Le Gaudin Battlefield Tour - day two

OMAHA SECTOR - 13th September 2011

 

Bayeux British Cemetery

 

The largest British military cemetery of the Second World War in France, the original graves were of soldiers who died of wounds in the military hospitals at Bayeux. After WW2 graves were moved in from all over the Normandy battlefields, many of them isolated burials. It contains 4,648 graves.

 

 

 

 

 

Longues Battery

 

Construction began in 1943. There were four 155mm rapid firing navel guns, a two storey observation bunker, anti-aircraft guns, defence works and searchlights. One thousand five hundred tons of bombs had been dropped around the battery leading up to D-Day, but the battery stayed operational.

 

On 6th June the Longues battery fired 115 rounds onto the allied Battle fleet, including HMS Bulolo and HMS Ajax before being put out of action. The garrison surrendered on June 7th yielding 120 prisoners.

 

 

 

Pointe du Hoc

Pointe du Hoc was given top priority on D-Day, as it was believed that the site contained six 155mm guns that had a range of 25,000 yards and could fire directly on UTAH and OMAHA Beaches.

 

The man responsible for capturing and destroying the guns was Lieutenant Colonel James Rudder from Texas, using 3 Companies of the 2nd Rangers.

On D-Day the Rangers were delayed. The strong easterly tide had pulled them too far east, and in the morning light and confusion of air and sea bombardment Rudder mistook Pointe de la Percee as Pointe du Hoc.

 

The Rangers landed 500yds to the Right. Rudders boat the first to land, working its way along the cliff base under direct fire from the German defenders. Using rocket-fired grapples, the Rangers began to climb.

 

Support from US and British Destroyers drove the defenders underground, giving the Rangers a chance to reach the top and work inland - only to discover the guns had been removed.

 

 

National Guard memorial, Omaha Beach

 

National Guard memorial, which is built on top of Blockhouse WN72.

The Blockhouse guarded one of the five exits that from the beach.

 

 

There will be a brief talk on the fighting from the different perspectives of defence and attack.

Lunch - Omaga Memorial Museum, St Laurent

 

On the site of Omaha Beach itself and just 200m from the shore, this museum presents a collection of personal items, uniforms, vehicles and arms in an exhibition space covering 1,200 m². Through the use of several scenes, archive photos, maps, panels and a film accompanied by veterans’ eyewitness accounts, the story is told of the Omaha Landings and Pointe du Hoc. Outside are a Sherman Tank, an American "Long Tom" canon, a “Belgian Gate” beach obstacle and a landing craft.

 

 

The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial

 

The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France is located on the site of the temporary American St. Laurent Cemetery, established by the U.S. First Army on June 8, 1944 and the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II. The cemetery site, at the north end of its ½ mile access road, covers 172.5 acres and contains the graves of 9,387 of our military dead, most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations. On the Walls of the Missing in a semicircular garden on the east side of the memorial are inscribed 1,557 names. Rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified.

The memorial consists of a semicircular colonnade with a loggia at each end containing large maps and narratives of the military operations; at the centre is the bronze statue, "Spirit of American Youth." An orientation table overlooking the beach depicts the landings in Normandy. Facing west at the memorial, one sees in the foreground the reflecting pool; beyond is the burial area with a circular chapel and, at the far end, granite statues representing the U.S. and France.