Description:

Introduction

The Battle for Normandy and the liberation of France began on the morning of 6 June 1944 and was named Operation Overlord. The Normandy beaches involved were code-named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword and stretched from La Madeleine, in Manche , in the west to Merville and to north of Caen in the east.

The Anglo-Canadian sector covered the beaches of Gold, Juno and Sword and the American, Utah and Omaha.

The disembarkation of the Allied troops can be followed via a circuit of roughly 35km (20m) from Merville near Pegasus Bridge and Bénouville north of Caen to La Madeleine and Saint-Mère-Eglise in the direction of Cherbourg.

Pegasus Bridge and nearby Ranville were the first places to be liberated on the morning of the Allied invasion on 6 June 1944. The first attack in the early hours was by airborne parachutists along the Norman coast. in coordinated drops of British and American troops. Subsequent assaults came from the naval bombardments on the German coastal defences. By mid-day on 6 June the beaches had been secured.

Evidence of the massive concrete German defences can still be seen on the beaches all along the Northern French coast from Cherbourg to Calais in the north. Some are now crumbling into the sea. One of the best preserved and impressive defences is that at Longues-sur-Mer (6km,35 m west of Arromanches in Calvados) where artillery pieces can still be seen.

Worth a Visit

Other points of interest along the coast from Bénouville in the east include:

Hermanville-sur-Mer - Disembarkation monument and British military cemetery

Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer - Monument to Fort Garry Horse

Courseulles-sur-Mer - Memorial Juno Beach

Ver-sur-Mer - America Gold Beach Museum which highlights the first flight from America to France as well as the Gold Beach attack by the British and Canadian troops.

Arromanches-les-Bains-Visit the Museum of the Disembarcation open 9am to 7pm in summer and 10am to 5pm in winter with a break for lunch.

Longues-sur-Mer-Here is the impressive German battery dominating the beach.

Colleville-sur-Mer- American military cemetery on the cliffs above Omaha Beach.

La pointe du Hoc- Here were installed six German 155mm guns.

Sainte-Mère-Eglise-Featured in the film The Longest Day and freed by US paratroops on 6 June 1944. Here also is the Airborne Museum(www.airborne-museum.org) and the Musée du Débarquement dedicated to Utah beach