British Sectors, D-Day Beaches Itinerary

British Airborne Museum

To reach the Eastern end of the British beach, we will follow the N13 till we pass the city of Caen, then towards Cabourg and the Merville-Franceville Battery. Now you are on our way to visit the place where gliders of British Airborne troops landed in occupied France near the famous Pegasus Bridge SITE. Major John Howard, 2nd Battalion, Oxf and Bucks light Infantry, lead his company into the attack and held the bridge. The wonderful British Airborne Museum, inaugurated by HRH Prince Charles in 2000, is included in your visit. A very impressive place for a cup of coffee is the Cafe Gondree, the first house liberated in France.

Ranville

Ranville SITE has a very evocative War Graves Commonwealth Cemetery where many British and Canadian Airborne soldiers rest in peace. You are only a few minutes away from Ouistreham, code-named Sword Beach where General Montgomery came ashore.

After visiting Sword Beach and the Grand Bunker Museum SITE, which I highly recommend, is the only museum depicting the German Atlantic wall equipments and their every days' lives. After having visited this museum, you will have a much better understanding of the difficulties met by our troops to penetrate the German lines of defences.

Juno

Juno SITE is the codename for the beach assigned to the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. Right in the centre of the two british sectors, Gold to the west and Sword to the east, this 5 miles long beach is located between the villages of Graye-sur-Mer and St-Aubin-sur-Mer.

Arromanches and Gold Beach

There SITE, you will see the massive remain structure of the Artificial Harbour; And to evoke June 6th 1944, visit the 360° Cinema. The D-Day Museum and the 360° Movie are the highlights of this Beach. The visit of the museum lasts about 1 hour, including the archive film which lasts 13 minutes (a must you must NOT miss). The 360° cinema shows a circular movie, SITE which lasts 18 minutes. This is a great ending of your D-Day experience before the last stop.

Longues Sur Mer

The Longues sur Mer battery was composed of four 152 mm calibre guns with a range of 13 miles , allowing them to reach, not only Omaha Beach 8 miles West, but also the British landing zone of Gold Beach, 5 miles East. The Allies had tried to knock out this battery with air bombings leading up to the landings. It was not until D-Day afternoon that the guns were finally silenced by the off-shore Allied Navies. The damages inflicted to the guns themselves can still be seen clearly today. This battery is the only heavy gun battery in France that still has the original cannons in its bunkers, almost still untouched since 1944. This is the end of your British D-Day Beaches Guided Tour. If you choose me as your guide, you will discover other sites such as the Abbaye d'Ardennes, the German Radar at Douvres, Hillman position, the Canadian cemetery, the Queen's own rifles of Canada house, the Creullet Château...

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•