December 24 - Normandy
We went to Normandy today, the place where the Allied forces punched through Hitler’s ‘Fortress Europa’ and began the western offensive against his Reich. I have been interested in D-Day and World War II (European Theater of Operations) since early high school, and have read many books and watched films on the matter. In particular, D-Day and the US paratroopers has been a strong interest. And now finally I was going to get to see the places where it all happened. It takes about 2.5 hours by train to get to Caen, the biggest city in the Normandy area. We had a small worry at the station cause we weren’t quite sure where the train was, but finally we saw it and made it with about 10 seconds left. I slept a bit of way there, but once we were there we disembarked at Caen. We had some time to kill: the tour wasn’t going to start in 2 hours, so instead of spending time in Caen we chose to take the next train to Bayeux and wait there. Bayeux is very small, but it has an impressive cathedral there that holds the famous Bayeux tapestry, an enormous piece of work that visually depicts the 1066 Battle of Hastings. Alas, we did not get to see it. To kill some time, we walked from the station to downtown Bayeux (no souvenir stores were open…curious) but soon it was time to go back to the station. We ended up buying some snacks at the gas station and grocery store in Bayeux as we hadn’t really had lunch. At 1pm, a bus drove up with the D-Day Tours emblem and a man by the name of Olivier came out holding a sign with ‘Vora’ written on it. That’s us! Turns out we were the only people he had that day. December 24th is really their off-season…summer is where all the money is made. But it was ok. Olivier was friendly and we were off.
We started by driving the American Cemetery at Colleville. This is the cemetery for the American troops that died in the Normandy region, on D-Day but also through the war. It is a very moving experience seeing the rows and rows of grave markers. 9,400 soldiers are buried there, some that are unknown. All face east, towards America. The cemetery is actually American soil, because the families wanted their sons to be buried in American soil, not French. The cemetery sits on the bluff overlooking Omaha Beach, so that was our next destination. We went by one of the exits where an anti-tank casemate sits that had be neutralized before the exit could be opened. This casemate can be seen in a famous picture showing American soldiers moving up the beach. We then drove down the length of the beach towards the western end of it, where we got down and were able to walk onto it. Off to the side stood the only remaining part of the dock from the artificial harbor the Americans built. What struck me about Omaha beach is how long it really is. Films and video games makes you think otherwise, but in reality the beach is five miles long. And unlike the other beaches (we went to Utah later), a bluff rises above the beach after several hundred meters from the sand. Another thing I had to visualize was the width of the beach itself – we were there at high-tide, but when the Allies landed the sandy part was more than 700m wide. With no cover, with an entrenched and prepared enemy on high ground in front of you, that would seem the distance from the earth to the moon to a soldier. Sapana was mindful enough to pick up a rock, which we’ll give to Nader. I wish I had thought to bring some plastic bags, so I could bring sand back. Anyway. We got back in the van and drove to the part of the shore that juts out and divides the Omaha and Utah beaches – Point-du-Hoc. This is on very high ground and the Germans had put in a well-armored battery of guns that could strike targets anywhere on Omaha beach. The Rangers were assigned the task of tackling this battery, which involved scaling a practically vertical cliff with Germans lobbing grenades down at them, then coming to the top and fighting hand-to-hand, then being surrounded by a mine-field. The Allied bombers heavily bombed the area three months before the invasion. Point-du-Hoc is arguable the most compelling because one can see the enormous impact craters that are easily 10-12 feet deep and 18-22 feet in diameters all over the landscape, dotted with smashed concrete slabs from the fortifications. Some of the massive casemates with six foot armor still remain, the 155mm guns removed. There is also one of the bunkers in which we could do down into where the German soldiers slept and such. It was kind of eerie, because Sachi and I had virtually attacked these bunkers in video games, and I could vividly see Tom Hanks leading his troop of men against bunkers very much like these in Saving Private Ryan. The tragic part was that the Rangers suffered a 60%+ casualty rate in taking Point-du-Hoc, yet they didn’t find any of the guns there. The Germans had moved them back into the country for protection. From Point-du-Hoc we drove to Utah beach. They have another museum setup here but it was closed due to the off-season. They had a Sherman tank and a Higgins boat outside on display. I didn’t know this but the Higgins boat was made out of wood except for the steel front door. Compared with over a 2000 dead at Omaha beach, there were 200 dead at Utah Beach. There is no tall bluff overlooking the beach. We also saw these markers that are apparently all over France which markers the date that the place was liberated. As we drove on some of the narrow back-country roads, we also saw these distinctive kilometer markers the Allies would place down as they took back more and more land. Using these markers they were able to call in more precise airstrikes. Our attention moved next to the US paratroopers, who were dropped behind enemy lines six hours before the invasion began (at 12:30am) to help disrupt the enemy’s response during the invasion. We saw the bridges that had their doors open to flood the fields behind Utah beach, and we then swung past St. Marie-du-Mont, a small village which was the designated gathering point for the 101st Airborne Division. As we drove past the village, we saw a stately manor house that Commander Taylor of the 101st chose as his headquarters for Normandy. I also got excited when he mentioned Brecourt Manor. It may be kind of obscure, but I really enjoy the ‘Band of Brothers’ story by Stephen Ambrose and the story he tells of Easy Company of the 502nd PIR of the 101st. In ‘Band of Brothers’, Lt. Winters leads his men on an assault of four large artillery guns that were setup on a field at Brecourt Manor. These guns were striking Utah Beach. Outnumbered in manpower and firepower, Winters was successful in neutralizing the position and he has his men were awarded for their gallantry and bravery. It also provides the context for a particularly intense and fast-paced action sequence in the miniseries Band of Brothers (episode 2, ‘Day of Days’). Olivier our tour-guide drove us by the manor and I got out and took some photos. In a way I felt silly, cause really it was just a field with some trees marking its borders, but it was sort of a thrill to be near the spot where these men that I have read so much about were and fought back in 1944. From Brecourt Manor we drove to St. Mere-Eglise, the rallying point for the 82nd Airborne. What makes this church famous is that a soldier named John Steel got his parachute caught in the steeple and remained hanging there for several hours. He pretended to be dead, which proved especially difficult after being shot in the leg. To commemorate this, there is a mock-up of an airborne soldier hanging from the church. The members of the 82nd grew quite close to St. Mere-Eglise. For the 50th anniversary they paid for new stained glass which showed paratroopers falling from the sky with the Holy Mother and the church in the center. It was quite interesting.
I wanted to buy some souvenirs but was rather discouraged because of the off-season. Olivier helped find a small shop across from the church but all I got were some post-cards. In the summer all the stores are open. Pity, cause I was going to spend some money there too. That concluded the tour, so Olivier got on the highways and took us back to Bayeux. There were stores still open in the downtown and instead of waiting at the lonely train station for an hour for our train, I asked to be dropped off there and we killed off some time window shopping there. It really is a small town. We bought some food at the grocery store and later walked to the train station. We boarded a train that was going from Cherbourg to Paris St. Lazare, so we were all set for the entire way back.
It was a really great day trip. Actually being there in the places I’ve read about was such a thrill. I was happy that the weather stayed cooperative, a bit of sunshine, no rain, and it wasn’t that cold. What struck me the most about the entire tour of Normandy was how large the area is in reality. Somehow that point never got into my mind in the books, films, or games I’ve played. Omaha beach is really long. The distance between Point-du-Hoc and St. Mere-Eglise is 20 minutes by van on decent roads. The entire land area that was involved in the Normandy operation is so much larger than I had previously realized. I only wish that I could have also done the tour with friends like Nader and Craig with me. Maybe in the future though. J
