American Sectors, D-Day Beaches itinerary

The German Cemetery

The main German Military Graveyard in Normandy SITE, 21 222 graves, is located on an early temporary American cemetery site. You are entering the battle of Isigny Bay, an almost unknown fighting where the 29th US Division had to face the 6th German Paratrooper Regiment.

La Cambe village was taken back and forth 14 times. From 1945 and 1947, the American bodies (ABMC) were transferred to the Cemetery at Omaha Beach or back to the United States. 61 % were shipped back home. After coming in through the narrow entrance, you emerge into the very sombre surroundings of this place. Those dead soldiers buried here are part of the 200,000 KIA who paid with their lives Hitler's order to Never Retreat, Never Surrender. When face-to-face with these casualties of war, it will bring you in mind the German looses as well as the WWII Allied losses.

The Battle of Normandy lasted 77 days of none-stop fightings which cost ¾ millions human losses on both sides.

Sainte Mère Eglise

During the night of the 5th and 6th of June 1944, more than 16,000 paratroopers and glider troops of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions landed behind Utah Beach to assist the seaborne landing on Utah beach. The American airborne Museum is one of my favourite Museums which I highly recommend SITE. Due to bad weather conditions, plus effective flak and the miss training of the pilots, most of the troops were dropped away from their Drop Zones, a lot more were dropped up to 25 miles off the spots. By getting caught on the church steeple, John Steele ensured the lasting fame of the village, being immortalized in the film The Longest Day. These landings are commemorated by two of the stained-glass windows now to be seen in the church of Sainte Mère Eglise. Next to Ste Mére Eglise, the drop zones' of the 508, 507 and 505 Regiments are a must you should not miss SITE.

Utah Beach

The first beach secured by the Allies in the early hours of Operation Overlord, Utah Beach SITE is best known for both its light casualties and its famous commander, Theodore Roosevelt Jr, son of the President of the same name and cousin of Franklin. Before the landing started, the Germans had already dispatched their best troops inland, away from the beach searching US paratroopers who had been dropped earlier. As a result, troops of General Barton's 4th Division SITE faced only very light resistance. On La Madeleine site, the heart of the landing on Utah beach, you can see the remains of German bunkers, as well as various different pieces of Allied equipments besides the monuments dedicated to the American divisions who opened the Road of Liberty. A great place for a lunch stop is the Roosevelt Café SITE.

Pointe Du Hoc

On this exceptional site, re-live the exploits of the 2nd US Rangers Battalion SITE. After they had scaled the 100-foot cliffs under heavy enemy fire, the Rangers pushed on through this lunar landscape to capture and destroy the six 6 inches heavy guns of a maximum range of 10 miles . Colonel Rudder and his men only realized upon capturing the battery that the Germans had moved the guns half a mile inland and hidden them while bunkers were being constructed to protect them. The assault on the Pointe du Hoc was a long and laborious battle, with the Rangers being left to defend themselves two days longer than had been planned. The 2nd Battalion suffered 60% casualties during the two and a half days they were on the Pointe du Hoc, only 90 of the original 225 still fit to fight when they were finally relieved.

Omaha Beach

Approximately 34,000 soldiers of the 1st SITE and 29th SITE Infantry Divisions landed on this beach on D-Day SITE. The beach was covered by anti-tank and anti-landing craft obstacles. Nearly all of the pre-invasion bombardments had missed the fortifications along the beach and the geography of the beach itself consisting of 80 to 100-foot bluffs rising up from the shore was a very easily defendable terrain for the Germans. One of the only good-quality front line Infantry Divisions available to the Germans was also present on the beach, purely by coincidence. This made the assault the most difficult of every beach on D-Day, earning the nickname "Bloody Omaha" SITE. Omaha Beach Memorial museum is an excellent Museum that I highly recommend to perfectly understand the Beach theatre and the Artificial Harbour Mulberry A. Only few days after the landing, American engineers had turned the entire beach into a vast artificial harbour code-named Mulberry "A". It was used for less than a week before it was destroyed by a very heavy storm between June 19th and June 21st, 1944. There is only one piece of this harbour left to be seen today.

American Cemetery

Overlooking the eastern end of Omaha Beach SITE, 9,387 soldiers who came from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean to liberate Western Europe from the Nazi oppressors rest in peace in the American cemetery. This immense place of memory and reflection will impress you with its calm and serenity atmosphere. You can see the graves of some of the 307 unknown soldiers or visit the resting places of the most famous, such as the Nilan brothers, the family who inspired the film 'Saving Private Ryan' SITE as well as the three Medal of Honor winners, SITE one of whom is General Theodore Roosevelt Jr.

This is the end of your American D-Day Beaches Tour. If you choose me as your guide, you will discover other sites such as Isigny Bay Battle, Carentan, Dead Man's Corner, Bob Wright first Infirmary, General Pratt Memorial, Paratroopers drop zone...

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