In 2014 my brother-in-law Barrie and I went on an organised –‘D-Day Beaches Walks’ tour at the end of June/beginning July just a couple of weeks after the 70th anniversary of D-Day.
This is what we booked to see – here
This site contains the daily posts and some of the photos/movies from the trip.
For an outline of the trip see here (About the Trip page)
Background:
During the World War 2 most of Europe had been occupied by the Nazi German forces since 1940. Britain remained free despite the efforts of the German Air Force to bomb us into submission (see Battle of Britain & The Blitz).
The United States joined Britain in the war (which we had been fighting since 1939) in 1942. During 1943 & 1944 an invasion force was built up in Britain with large number of US and Canadian troops joining those from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and other British ‘colonies’, together with those who had escaped from Europe including Poles, French & Czechs. So, a large allied army, air-force and navy was built up in Britain ready to invade Europe and defeat the Germans.
Large efforts were made to confuse the Germans as to the likely location of the invasion, and were persuaded that the most likely place was the shortest crossing of the channel – the Pas-de-Calais- the most obvious point. Other deception plans were put in place to indicate Norway, Denmark and the south of France as invasion targets, so that the Germans couldn’t be sure exactly where the invasion would strike.
Germany made attempts to create ‘Fortress Europe’ by fortifying as much of the coast as possible, with the strongest defences in the Pas-de-Calais, but all the French coast facing Britain was fortified with varying levels of protection.
On June 6th 1944 the invasion took place – ‘D-Day’– and the beaches of Normandy were the target (For a map of the invasion point and the beach names see here). A massive fleet carried the land forces – the largest fleet of naval vessels ever assembled. In addition a large number of troops were landed from the air behind the beaches. The invasion was successful and casualties, though high on some beaches e.g. Omaha (link for map etc.) were less than expected and by the end of D-Day. To get some idea of what the actual invasion was like see the opening scenes of ‘Saving Private Ryan’ or all of ‘The Longest Day’ (which was based on actual dialogue and action).
Why We Went
The point of this trip was to see some of the places where the ‘D-Day’ action took place and to try and appreciate what it was like for those who took part. This was done by walking the beaches and viewing the remaining defences in the company of expert guides who could put the location in context and explain the significance of the topography and strongpoints for each beach.
In addition we were able to visit some of the important locations of the airborne invasion, in particular the ‘coup-de-main’ to capture the ‘Pegasus Bridge’ over the Caen Canal plus some of the allied cemeteries where casualties from D-Day and after are buried.
Both Barrie’s father and mine were soldiers in the war, so we have some personal reasons for wanting to see some of the historic battlegrounds of world war 2.