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TEL: 08715 747218 - DFDS Seaways

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Les Braves,<br />

Omaha Memorial<br />

Image: Clive Frankham<br />

Field Marshal Montgomery<br />

returned from his successes in<br />

North Africa to head up land<br />

operations in Normandy under<br />

General Eisenhower. Having<br />

selected the Normandy beaches<br />

for a secret landing, tides had to<br />

be reckoned with and 5th June<br />

was chosen. However weather<br />

conditions at the last moment<br />

meant a postponement of<br />

24 hours. The first airborne<br />

landings took place at Ranville<br />

where gliders of the 6th<br />

Airborne Division dropped<br />

silently onto the strip of<br />

land between the River Orne<br />

and the Caen Canal to take<br />

the bridges.<br />

The full seaborne invasion<br />

was along the coastline of<br />

Calvados, from Ouistreham<br />

to half way up the Cherbourg<br />

Peninsular. The beaches were<br />

given names and the US Army<br />

landed at ‘Utah’and ‘Omaha’<br />

while the British took ‘Gold’<br />

and ‘Sword’ with the Canadians<br />

landing at ‘Juno’. By the end<br />

Troops of the U.S. Army's<br />

1st Infantry Division on the<br />

morning of 6th June 1944<br />

(D-Day) at Omaha Beach.<br />

of the day the Allies had landed<br />

some 155,000 men (including<br />

26,000 by air) with more than<br />

1,000 guns and vehicles.<br />

Casualties amounted to 10,000<br />

men, largely at Omaha.<br />

The objective to liberate<br />

Caen within days of landing<br />

was not achieved, due to fierce<br />

resistance, until early July,<br />

causing wide destruction to the<br />

city. Meanwhile, the American<br />

troops were to spread out to cut<br />

off the ports of Cherbourg and<br />

Brest before swinging round<br />

to the south. American forces<br />

liberated the town of St Lô after<br />

a long standoff and, following<br />

considerable casualties, the<br />

Canadians took Le Carpiquet,<br />

the airport south of Caen. This<br />

little town has a fine memorial<br />

to the Canadians and it is typical<br />

of the lasting tributes to be<br />

found in this part of France.<br />

Streets are named after Allied<br />

commanders, even a roundabout<br />

in St Lô and a lorry driving<br />

school called ‘6 Juin’. Visitors to<br />

Omaha Memorial<br />

Normandy will be impressed by<br />

the depth of gratitude evident in<br />

a multitude of tributes.<br />

The logistics to support such<br />

an invasion were massive<br />

and by 9th June a Mulberry<br />

Harbour had been created<br />

at Arromanches. Mulberries<br />

were made from vast, air filled<br />

concrete ‘rafts’ called caissons<br />

which were floated across the<br />

Channel and sunk to create<br />

docks with links to the shore.<br />

It became known as Port<br />

Winston, after Churchill, using<br />

600,000 tons of concrete to<br />

make up 33 jetties and 10 miles<br />

of floating roadways. Remains<br />

of these vast and impressive<br />

structures can still be seen<br />

offshore. Fuel supplies were<br />

augmented on 12th August with<br />

the PipeLine Under The Ocean<br />

(PLUTO) which carried fuel from<br />

the Isle of Wight to Cherbourg.<br />

Image: Anoneditor<br />

Operation Bluecoat<br />

Cherbourg surrendered<br />

on 26th June, the Germans<br />

having completed a<br />

devastating demolition of<br />

the port that took a month<br />

to re-open. The capture of<br />

Caen, supported by heavy<br />

Allied bombing, was<br />

secured by 10th July and<br />

St Lô fell to the Americans<br />

on the 20th. The Americans<br />

pushed out through Brittany<br />

and southwards, sweeping<br />

back up to Falaise while<br />

the British, in Operation<br />

Bluecoat, worked their way<br />

field by field, village by<br />

village through the ‘bocage’<br />

of Normandy.<br />

One of the bloodiest of all<br />

battles in Normandy was<br />

the surrounding of the<br />

Germans, by the Allies, at<br />

Falaise. Hitler contradicted<br />

his commanders in the field,<br />

ordering them to fight to the<br />

last. It is probable that many<br />

of his countrymen did not<br />

know they were all but<br />

encircled and the resultant<br />

slaughter was so severe that<br />

upwards of 10,000 Germans<br />

lost their lives.<br />

Considerably weakened,<br />

the German army was now<br />

in retreat and it was not<br />

long before the Allies<br />

crossed the Seine. With<br />

the French Resistance rising<br />

up in Paris, even though it<br />

was still under the control<br />

of the pragmatic German,<br />

von Choltitz, it was agreed<br />

that the French 2nd<br />

Armoured Division should<br />

roll into the city. Von Choltitz<br />

surrendered Paris on<br />

25th August 1944.<br />

Canadian soldiers on Juno Beach<br />

Image: Clive Frankham<br />

Your route around the<br />

Normandy Landings<br />

This part of France is well<br />

provided with places to<br />

visit with reference to the<br />

Normandy Landings. This list<br />

starts with the first point of<br />

contact by Allied troops<br />

followed by major places<br />

along the coastline and then<br />

those across the Normandy<br />

countryside.<br />

Image: Conseil Régional de Basse-Normandie<br />

/ Archives Nationales du Canada<br />

Remains of Mulberry Harbour, Arromanches<br />

<strong>TEL</strong>: <strong>08715</strong> <strong>747218</strong> 13

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