Normandy

In Normandy we decided to base ourselves in one nice van park and travel each day to a different part of Normandy.  There is so much to see and it’s spread all over Normandy. 

Australia lost 10,700 men in France and Belgium, and when you consider the 7th and the 9th Divisions went to New Guinea after the battle of El Alamein where we had lost 1,200

I haven’t covered all the sites we visited, there are just too many and we only visited a small percentage of places available.  I’ve tried to keep all the site seperate and make a small video for each. 

Below is a map of Normandy and the site we visited. 

Airborne Museum - 9th October

We started with a visit to the Airborne Museum at Saint Mere Eglise.  The village of Saint Mere Eglise have a parachute hanging on their church….I won’t give you the story but if you’ve seen the movie “The Longest Day” you’d sorter know.

Iron Mike Memorial - 9th October

The memorial is placed where it is because they lost so many men taking the swamp and bridge.  Somehow we missed getting a picture of the bridge and our picture of the swamp and river don’t really show the ground that the Airborne troops had to fight over……but have a look it’s only short.

German Cemetery - 9th October

A cemetery for 220,000 men is very chilling.

 The Pointe Du Hoc - 9th October

Amazing views when standing in an old battlefield.  Some of the pieces of bunker that were blasted off are huge. 

 Omaha Beach USA Cemetery - 10th October

Very touching,  The size of the cemetery and all those crosses of men that gave all so others can have freedom.   The view out to the ocean side on a beautiful sunny day was spectacular and no one was noticing, they were all just in aws of where they were.  172.5 acres containing 9,397 graves.  

Omaha Beach Overload Museum - 10th October

A very good collection of real items used, this includes panzer tanks, full track trucks, a plane hanging from the ceiling, and lots of memorabilia.

I won’t post the video for this,  the site is full of detail and well worth visiting, but not so great for videos.

Omaha Beach Museum - 11th October

A very good collection of real items used.  Good to see there being looked after so well 80 years later.

Omaha Beach Memorial 11th

Standing on the beach looking at the size of the undertaking that was D-Day is breathtaking.  You won’t get it without being here. Or at least I didn’t prior to seeing it for myself. 

Utah Beach 11th

The cafe at Utah Beach - Sometime you really find a gem.

Bayeux Cemetery 12th

This is a British Cemetery with Australian included.   We’re heading west to where most of the Australian site over the next week.  But it’s impossible to visit the 1,172 cemetery in France, England and Belgium.

Bayeux - Town 12th

One beautiful little town. 

Royal Engineers Memorial (Mulberry Harbour B)

We parked up on the hill above Arromanches,  from there you get the idea of how big the Mulberry B was.   But trying to imagine it when full operating was impossible.  

The Garden of Memories  

When you walk up to the memorial you quickly notice the angle irons sticking up like they were in the ocean on D-Day, you marvel at the incredible sculpture and I wonder what the empty blocks of concrete was for.  Then it hit me why it’s called the Garden of Memories.

I asked myself is this a memorial, a work of art or the most touching reminder of the futility.

British Memorial

A very nice memorial with some Australian names on the posts.