Normandy Beaches

THE invasion of the allies in 1944.

 A book that I read before coming here was called "If you Survive" by George Wilson.  it was  his account of the moment he landed till the time he left. This was a very real experience;  one like the one you feel if you watched the movie, "Saving Private Ryan."

Here are a few facts about the US armed forces,. "Operation Overload" was the code name for the Allied invasion of Northwest Europe.  The landing operation and assault place was known as "Operation Neptune" which began on D-Day June 6, 1944 and ended June 30, 1944.
I have read several books and listened to our guides on this subject but nowhere can I find the same numbers of how many soldiers fought or died.  I can tell you that it was in the 100,000s. One place I read indicated 450,000 were killed including Germans on this battle.  Too many.....

The landing  had two phases: an airborne assault landing of 24,000 British, American and Canadian troops shortly after midnight and the amphibious landing of Allied infantry and armored division on the coast of France at 6:30 AM.  A total of more than 160,000 soldiers landed on June 6,1944 which had 73,000 Americans, 61,715 British and 21,400 Canadians, There were also 195,700 Allied naval and merchant naval personnel over 5,000 ships
The landing took place along a 50 mile stretch of Normandy coast divided across five beaches: Utah, Omaha, Gold Juno and Sword. This massive invasion was the largest in world history and continued until the Allied force crossed the Seine on August 19, 1944.

 The first beach we passed. Unfortunately the weather is bad; but if you look closely you can see the water.

                                                              Hidden bunker

One of the events that I had never heard of was the making of the breakwater and the  bridges for the supplies to be delivered.  Where have I been all these years?  I am in awe of the ingenuity of this event.  Britain produced 147 blocks of concrete to create a breakwater.  Then they buried them in the Thames so the Germans wouldn't see them. When they were needed they were floated up using gas balloons and taken to the Normandy breach and put into a semi circle.This was a feat since the sea was very rough.

 Pictures of the beach at one end of the invasions.

As we travel along the countryside where the beaches are, it was explained how the attack started all at once. Five beaches were used, Utah, Omaha, Gold,Juno, and Sword, -with 13 countries working together.
They needed a full moon and a rising tide at dawn. June 6th was picked. Unfortunately the weather was very bad and many men lost their lives because of this.  The "floating" tanks were dropped too far out and the rough seas sent 29 of the 31 to the bottom of the sea along with the men who couldn't get out.  The first attack was at 6 AM and the rest of the beaches had staggered times. The ships that were grouped, then sent forward at 10 AM.

 One of the bridges with the tank on it. These bridges were linked together so the ships could unload at sea.

 In this picture you can see the bridges that had been made and linked to go from the ships to the beaches. 18,000 tons of supplies were delivered daily.

 Here is showing you where the beach is, where the breakwater is and where the long bridges are connecting to the beaches.

Here you see a German built bunker. I had David stand there so you could get an idea of size. The picture above is on the gun inside looking out. Our guide told us the 600 tons of bombs a year. Can you imagine taking a walk and suddenly coming across one..Is it alive or not?????

                                                 An escape route to the bunker.

 We are moving on and came into one of the towns. Some of the towns bargained so they wouldn't be bombed. Here you can see the church as it was destroyed and now how it is today after rebuilding it.

                     As we come to the massive cemetery, you walk down these trees to the beach.

 We have come to the end of the trees and we are looking down at the beach. One of the mistakes that was made was the hedgerows were underestimated. There were 95,000 of them made to keep the livestock in.  They were very thick. Even the tanks had a hard time getting through them.  When the German tank went over them, it made a good target in the underbelly for us to destroy them. Because of the hedgerows it took us 100 days to get to our goal instead of the planned 20 days.

Another thing I found interesting was that the Allies had set up a signal to identify a friend on the other side of these hedgerows. One click on the cricket was from us and then on the other side of the hedge the Ally was to do 2 clicks.  That was fine except it quickly turned out not so good as the German guns did 2 clicks on their guns-- one click to open the chamber and one more click to close it and shoot....

 The wall explains all the movement of the troops as they landed on the beaches. The day we landed it we had  a very rough sea and terrible weather. Because of this we had a slight stroke of luck as Hitler had decided to go to Germany for a birthday party and told his officers he was not to be disturbed. Some of the officers had also taken advantage of time off.
When the ships were spotted the Germans thought it was a mistake and the officers that were on duty couldn't do anything about it.
When the troops did land they had to go through land mines, and blockades of wood that had barbed wire. Our own ships were too far out to get the bunkers beyond the beach and some of the artillery landed on us instead. And in some places the cliff was 180 feet high.

There are no words to express the rows of 10,000 graves here. 9,386 American brave soldiers are buried here. Europe has 14 cemeteries- 5 are in France and 2 in Normandy.  Our guide stated that 60% the families have requested the soldier be shipped back.

 My uncle is buried in the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten.

                    I found this soldier from New Hampshire and honored him with a rose.

                                                          Hidden in the cliffs

                                 The 180 foot cliffs that the troops climbed up.

The wings of Freedom on the Omaha beach. Let us remember all those that served for us and those that died for us. 

This was a very moving day for us but I am so glad to come and see where history was made.