September 2, 2013 – Le Havre, France and Normandy Tour

Two years ago when we spent the summer on the continent, we never made it to Normandy. This time the cruise ship offered a Normandy tour so we signed up. My Dad came ashore on Omaha Beach in the first wave assault at 6:30am on June 6, 1944. As a 20 year old private he was attached to the combat engineers whose job it was to clear the anti-tank emplacements, the machine gun bunkers and the barbed wire from the beach so that the waves behind them would have an easier time. They fought their way up the beach while destroying the barriers. One of my major regrets was not taking him back to visit Normandy before he passed away. So, off to see the beach, the American Cemetery and the D-Day Museum.

This marker marks the site of the first American Cemetery. The cemetery was rebuilt on higher ground overlooking the beach later on.

German bunker holding an 88mm artillery piece. It was shrapnel from an 88mm gun that ended the war for my Dad just short of the Rhine River. He was evacuated to a military hospital in England then returned to the US with a 90% disability rating.

Bore of the 88mm gun seen through the wire.

Marker placed by the 1st Infantry Division.

Pontoon bridge used to ferry supplies ashore.

Pont du Hoc. This was the point on the beach with giant reinforced German gun emplacements. A Ranger unit of 220 men was tasked with the job of scaling the cliffs and taking out the guns. Unfortunately they were 45 minutes late which led to the loss of many men, but, they did scale the cliffs and disabled the guns. Only 93 of the 220 men survived the assault. The guns sit high above the beach and were trained on the approaching armada of over 5,000 ships and landing craft.

One of the long range guns.

The site has been left just was it was when the Ranger unit took it. It is loaded with bomb craters and marks from battleship artillery. We learned that the perfectly shaped craters was the site of a bomb hit while an elongated oval crater was a strike from warship artillery.

The German Army had used slave labor to build the gun emplacements. They were hardened reinforced concrete bunkers with the guns well protected with underground tunnels and bunkers for storage of the ammunition to protect it from air strikes. In the circular bunker above there would have been a gun sitting on a swivel.

Steps going down to a storage area.

The monument to Colonel Rudders men who took the site.

Above, the Rangers monument with pebbles from the beach below imbedded.

View from the spotters lookout post. The spotter sited the hits and told the artillery men how to adjust their range and angle of fire to hit the approaching ships.

Looking down at the cliff scaled by the Rangers.

Looking down the cliff then north toward Omaha Beach.

Below, more destroyed gun emplacements.

Entrance into the tunnel complex that connected the various bunkers. The Germans could move ammunition through the tunnels to the guns without exposing the men to bomb strikes above ground.

Craters litter the battlefield as this site was bombed many times without success. There was too much reinforced concrete for air strikes to be effective. Ultimately, the site had to be taken by the men of the Ranger unit.

Above, the inside of a gun room. The door is the back entrance, the circular concrete base allowed the guns to move from side to side.

Entrance to German officers underground quarters.

 

Dwight D.Eisenhower esplanade.

Above, the excellent D-Day/World War II history museum with flags of the nations that participated in the D-Day Assault. Below, views of the town of Le Havre on the way to the Normandy beaches.

Modern bridge over the Siene River.

Canals going to the city of Caen, France.

The modern bridge with fog below it.

Above are billboards indicating places to go.

Visitors center and entrance to the American Cemetery above Omaha Beach.

Above, plaque marking the Normandy landing.

Above, the reflecting pond leading to the non-denominational chapel with grave markers on either side.

Statue to the arise of American youth from the ashes of war.

Above, various maps showing the location of the units, the beaches where they landed and their movements into the interior of France. The American Army landed at Omaha and Utah Beaches, the British at Gold and Sword Beaches and the Canadians along with Belgium, French and Polish soldiers landed at Juno Beach. The beaches for landing were selected merely based upon the embarkation point from England so that units did not have to cross over each other in the English Channel. Since the Americans came from Western England, they landed on the southern beaches. The other units came from eastern England and landed on the northern beaches.

The “Garden of the Missing” dedicated to those whose remains were never found. Their names are engraved on the wall in the background.

Map showing the breakout of the forces into the French countryside after the German commander on site made a strategic error and Hitler’s failure to commit his reserves thinking that the landing was a fake and that the real one would come later.

Red arrows to the left mark Omaha and Utah Beaches. The Dark blue mark Gold and Sword Beaches, and the light blue marks Juno Beach.

Above, Omaha Beach looking down from the American Cemetery and Edward at the railing overlooking Omaha Beach.

All the crosses and stars of David are perfectly aligned with not a blade of grass out of place.

The reflecting pond reflecting the statue of America’s youth.

The marker inscribed with “Here lies a soldier known but to God.”

Below, the non-denominational chapel on the grounds of the cemetery. The ceiling of this chapel has an amazing mosaic depicting America blessing her sons as they depart by sea and air, and a grateful France bestowing a laurel wreath upon the American dead.

Above, inscription in the chapel, “Think Not Only Upon Their Passing, Remember The Glory Of Their Spirit.

Edward outside the Chapel with the cemetery in background.

Grave marker of a Texas soldier.

Above, inside the Garden of the Missing and the names inscribed upon the walls.

Left and below, American Army tank on the hills above Pont du Hoc.

Above and below, marker erected by the 1st Infantry Division.

Sculptures on Omaha Beach. Edward gathered a cup of sand from the beach in memory of his Dad.

Above, views south and north on Omaha Beach.

The story of the invasion at the visitors center.

The cliffs above Omaha Beach that housed the German gun emplacements. It was these cliffs scaled by the 220 man Ranger unit. The guns sat exactly between Omaha and Utah Beaches and had a perfect line of fire into the American ships and landing craft.

Thanks, Dad, for what you and all those other brave men did on that day and the days following.