In order to get there Nick Dial and I had to ride the train. This was a trip in itself because we had to drop the only room key off with Jenny for the weekend. We we did we realized Nick forgot his rail pass (unlimited train rides for over a month) so we had to go back to get the keys from Jenny again, ride the metro back to the apartment, get back on the metro and ride it to the train station. It was a good thing we got Nick's rail pass because the tickets to Caen were 56 euros for there and back. It was approximately a two hour train ride to the city of Caen. This is the town that was the objective of the British and Canadians and is on the eastern side of the invasion area. Instead of riding the trams or taking a taxi we decided to walk to our hotel. This ended up being on the far side of the town and it took about an hour to walk the whole way. It was a cool walk. I tried to imagine Allied soldiers walking through the town during the war but I'm purdy sure most of the original city was destroyed by aerial bombing. We actually walked right by the Memorial Museum and it was a block from our hotel which was outstanding.
That night we had dinner at the hotel. I had this andouille sausage that had a rubbery texture and may have not been cooked entirely. For the main course I had a steak, medium. It came back not pink but dark red, I think I killed it while I was eating it. It was still good though. We checked up on the tours and headed to bed.
We showed up early to the Museum on Tuesday morning hoping to get on a tour for the morning. It was full up for the morning so we had to wait until 2pm to start the 5hr tour. We used the time to go through the museum. The museum was very good. It started in the pre-war years and went through all phases of the build up to war, the actual fighting, the Holocaust and other related mass human massacres and mistreatments by some of the warring nations including Nazi Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union. The last part of the Museum was the Normandy part. It was just a quick refresher for me since I am a WWII nerd. There was a Soviet special exhibit but I don't care about those commies so I didn't do it.
The tour was everything I could have asked for. It was 5 hours long give or take. We had an English speaking tour guide (even though she had a thick french accent haha She was originally from Sait Lo in Normandy). Our first Stop was Arromanches. This was on Gold Beach. This was where the British soldiers landed on June 6th 1944. Arromanches was the site of the artificial harbor built by the British. There were no natural harbors in Normandy until the cities of Cherbourg and Le Havre were taken later. These artificial harbors allowed massive amounts of men and equipment to be landed. Another one was located at Omaha beach but was destroyed in a Channel storm soon after it was built.
The next stop was a German battery overlooking both Omaha and Gold beaches. It was a collection of four concrete encased cannon. One bunker was completely destroyed, one gun was hit, and the communication phone lines were knocked out by naval gunfire which made the guns completely ineffective on game day. It was cool you could walk around in the little bunkers. I took a few pictures but my camera is dead and I don't have the charger.
The next stop was The American Cemetery. This place was so emotionally powerful. You could just feel it all around you. These were Americans that had died far from their country. Their final resting place is beautiful. It is one of 2 pieces of French territory that have been given to the United States. The other being Pointe du Hoc which I will describe later. The graves are perfectly aligned side to side, front to back, and diagonally. There is a monument at the head of the cemetery with a statue that signifies that the Americans came from across the ocean to liberate France. There is a chapel in the middle. The entire cemetery is shaped like a cross from overhead. The mosaic in the ceiling of the chapel shows on one side Lady Liberty is blessing the soldiers as the go off to war and on the other is the Lady of France bestowing a laurel wreath on the American Dead who gave their lives to liberate Europe. It is very powerful. On the other side of the monument is the garden of the missing. This is where the names of all those soldiers who were unaccounted for are located. There are almost 1000 names of men that were never found. This was a humbling place and I'm really glad I went.
The next stop on the tour was Omaha Beach. It was a little weird to see people laying on the beach and wind surfing on the very same beaches where soldiers fought and died but it was actually refreshing too. At Omaha you could see why it was such a rough day for the Americans. This is the only location along the entire invasion front that is bordered by highlands and bluffs. Everywhere else is a very flat place to land. This location gives the defenders an excellent view of the battlefield. This coupled with the fact that a violent storm blew most of the boats away from where they were supposed to land, adding to the disorientation of the soldiers caused massive casualties on Omaha. Another important fact was that there were only supposed to be 800 men defending this portion of the beach when in reality it was closer to 12,000. Americans suffered more casualties at Omaha then and of the other beaches combined. On a happier note the Americans kicked ass and liberated the whole of northwest France and swung around the Germans and trapped many of them while the British, Canadians, and French were stuck barely 50 miles from where they started.
Pointe du Hoc was our last stop. This was the place where on D-Day, a little over 200 U.S. Army Rangers had the mission to climb vertical cliffs and destroy cannons overlooking Omaha and Utah beaches. Only being there do you realize how difficult of a mission that this would have been. On D-Day the boats went to the wrong cliff, they had to travel along the coast until they reached the right one. Instead of taking the Germans by surprise, they were receiving fire before they even got out of their boats. Once landed they had to climb the cliffs while taking fire from the enemy only to reach the top and find that the guns had been moved. Without skipping a beat the Rangers went inland found the guns and destroyed them. Then they defended their position for several days until relieved. By the end there were less than 90 Rangers left. I do have pictures of this place that Nick sent me.
Bunker at Pointe Du Hoc
Some of the bombed out landscape at the top
The Ranger Memorial with some awesome quotes
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