day 57 paris - bayeux

16 july 2009

caught a morning train to bayeux in the normandy region and easily found our way to our hotel, walking through a very nice area of the town. the timing was awesome and after getting some quick lunch, was met by the "nomandy d-day sightseeing" van.


first went to pointe du hoc where 225 rangers ha to climb cliff faces to take out the gun battery that could have hindered the allied invasion on 6 june 1944. most of the gun cassements were moved inland, and at the pointe, telephone poles were installed as guns, much to the chagrin of the rangers (editor 2010 - from aerial views, the telephone poles would have looked like guns). at the site, there were pockmarks of bomb craters everywhere which was crazy. i got upset with some french tourist who posed in front of one of the gun cassements as if she were holding a machine gun. i thought that was in pretty poor taste... this is a historic site where people died and this lady is laughing and pretending to load a gun. idiot.

tour guide also told us a quote from a veteran who returned to the site, his first since 1944. when asked why he wanted to return, his response was, "i wanted to see what it looked like standing up, instead of on my belly" (or something like that... heavy).


then we went to one of 4 sites along omaha beach where it was possible to access the inland (due to predominant cliff terrain). we went to "D-1 exit" (aka dog green). germans knew these areas would be used if invasion did occur, so you can see machine gun stations facing into these access points, and big gun cassements pointing towards the beach areas. this was also the site where artifical "mulberry harbour" was constructed (from pre-fabricated pieces done in england). this harbour was destroyed in a storm though, a few weeks after d-day. there is also a preserved gun cassement and the gun, atop which is now a national guard monument with quotes from world leaders at the time.

FDR's is awesome, "we too born to freedom and believing in freedom are willing to fight to maintain freedom. we and all others who believe as deeply as we do would rather die on our feet then live on our knees."


the beach on this stretch is now a buzz with families and sunbathers. which is good, but just a little odd considering the blood that was shed there over 65 years ago.


next was the american cemetary with an amazing visitor centre which tells the story of plans uoto d-day, but also strategies (inflatable tank decoys!) and innovations used to coordinate and execute this huge attack. i noticed in the cemetary that people were standing and walking over what i would consider the graves. again, a little upsetting. on the van-ride at somepoint we were also told about dieppe where 6000 troops took the harbour to learn what would be necessary for a greater attack. 4000 people dide, but valuable info was gained that prob led to success of d-day. 4000 out of 6000 were canadian.


last stop was a gun battery at longues sur mer, where very well preserved guns and cassements are.. these guns are huge.


other:
- i hear from hartell-sims... twins born july 15!
- messages were sent from allies to the french resistance thru bbc transmissions!
- water levels at omaha are deceptive so while some troops jumped in and could walk at knee/waist height, others jumped in thinking the level was the same but drowned due to depth and gear
- bayeux was the first town liberated in france following d-day invasion
- "cassements" should be "casements"
- grandfather of guide's friend lived in bayeux during occupation and he was forced to help build the casements... they did it slowly though and also may have passed on design to french resistance.