust section for very long. Didn't make it to through the concentration camp subject at all. They had a full room replica of Auschwitz. Too much to handle. Rick Steve's describes it as the best on the subject.
Another floor was devoted to life for civilians in the war. We actually spent the most time on WWI floor which is pretty new and super informative.
They also had a lot of the old WW2 posters made into postcards. am bringing home for you, but took photos of them and also included them below at the end.
Also put in additional photos for our D Day tour of the sites in Normandy with our guide. We went first to Arromanche, where we saw the beach with the concrete pylons hanging around in the water, and
another view of the Map room
This views shows on the different colored phones in the center. One color is scrambled phones -i think green. One phone was direct to Churchill they had a number of weapons there. The guide talked about the logistical issues that faced the invasion. Resupplying the troops was critical. This was a "modern" war. In previous wars, they had a sword or bayonet, they wiped it off and kept fighting. These guys needed ammunition, grenades, all kinds of equipment. At Arromanche they have a display of a piece of the floating bridge that was used, with a truck on top of it. they have examples of the German big guns and the British big guns. He explained that the German guns could fire a lot more per minute with less re-aiming because they were a newer design and had less recoil. The British guns couldn't compete.
There were either 3 or 4 German bunkers at Arromanche, but they were staffed by Russian soldiers and 1 German soldier each. The Germans gave the Russian prisoners a choice and they could "turn" and fight for the German army. Working in these batteries was very boring and they didn't want to waste German soldiers. It had been 2 years and nothing had happened so they used the Russians. He said that when the 1st one took a direct hit through
War Room
This is the actual War Room and how it would have been setup. It was very small. Guess there just isn't space for a giant conference room underground. They had a seating chart - Churchill dead center. the window and another got the bomb on the roof, the Russians saw what happened to their buddies and fled.
He explained how both the Americans and the British built a harbor. They had argued over the type of anchors to be used and they compromised and each used their own. He said that when the big storm came through the American harbor was destroyed because of the anchor, and the British one held. (Our guide was British). The supply boats would come from America with trucks loaded and already stocked with supplies of different categories. The ships would pull up to the harbor they built, use a crane to unload the trucks as is and they would store the trucks on the harbor pieces until they were ready to drive right off. The crew of the transport boats didn't even get to come ashore.
We then went to Utah Beach at low tide. It was very long. We could see how the American soldiers could be fired on from 3 sides. We could stand on the beach and see the little bank where they tried to shelter and we could see up to the German bunker. Pretty freaky.
He talked a lot
Just one of the alarm signs
For some reason, I was fascinated by this. about he various problems and bad luck at Utah beach. Where some of the other bunkers were staffed with Russians, Utah was staffed with all German soldiers. Rommel thought it was a likely spot for invasion and kept it reinforced. Normally, there were 1,000 German soldiers at Utah. On this day however, an extra 1,000 had arrived for "war games" the next day, so there were 2,000. However, they were kept up all night by the bombing of our airplanes, trying to figure out what was going on. So by the end of the day of the invasion they were exhausted and didn't have a lot of ammunition. We also found out that some of their cannons could shoot out 12 miles and that's why the ships had to stay so far out.
He also explained that the Americans had already been stuck on the boats for 3 days in bad storms and most were weak from sea sickness. They were cold, wet and tired.
About the aerial bombing boo boo: he said that the bombers were instructed to site their target, wait a few seconds and then hit their button. The leaders didn't want them undershooting, because they didn't want crater
Imperial War Museum
Dot in front of one of the British bombers
The rest of the pictures are from the Imperial War Museum, which is free. holes on the beach itself, because then the trucks couldn't unload supplies. One more contributing factor, with the weather, as to why the guns weren't taken out and the bombs were so far off.
From there we went to the American Cemetery. He explained that the US bought the land for all of the American cemeteries and that we were on American soil. By law, If someone manages to stay in there for 24 hours, they can have asylum. They try to avoid that. He explained America's repatriation policy, that allows family to bring the remains "home". The US is the only one of the Allies that allows this. All other Allies buried their dead where they fell. Many US bodies were shipped home to the US, but by making this american soil, they could "come home" and stay in France. Many parents felt that their sons earned the soil in France and chose to leave them there.
He explained that one of the themes was everyone counts as an individual, or everyone is the same in death? I can't remember exactly how he said it. That is why all the crosses are exactly the same, no matter the rank or age.
