Day 2 Of The European Tour
Our night at Grandcamp Maisy Accommodation was amazing, we both slept so well. Heading out to the Pointe du Hoc now.
Halfway between Omaha Beach and Utah Beach, the Pointe du Hoc dominates the sea from its 100m vertical cliff. In February 1944, it was crowned by a German coastal battery. The Artillerymen stationed at the site belonged to the 2nd Battery of the Heeres-Küsten-Artillerie-Abteilung. For the Allies, it was necessary to seize this battery to clear the beaches called Omaha and Utah. Such was the mission entrusted to an American unit, the Provisional Ranger Group. The Pointe du Hoc is subject, in the days and months before the landing, of massive bombing. however, the position at the top of the cliff remained difficult to conquer.
Here's the link for Pointe du Hoc:
https://www.abmc.gov/Pointe-du-Hoc
The site was outstanding, again we met a few WW2 Veterans too.
Site 8 Omaha Beach Museum
Here's the link for the museum:
http://www.musee-memorial-omaha.com/en/
Omaha Beach was the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on the 6th June 1944. "Omaha" refers to a 5 mile section of the coast of Normandy in France, facing the English Channel, from East of Sainte-Honorine-des-Pertes to West of Vierville-sur-Mer on the right bank of the Douve River estuary. Landings here were necessary to link the British landings to the East at Gold beach with the American landing to the West at Utah. Taking Omaha was to be the responsibility of the United States Army Troops.
The primary objective at Omaha was to secure a beachhead 5 miles deep, between Port-en-Bessin and the Vire River. The untested American 29th Infantry Division, along with nine companies of U.S. Army Rangers redirected from Pointe du Hoc, assaulted the Western half of the beach; the 1st Infantry Division was given the Eastern half.
Opposing the landings was the German 352nd Infantry Division. out of its 12,020 men, 6,800 were experienced combat Troops, detailed to defend a 33 mile front. The German strategy was based on defeating any seaborne assault at the water line, and the defences were mainly deployed in strongpoints along the coastline.
The Allied plan called for initial assault waves of Tanks, Infantry, and combat Engineer forces to reduce the coastal defences, allowing larger ships to land in follow-up waves. But very little went as planned. Difficulties in navigation caused most of the landing craft to miss their targets throughout the day. The defences were unexpectedly strong, and inflicted heavy casualties on the landing U.S. troops. Under heavy fire, the Engineers struggled to clear the beach obstacles; later landings bunched up around the few channels that were cleared. Weakened by the casualties taken just in landing, the surviving assault Troops could not clear the heavily defended exits off the beach. Causing further problems and consequent delays for later landings. Small penetrations were eventually achieved by groups of survivors making improvised assaults, scaling the bluffs between the most heavily defended points. By the end of the day, two small isolated footholds had been won, which were subsequently exploited against weaker defences further inland, achieving the original D-Day objectives over the following days.
The impressive Overlord museum was founded by Michel Leloup who was keen to keep his private collection in the Normandy area where it all originated from. During the reconstruction phase of Normandy, Michel drove a converted occupation half-track vehicle at his sawmill where he became fascinated in old military tracked vehicles and other artefacts he found and acquired around the Norman area. He set up his collection in a small museum in a former cheese factory in the Failase region of France but was committed to moving it back to Normandy where it was used by both American and German forces in June and August 1944. He eventually secured land at Omaha beach in 2008, and in 2012 construction of the Overlord Museum began. The museum was opened in 2015 in the presence of American veterans from the Normandy landings who helped to unveil the site to the general public. This fantastic museum uses diorama settings to display the collection where scenes are set out to depict certain events leading up to the liberation of Normandy. The museum has over ten-thousand specific items from all six Armies involved in the D-Day landings, including thirty-five tanks, many artillery pieces and lots of vehicles, many of which are in full working order.
There are many personal weapons, machine guns, mortars, shells and explosives to view providing you with a sense of the different armaments the forces used in 1944. The collection includes lots of uniforms and personal items from both German and American soldiers involved with the battle of Omaha beach. There is a lot to see as you meander amongst the displays, set out in a logical and informative way. This guides you through from the Nazi occupation, through to the Allied invasion on D-Day, and right up to the liberation of Paris. Unfortunately, some of the displays are set out behind thick Perspex plastic or high barriers which make the items difficult to appreciate. Although all of the street scene dioramas are set out realistically which effectively capture that moment in history, they would be enhanced by the addition of battle sounds and lighting effects that are popular in newer sites.
