Day 10 - Sep 6, 2017: Normandy and Area with Pictures

Day 10 -  Sept 6, 2017:  Normandy and Area 

Arques la Bataille British Military Cemetery

We passed by a the Arques la Bataille British War Cemetery and decided to check it out. It was on the top of a hill overlooking the countryside enroute to Normandy, not far from our B&B. This cemetery, as are all other CWGC cemeteries, was well groomed, neat and abundant with flowers. It was filled primarily with members from the South African Labour Camps as well as Chinese labourers and a few members of the Indian navy from the Great War.

Le Grand Bunker Musee at Ouistreham

We moved on to the Grand Bunker Museum at Ouistreham. On display here is a landing craft that was restored for the movie "Saving Private Ryan".  Standing inside gives you a feel for just how unprotected the soldiers were. There is extremely little keel to these and are basically a flat bottomed boat. It would be a bear to steer and would truly be at the mercy of the winds and seas.

This bunker was built as part of the Atlantic Wall defence system - a series of fortified bunkers, anti-aircraft gun posts, beach obstacles, mines, barbed wire, etc that stretched from the France/Spain border on the west coast all the way to Norway. This bunker was five floors in height, fully self-contained and provided observation, communication and of course gun placements. The museum has an incredible collection of German military artifacts.  53 Germans surrendered from this bunker.

Operation Neptune

Operation Neptune was the code name for the amphibious Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord. "D-Day" was the name given of the day of implementation of any military operation and for that reason the D-Day reference to Operation Neptune is incorrect. 

Operation Neptune was the largest naval invasion in history. It occurred on 6 June 1944 and involved 6,939 ships from eight Allied navies, 156,000 troops from 10 various Allied countries on five beaches including 24,000 American and British Airborne troops landing further inland. The Allies would sustain 10,000 casualties that day including 4,414 deaths. The 3rd Division of the 1st Canadian Army's 2nd Corps landed at Juno Beach on that day.

Juno Beach Center

We arrived at the Juno Beach Center at Bernieres-sur-Mer in time to take the guided tour. The young fellow was extremely knowledgable and took us through a couple of German bunkers on the beach. He then took us to the sandy beach where our boys landed on 6 June 1944. As with Dieppe it was very powerful to stand in the very spot that out troops were on that day 73 years ago.

Inside the Juno Beach Centre are a great number of displays and videos of the era. A continuous scroll is projected on the ceiling as you enter the exhibit. It displays and announces the names of the 4,500 Canadian soldiers, airmen, naval men and support staff that died in WWII. It takes 13 1/2 hours to complete.

Beny-sur-Mer Reviers Canadian War Cemetery 

We visited the Beny-sur-Mer Reviers Cemetery. Of the 2049 soldiers buried here, 336 Canadians were killed on 6 June. An additional 1694 Canadians buried here were killed at subsequent battles  in the Normandy campaign. It amazes me how young some of these boys are.