Review: Caen Memorial Museum, Normandy
This [Gen. Richter's HQ] is where the Third Reich first realised what was happening on 5/6th June 1944
Tag Archives: Normandy
Longues-sur-Mer Battery, Normandy
The coastal artillery battery at Longues-sur-Mer is one of the key Normandy D-Day battlefield sites to visit, for a number of reasons – it’s in the midst of the landing beaches (between Omaha and Gold); it’s an open site, free to visit; and it still has its...
The Hillman Bunkers, Colleville-Montgomery, Normandy
The Hillman bunkers, on a hill 3.7 kms inland from Sword beach, were German command bunkers. Now they are a memorial and battlefield site. The site was the regimental headquarters for Colonel Ludwig Krug, commander of the 736th Grenadier Regiment. From here he controlled all the infantry...
Review: Memorial Pegasus, Normandy
Most people know that the famous airborne glider attack on Pegasus Bridge just after midnight on 6th June 1944 marked the start of D-Day, but I suspect many are a little confused about where exactly this dramatic action took place. At the east end of the landing...
Review: Le Grand Bunker Musée du Mur le l’Atlantique, Ouistreham
My expectations of the Grand Bunker Musée (museum) were not all that high when I eventually got around to visiting, but it turned out to be really interesting. I originally thought the 16m tall concrete bunker, which has been restored to its 1944 condition, was a flak...
Review: Juno Beach Centre, Normandy
The Juno Beach Centre is different to many of the other museums & memorials on the Normandy coast in that its focus is not so much on ‘what happened here?’, as ‘how and why were the Canadians here?’. “The goal is not to be too technical,” says...
Review: The Airborne Museum, Sainte-Mère-Eglise
The Airborne Museum at Sainte-Mère-Eglise is a ‘must see’ for those touring Normandy, and it’s usually one of the first or last stops on a tour of the Normandy beaches because it’s out there on the western flank, which is exactly why the US airborne forces set...
Maisy Battery Revisited
We reviewed the German battery at Grandcamp Maisy in Normandy, last year (Oct 2018), but I was in the neighbourhood in April, so I stopped by to have a look for myself. I spent a happy 40 minutes chatting to Dan Sterne, the owner (Gary)’s son, and...
Review: Azeville Battery, Normandy
The German battery at Azeville north west of Utah Beach was supposed to be taken on D-Day itself. It was still firing on Utah on the morning of D+3 (9th June). Azeville is a little different to other batteries in Normandy in that you spend the first...
Review: Utah Beach D-Day Museum, Normandy
You can’t miss the Utah Beach Museum. It’s right there, woven into the sand dunes that, along with the Germans, defended the shore in 1944. In fact it’s partially built on the remains of German bunkers. The History Utah beach was one the ‘extra’ beaches, added to...
The German Cemetery at La Cambe, Normandy
The biggest surprise about the German military cemetery at La Cambe is its size – it is small (16.5 acres), given that 21,222 German soldiers are buried here. That’s much smaller than the American Cemetery at Colville (172.5 acres), which has 9,380 graves. The reason is that,...
Review: D-Day Museum, Arromanches
Arromanches-les-Bains is the site of the famous Mulberry B Artificial Harbour and home to the D-Day Museum, better known as the Musée du Débarquement, Arromanches, which focuses on the astounding piece of engineering that still dominates the seascape today. There were two Mulberry Harbours. Mulberry A at...
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