In 2015, the museum hosted a unique gala evening with guest star actors from the HBO series ‘Band of Brothers’ who were on hand to sign autographs for the 1000 guests attending the evening. There are many rare items in this collection including an original Panzer IV, lots of German and US half-track vehicles and other military vehicles used on D-Day. The museum also holds the original American Sherman tank nicknamed ‘Fury’ from the US 2nd Armoured Division. The 2014 WW2 blockbuster movie, starring Brad Pitt acting as ‘Wardaddy’, featured the courageous actions of the remarkable American Sherman tank commander, Sergeant Don Collier. The movie followed the many victorious tank battles that ‘Fury’ took part in during the Normandy campaign, and the push to eject the German armour division from France, Belgium and ultimately, defeat the Nazi Army on German soil in 1945.
Site 10 Battery Longues sur Mer
Here's the link for the site:
https://www.european-traveler.com/france/visit-german-battery-longues-sur-mer-normandy/
The German Marineküstenbatterie was constructed from 1943 approximately 450m inland on high ground between the towns of Port-en-Bessin and Arromanches. The batteries central and domineering position, completed in April 1944, was ideally suited to fire upon both Omaha and Gold beaches. The battery’s main armament consisted of four reinforces concrete encasements which housed four Krupp 150mm naval guns from a decommissioned German destroyer, with a capability of shelling up to twelve miles out to sea. These original Krupp guns are still in place today. The concrete observation and ranging post, located forward on the cliff edge, had a modern command wire communication system installed capable of directing fire from the encasement gunners. Other fortified bunkers housed the battery’s ammunition, the soldier's accommodation block and food stores. Completing the battery’s defences was a 122mm Russian gun, three 20mm anti-aircraft guns, machine gun tabrouks, with minefields and barbed wire entanglements around the perimeter. The battery garrison consisted of one hundred and eighty-four soldiers with the guns being operated the Kriegsmarine, the naval coastal defence gunners. The mortars, anti-aircraft and machine guns were manned by soldiers of the 726 Grenadier Infanterie Regiment. In the days leading up to D-Day, the allied air force dropped over 1,500 bombs on the battery, and on the night of June 5th, another 600 tonnes were dropped. Although the whole position was littered with bomb craters, amazingly, only a few shells hit the gun encasements. The exceptional construction of these Regelbau M272 casements absorbed all the impact and left the naval guns fully operational.
On the morning of the 6th June 1944, the British light Battleship HMS Ajax opened fire on the battery causing little damage. The battery retaliated and opened fire upon HMS Bulolo, which was coincidental, the British command ship controlling the assault on Gold beach which was forced to relocate further offshore. The British battleships Argonaut and Ajax were ordered to move in close and fire precise shots on the battery. After a bombardment of some hundred and eighty shells, the battery fell silent. The battleships moved away, the commanders assuming the battery guns were destroyed, but the German guns soon resumed firing in the direction of Omaha beach. The American cruiser U.S.S. Arkansas and French cruiser Georges Leygues attacked the battery with one 150mm Krupp gun sustaining a direct hit in its barrel; two other guns were damaged beyond repair and one slightly damaged. The guns fell silent once again; however, the navel gun engineers were able to get one back into working order. Later in the morning, the fourth 150mm gun resumed shelling Omaha beach, and the 122mm Russian gun fired sporadic shells onto Gold beach throughout the rest of the day. Although the explosions harassed the British landing reinforcements and supplies, the rounds were ineffective and caused little damage. In total, the guns at Longues-Sur-Mer gun battery successfully fired one hundred and fifteen shells onto the allied forces on both Omaha and gold beaches on D-Day. On the morning of June 7th, British infantrymen from C Company, 2nd Devonshire Regiment, having moved inland from Gold beach, assaulted the battery and successfully captured the guns with little resistance. Over one hundred surviving naval gunners and grenadier soldiers surrendered having lost sixty-four of their comrades during the naval bombardments.
The battery is an impressive site to visit with all the four casements in good condition leaving you free to explore in safety. The original Krupp 150mm guns remain in their firing positions, and if you look closely, you will still see fragments of the shattered gun barrel that received a direct hit from USS Arkansas embedded in the earth in front of the encasement. The forward ranging bunker remains in a remarkable condition today. The site is not enclosed; therefore, you are free to explore the bunkers at any time of the day. However, the information centre, toilet and snack kiosk are time restricted.
