Today we drove our last leg of the journey from Mont Saint-Michel first to the famous Normandy beaches where the Allies mounted the biggest amphibious assault in history to retake Europe from Nazi Germany and heralded in the end of WWII. We visited the Utah Beach, Omaha Beach, and Port Winston. After we had lunch in the historic town Bayeux, we drove the rest of the way back to Paris to return our car to CDG airport, capping our 11 days of driving tour around France.
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| Utah Beach monument. On D-Day, June 4, 1944, American, Britain, and Canadian soldiers launched the largest amphibious invasion in history |
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| The landings occurred in the morning on five beaches codenamed Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword |
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| US troops landed on Utah and Omaha, British troops landed on Gold and Sword, and Canadian troops landed on Juno |
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| The landing was also supported by air and naval bombardment |
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| June 6 was chosen because of a full moon (for illumination) and spring tide (super low tide exposes defensive obstacles placed by enemies) |
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| The invasion almost did not happen on June 6. Weather conditions were fine in May but steadily worsened in early June with high seas, low clouds, and strong winds. The decision to go ahead only came after a favorable forecast of a short break in the bad weather |
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| As it happened, Utah Beach was not even the original landing site targeted. The troops landed 1.8 km further south than originally planned due to wind and current. All was well at the end and the operation was a big success |
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| Although Nazi army suspected an imminent invasion, they did not believe Allies would attack in such poor weather. Many German troops stood down or relaxed. The element of surprise was a big part of D-Day's success |
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| Over 130,000 troops landed on D-Day. By Day 5, 330,000 troops landed. A month later, it would grow to one million troops |
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| D-Day is the beginning of the end of German Nazi Empire. Less than a year later on May 8, 1945, Germany surrendered unconditionally |
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| View of the beach from American Cemetery in Normandy |
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| In total, over 275,000 American soldiers died in Europe/North Africa during WWII. Over 9000 were buried here in American Cemetery in Normandy. To thank and honor the Americans who were the heavy-lifters in liberating France, this land was given to US in perpetuity. It is run and managed by US American Battle Monuments Commission and is the most visited American cemetery with 1 million visitors every year |
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| Casualties from WWII exceeded 16 million soldiers and 45 million civilians on the Allies side. Over 8 million soldiers and 4 million civilians died on the Axis side |
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| Will we learn this lesson from history? |
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| Lest We Forget! |
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| Arromanches-les-Bains (aka Port Winston) is very popular with tourists |
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| Once the beachhead was secured after D-Day, artificial harbors were towed across the English Channel and dropped on the beach to be used as temporary port to land troops and supplies |
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| This port is name Port Winston to honor Churchill Winston |
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| We stopped by the beautiful historic town Bayeux to have lunch and visited its cathedral |
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| Very charming and picturesque town, Bayeux is home to the famous Bayeux tapestry, which is a rare 11th century embroidered cloth depicting historic events leading up to the Norman conquest of England |
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| River Aure flows through Bayeux |
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| Makes for pretty picture but not so clean water |
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