There are few greater historical moments that fill my heart with pride and emotion than the D Day invasion of June 6, 1944. We were so excited to plan a trip to the D Day Landing beaches, and of course, Spike came along.
After the evacuation of British troops from northern France (see Medieval War-Torn North-West France post), the British and Americans began preparing for an undertaking without precedent in the history of warfare. The weather was so bad in the English Channel during the first week of June 1944 that the Germans believed an invasion was impossible. In fact, it had been delayed 24 hours before Eisenhower gave the command to begin.
The weather was bad on our trip too. A wet Easter weekend with bouts of wintery-mix. We camped (!!) and were unsurprisingly the only tent at this small rural campsite near Bayeaux. The owners felt so sorry for us they didn’t even charge us!
Just before dawn on June 6, 1944, battleships started shelling the beach as the landing craft crept towards the continent in heavy seas. We explored the beaches and the most interesting museum located at one of the American landing beaches, Utah which tells many stories including about the US troops led by Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr, advancing on Utah Beach, the tide sweeping them off their intended landing point into a relatively lightly defended area. By the end of the day 23 000 men had come ashore with some 200 casualties only. The Rangers had a more difficult time though. The cliff, Pointe du Hoc, had to be climbed in the face of enemy fire by the US Ranger Battalion. They were only relieved by troops fighting through from Omaha Beach 2 days later by which time 60% of the Rangers were dead.
The American invasion at Utah Beach was relatively successful compared to the outright failure at Omaha Beach where the US forces met intense fire from high and strongly defended cliffs above the beach. First, though, they mistakenly commenced the landing run too far offshore (12 miles out). The seas overwhelmed many of the landing craft. Of 32 D-D tanks that started 6000 yards off the beach, 27 sank.
German bunkers faced the length of the beach and the heavy guns pounded the Americans struggling ashore in the waves. By noon most of the 1st and 29th Infantry were still pinned down on the beach and the American 1st Army commander, Lt. General Omar Bradley seriously considered evacuating them. “Every man who set foot on Omaha Beach that day was a hero,” Bradley would say later.
The “Spirit of American Youth” statue stands guard over the vast American cemetery above Omaha Beach and is worth a visit and some quiet reflection. The remains of 9 387 American dead lie here, most of whom were killed during the invasion of Normandy. Theodore Roosevelt Jnr, son of the President, is buried here.
While the Americans invaded Utah and Omaha Beaches, the British and Canadians focussed on Juno, Gold and Sword beaches. The bad weather of D Day was possibly the most severe at Gold Beach. The British decided to carry all armor and munitions on landing craft rather than risk a launch of the D-D tanks into the rough water.
A Mulberry harbor was a portable temporary harbor developed by the British in World War 2 to facilitate rapid offloading of cargo onto the beaches during the Allied invasion of Normandy. Two of these prefabricated military harbors were towed in sections across the English channel from Britain with the invading army and assembled off the coast of Gold Beach as part of the D-Day invasion. The installation was originally designed to last for 100 days – remains survive today!
Additional Thoughts and Reading
We went to the D Day landing beaches in April. The weather, that time of the year, is unpredictable. It was cold and wet for us but on the positive side, we had the beaches basically to ourselves which was pretty amazing!
European beaches have a liberal policy on dogs on the beaches, in restaurants, hotels etc. Traveling with your dog in Europe is a very normal occurrence.
These items will be a tremendously positive addition to your trip. The latter especially if you do it in the weather we did which was great from a no-crowds perspective – but certainly on the chilly side!
The D-Day Visitor’s Handbook: Your Guide to the Normandy Battlefields and WWII Paris.