Site 11 Musee du Debarquement
Here's the link for the museum:
http://www.musee-arromanches.fr/pratique/
The Musée du Débarquement is situated on the seafront in the centre of Arromanches-les-Bais. This small, yet informative museum focuses on the Mulberry harbour or Port Winston, that was assembled by engineers of the British Port Construction and Repair Group on Gold beach in June 1944. The museum houses many other fascinating artefacts from the British Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force, including uniforms and personal items of British and American paratroopers. The museum also has a working model of the landing beach assault and a model of the Mulberry harbour, supported by films displaying the construction and assembly of Port Winston at Arromanches.
The British 50th Infantry landed at Gold beach at 07:25 on D-Day and the soldiers of the 1st Hampshire Regiment, part of the first wave assault, were assigned the task of securing the strategic town of Arromanches. The long stretch of beach there had been chosen as the site for one of the artificial harbours, critical in supplying the Allied soldiers when breaking out of Normandy. The Allies had established early in the planning process that capturing a French port as part of the D-Day landings was impossible, and therefore, arrangements had been put in place for a temporary solution to be brought from England. Lord Louis Mountbatten summed this up by stating:
As we have no harbour at our disposal, we shall bring ours.
The Hampshire’s, led by Lieutenant-Colonel David Nelson-Smith, confronted the well-trained soldiers of the German 916th Grenadier-Regiment, who resisted well into the evening. Following heavy fighting, the German strongpoints along the seafront were eventually overrun. The Hampshire’s were then able to move up the steep heights above the town and capture the radar station defended by the Kriegsmarine. By 22:30 on June 6th, 1944, Arromanches had been cleared of all German resistance. With the beachhead now under British control, Lieutenant-Colonel Mais and his marine engineering team were able to commence marking out the high tide line to align the first set of piers for Port Winston. On the afternoon of 6th June, one hundred and forty-six concrete caissons were towed from their construction ports in England to Normandy. These concrete rectangles ‘phoenixes’ were to be flooded with sea water and slowly submerged in position to create a breakwater wall for the harbour. Sixteen commandeered British ships also sailed on their final voyage from Poole, England to be scuttled in the gaps between the Phoenix to bolster the breakwater barrier. Over four hundred individually towed component parts reached Normandy early on the 7th June, and powerful harbour tugs began manoeuvring them into position. By the 13th June, all the block-ships, the concrete caissons, and over six miles of steel roadways were in position, capable of harbouring seventy-five supply ships and unloading approximately 6,800 tons of supplies each day. By the time the Mulberry B artificial harbour was discontinued around April 1945, around 220,000 troops, 40,000 vehicles and 628,000 tons of supplies had been unloaded at Port Winston, Normandy.
The design and constructions of the Mulberry harbour was an amazing fete of British engineering; although it is argued, it was a total waste of millions of pounds, manpower and materials. US Admiral John Leslie Hall insisted he could unload a thousand LST’s at a time over the open beaches, and bring twice as many vehicles and supplies ashore in half the time as the Mulberry’s could unload. He went on to be proven right after the Mulberry A harbour at Omaha beach was smashed up by heavy storms and abandoned on the 19th June. At its peak, the Mulberry B harbour at Gold beach was unloading 6,750 tons of supplies a day. Yet, over 10,000 tons of supplies were being unloaded at Omaha beach per day, and 6,400 tons at Utah beach with the Landing Craft unloading vehicles and supplies directly onto the beaches.
There is still evidence of the Mulberry B harbour on the beach at Arromanches some seventy-five years after they were assembled. The beach is littered with the concrete pontoons that supported the metal roadways, and offshore, there are many Phoenix concrete caissons still in their original position, and still providing sheltered waters, albeit for leisure sailing craft, not warships.
While we were there, we met a few more WW2 Veterans; one was an engineer who built the Mulberry B harbour. He explained how the British secured their harbour; they used anchors at each end of the pods. however, the Americans only put two anchors at the ends of their four pods, that was why the storm damaged the American harbour,
Site 12 Arromanches Accommodation
Here's the link for our accommodation:
http://hotelarromancheslideal.fr/en/access
Due to the weather we decided to stay in a hotel; it was fantastic for us both.
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