Monday 27 June 2011

Normandy Part 1

I have recently been involved with the school history trip to Normandy on the 9th - 14th June to see the sites of the D-day landings of June 6th 1944.

Pegasus Bridge

The bridge pictured from the landing spot of glider 1

1st stop on day one was Pegasus bridge where John Howard landed in the early hours of D-Day. This was really impressive to see as it was one of the crucial bridges that had to be taken and held in order for the British advance. The original bridge is preserved in the museum beside the current bridge (Almost a copy) and you can still see bullet and shrapnel damage from the assault. I was impressed at the bravery and skill of these men, the assault was over in 15 minutes and the piloting of the gliders was unreal as they had such a small landing zone to come in on which was beteen a river and a canal and dotted with pools and marshes. You can see this on the pictures as the landing spots are now marked with monuments which show how close to the bridge they were. These men were so professional it is a testament to British training and planning that they were able to pull it off and that is only half the story, they were required to hold the bridge once captured until they were relived which involved some heavy fighting while they were still cut off from the main force.
Bullet holes

Cafe Gondree - The first house to be liberated on D-Day
Sword and Gold


From there we moved on to Sword and Gold beaches where French and British troops had landed - amazing to stand and look at these idyllic French Tourist beaches and look at a photograph taken in 1944 from the same viewpoint and it is just bristling with men and equipment.


Sword Beach today
Sword beach - D-Day 1944


French Commando Monument - Sword Beach

Ranville

Ranville Church
We also visited the British War Cemetery at Ranville which was quite a leveller. The thing that really stood out for me was the ages on the gravestones, it seems that the average age was 22 years old. Would the people of britain tolerate this amount of loss in a single generation these days?? there were about 2500 graves in this cemetery and is looked really well looked after and peaceful -the most recent burial was only a year old as it seems that the Normandy countryside still gives up it's dead on occasion to this day.

2500 poor souls

 

The memorial cross - seemingly the size depends on the number of graves in the cemetery



The civilian area of Ranville church and graveyard



Overall this was a really interesting first day with lots to see and learn, and that was only day 1. Away from the military aspect of the trip, the surrounding countryside of this area was beautiful, peppered with little villages and hamlets in that particularly Normandy style which i could easily have visited for that apect alone.

Normandy Countryside
Roadside fruit stall
Merville-sur-plage