The Enigma
Loved the movie - The Imitation game The only difference is the Jewish logo and the Medal of Honor winners who get a star. They tried to bury brothers next to each other. Not everyone in the cemetery is from D-Day or even from france. They relocated people here from other wars and other countries, like Theodore Roosevelt Jr's brother Quentin. They brought him here to be buried next to TR, Jr. Quentin died in WW1.
The Niland brothers are buried here together (Saving Private Ryan). There is one father and son buried here together. One thing he said that was nuts: He will show his tourists the father and son grave, often when he is talking to fathers and sons. It really puts things in perspective for everyone.
7 years ago they added a Visitors Center to the American Cemetery at Normandy and it has a wonderful museum about the war, about the logistics and about personal stories. There was a big write up on the Sullivan brothers.
Film clips, things to read, things to see. Very well done. We were there for 2 hours. It was surprisingly moving. They have a lovely chapel outside and the grounds are beautifully maintained. You can look down at Omaha beach
Chris is front of a mini sub.
They fit 2 men in there, one behind the other. and there is path there if you want to walk down to it.
The crosses only show the name, rank/unit and the date they died. No birth date or age. Our guide tried to tell us the US was trying to sanitize the war because so many were so young.
We then went to the cliff, Point du Hoc, that the Army Rangers had to climb to take out the German guns. Some great pictures below. The German complex is surrounded by big craters where bombs were dropped. But the complex is still there and you can tour it. I have pictures below and a short movie on Youtube.
We finished with the German cemetery. It was much smaller and not as nice. Our guide told us the German government only supplies 3% of the upkeep costs. Everything else is provided by donations. He said that not many German visitors come here. He told us that the German government has effectively erased the history of the war. It is illegal to show a swastica or be a Nazi organization. We need to know from you how much of what he told us is true. He was a big of a conspiracy theorist. I
have some nice pictures from the German cemetery below. They are 2 to a grave because there isn't enough room. They are still finding German soldiers and bringing them here. I think he said 6 per month. also, over 30% of the Germans are unidentified, because of the looting that took place. The Allies % is much lower as they took much better care of their dead, being the victors.
Our guide also told us that the people in the Normandy area were mainly illiterate farmers and peasants who didn't really know what was going on in the world, in the war. they didn't have radios. When the Germans came in to occupy, they came in peacefully, blended in, built relationships, dated the farmer's daughter. (These people had been conquered many times over the centuries). When the Allies came in, the peasants didn't realize at first they were being liberated. The Allies came in blowing things up and destroying things. the French weren't that friendly when the Allies first rolled in. Was wondering how true this was. All the clips we are seeing in the museums here say the Germans moved in, took over houses, requisitioned most of the food, put
everyone on rations and used them for labor to build the Atlantic Wall. The museums say the french countryside hated the Germans and tried to slow work down and sabatage whenever they could. Our guide did tell us that they supplied inferior concrete on some of the bunkers.
on our last Dday tour, we started at a small site,not really popular, Auxville du Pain, the small church where the 2 medics saved many lives, German & American. Fighting raged on for 3 days around them. See the pictures for the explanation. Read the description of the stained glass memorial. These people really seem grateful.
Then to Utah Beach which had many different memorials and an excellent museum. Then to Saint Mare Eglese with the famous church & an Airborne museum. The videos in these regions talk about how the french people loved the Americans. The Americans shared their rations with these people who had been doing without. Family members who lived in the cities had come to the country where there was more food (vegetable gardens), so their barns were full of people. The Americans played with the kids. The stores would leave their doors unlocked so the Americans could come in
Tail fin from a German plane
See next two pictures for the incredible story that goes with this. and drink whatever they liked and the Americans would always leave something - cigarettes, chocolate, etc.
The french people were amazed at the excess of the Americans, and how everything came ready to setup. They setup up a landing strip out of the box, and prison for the Germans out of the box. The Americans left a lot of material behind and the locals used all of it. There are still fences made out of barbed wire from the prison and landing strip.
The french people also helped them organize and bury their dead and bonded with the Americans. They said the Americans left, and didn't come back for a while...they were young and needed to work and have families. After about 15 years, they started returning to visit.
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peggy
non-member comment
Wow! you took in a lot of info. I would think both guide's views are correct.Some parts of France had been part of Germany in previous wars. But otherparts felt the full force of German occupation, with killing of civilians forreprisals, etc. I will t
ell you I just learned this week that some American POWsspent several months in a concentration camp in Germany, alongsideJews, etc. Things keep coming out as people want to tell their stories beforethey die and all is lost.