Normandy landings
A part of the history of the Second World War has been written on these beaches.
On June 6, 1944, the Allies landed in this area to confront the German invasion.
The Battle of Normandy, codenamed Operation Overlord, was the military operation carried out by the Allies during the Second World War that culminated in the liberation of the territories of Western Europe occupied by Germany.
The landing was divided into four sectors: the North American sector, the English sector, the Canadian sector, and the English sector again.
The code names for the operation were Omaha Beach, Utah, Sword, Juno and Gold. We will see them throughout the tour.
Indice:
Our arrival on the beaches of Normandy in France
There are five beaches, and from east to west we find:
►SWORD – British sector
►JUNO – Canadian sector
►GOLD – British sector
►OMAHA- American sector
►UTAH – American sector
The area is large and very beautiful, so we did not visit it all due to lack of time.
Here we leave you the main places we visited.
Sainte Mére Église
We begin this tour at one of the landing points for the American paratroopers.
Saint Mere Eglise received the paratroopers arriving during Operation Overlord between the night of June 5 and June 6
One of the paratroopers, John Steele, was left hanging from the church. The wounded paratrooper pretended to be dead and was able to save his life.
Today in the church we find a parachutist hanging from the bell tower commemorating this event.
A nice town to walk around and enter its church.
Utah Beach
We now arrive at one of the beaches where the Americans landed.
We had not visited this beach on our previous trip, as you will see everywhere they have everything arranged in such a way as to remember the episode.
As we have already said, Utah is the nickname given to mark the landing site.
Here we found the Utah Beach landing museum, we did not go in, in fact you will find many museums and memorials, if you do not go for many days you will have to choose what you want to see.
La Cambe
Let’s now go to the German war cemetery, La Cambe.
21222 German servicemen killed in combat during the Battle of Normandy are buried here. It is the largest in the entire area and is maintained by the Association of Cemeteries of the German War Fallen.
Point Du Hoc
The first stop is at Point Du Hoc, on the coast of Normandy, France.
Situated on a cliff top, 30 metres above sea level, it is 6.5 kilometres from Omaha Beach.
Point Du Hoc was bombed in the days and months leading up to the landing. Proof of this are the craters that were formed by the impacts and that we can still see today.
A group of American rangers were the ones who climbed the cliffs on D-Day.
What to see there? As I was saying, the uneven ground created by the bombings, the impressive cliffs, and the remains of German batteries and bunkers.
Omaha Beach
We arrived at Omaha Beach. Omaha Beach was the code name for this landing point.
The beach is 8 kilometres long, located in Coleville-sur-Mer and stretches from Sainte-Honorine-des-Pertes to Vierville-sur-Mer.
The United States troops landed on this beach.
What to see there?
The monument to the Braves, located on the beach
The American Cemetery in Normandy.
The Overlord Museum
Longues Sur Mer batteries
Five kilometres from Arromanches, on the D514 road, we arrive at Longues-sur-Mer and the group of batteries for the defence of the Normandy coast in France by the Germans.
Its construction began in 1943 with 4 open bunkers, and in each bunker they installed a naval cannon with a range of 20 kilometers.
The battery is located 38 kilometers from the city of Caen. At the end of the post I leave you a map with the locations of all the sites mentioned in this article.
Surely you have already thought about staying in the area, the same thing has happened to us, look for accommodation in one of its beautiful villages
You can do this tour by car from where you are staying, or you can relax and go on an organized tour of the area ↓
American War Cemetery
Our next stop is at the American cemetery in Coleville sur Mer. Here, the immensity of the white crosses is impressive.
Take your time for this visit as the site is quite large. You will walk near the shore as the cemetery is on a ravine overlooking Omaha Beach until you reach the memorial and the graves.
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Booking.comCanadian Cemetery, Juno Beach
You may have heard more about the American cemetery for those who fell during the Normandy landings, or the English or German one, and not so much about the Canadian cemetery.
But because of what we were saying about stopping at the places we find, about freely exploring this area, we stopped at the Canadian cemetery.
The Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery contains mainly Canadian soldiers killed in the Battle of Normandy.
The Canadians landed on Juno Beach on June 6, 1944, between Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer and La Riviere. 45,000 Canadians lost their lives during the Second World War, 359 of them in the Battle of Normandy.
Arromanches
Two things call us here, one is the remains of the artificial port built in the war and the second thing is Arromanches 360, a circular cinema that I really liked to know. ►Arromanches 360, information.
We arrived at Arromanches, the coastal town has charm, we had not visited it before so it was in the plans for this time.
The place does not disappoint, a beautiful coast with a very pretty town. We went down to the beach to see these remains of the artificial port.
The coastal town was a priority target for Allied troops, who wanted to build an artificial port to supply the troops that had landed with weapons and ammunition. Numerous vestiges still dot these beaches.
Gold Beach
Gold Beach was the code name given to one of the stretches of coastline during the landing. This beach is located between Omaha and Juno beaches . As we have already said, the British landed here.
This memorial, inaugurated in 2021, pays tribute to the nearly 22,500 soldiers of 38 nationalities under British command who lost their lives during the Allied operation. It is located in a field overlooking “Gold Beach” in the town of Ver-sur-Mer. Ver-sur-Mer was a D-Day beachhead.
Sword Beach
It is impossible to visit all the corners, monuments, museums and beaches in the area in one day. In the Sword Beach area, where the British landed, we find Douvres la Delivrande with its beautiful cathedral, or monuments and reminders like those in Lion-sur-Mer.
There are many quiet villages along the different routes, several of them on the sea coast. We visited it in May, but we imagine that in summer, its beaches must be very busy.
This is where our tour ends, we end it in Luc-sur-Mer, a quiet coastal town, our tour will continue through Normandy, but we will head towards Mont Saint Michel.
Extras: map and video
NOTE: The information in this article is based on our own experience, being totally objective. This article contains affiliate links.
