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1-Day British & Canadian Sites Tour
This 1-Day tour of the British and Canadian landing sectors, Gold, Juno and Sword Beaches plus the 6th Airborne drop zones. This tour visits the main points of interest and also the various memorials, battle zones and unit positions of the landings on D-Day through the ensuing coastal advance.
This tour serves as a great introduction to Normandy in June 1944 as seen through the eyes of the Commonwealth landing forces and the German defenders of the Atlantic Wall.
Below are the main points of interest only and we visit many other places during the tour. On this tour we never spend more than 15 minutes in the vehicle between all the interesting sites.
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*Pegasus Bridge
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*Sword Beach
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*Juno Beach
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*Gold Beach
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*Arromanches - Mulberry Harbour
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*Longues Battery
Pegasus Bridge
A job for the British 6th Airborne division was to be the taking and holding of the bridges over the Caen canal and River Orne in the early hours of D-Day.
The attack on the Caen Canal Benouville Bridge is perhaps one of the most famous actions of D-Day. By controlling these bridges the Allies could disrupt the Germans ability to send re-enforcements to the Gold, Juno and Sword beaches which the British and Canadians were landing on. The attack on Benouville Bridge (now named 'Pegasus Bridge' after the insignia worn by some troops of the 6th Airborne Division) was to be carried out well before the landing and thus still behind enemy lines which would create panic and confusion amongst the German defenders. The troops would arrive by gliders to try and achieve complete surprise in a ‘Coup de Main’ operation. The task was given to the men of D Company of the 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (or 'oxs and bucks' as they were known) under the leadership of Major John Howard. Although the bridge was well defended the arrival of their gliders achieved complete surprise as hoped for. Amazingly when you consider that the gliders came in in pitch darkness, almost all of the gliders landed within a mere 100 yards of their objectives, more amazing still when you consider the ground to either side of their drop zones was either deeply flooded marsh land or the actual canal!
Howard’s men rushed the bridge and secured it within minutes, achieving the accolade of being the first allied troops to land and fight on D-Day, Lieutenant Brotheridge was one of 2 men killed in the assault and hence became the first allied soldier to die in action on D-Day. Although only a tiny force Major Howard's men were able to resist the swift counter attack by the German 21st Panzer Division and were eventually reinforced half an hour after the main airborne landings as planned by 7th Battalion, who in true British style apologized to Howard for being 'two minutes late from their scheduled arrival time' !! Incredible when you consider the logistics of such a link up.
The museum at Pegasus Bridge, Mémorial Pegasus, is one of the best in the Normandy area, you can also have a coffee in the Café Gondrée at one end of the bridge whose occupants were officially the first French to be liberated on the night of 5/6 June 1944, it is still owned and run by the Gondrée family who have made its inside a living museum to that fateful night when it was used as a dressing station and the living room used as an operating theatre.
Sword Beach
Landing beach for the British 3rd Infantry Division on D-Day, split into 4 sectors `Oboe’, `Peter’, ‘Queen’ and ‘Roger’.
At 07.25 landings began at `Peter’ and `Queen’ which comprised a wide variety of units including Infantry, Commandos, Specialist assault groups (with Hobart’s Funnies), self-propelled artillery and a whole host of support units. Vital to the success of the landings at Sword were the actions of the 6th Airborne Division in capturing and holding the bridges over the Caen Canal and River Orne and silencing the potentially devastating firepower of the Merville Battery.
Both of these missions were a complete success and within a short time tanks and infantry were crossing the open countryside towards the objectives of linking-up with the British 6th Airborne troops and the capture of Caen. Counterattacked by the 21st Panzer Division halted the progress towards Caen although the beachhead had been secured. To all intents and purposes the Sword landings went incredibly smoothly with 28,845 troops ashore with only 630 casualties. Today Sword beach is the busiest and most built up of all the beaches but concrete coastal defence posts of the Atlantic Wall and various memorial sites can be seen in the area.
Juno Beach
Landing beach on D-Day of the 3rd Canadian Division. After some fierce German resistance the Canadians took hold and advanced further inland than any other troops on 6th June. So far in fact that they had to stop and wait! However they were soon to come across the 12th SS Panzer Division (Hitlerjügend) where a war of idealistic fanaticism would take place. This was the only SS Division close to any of the beachheads and the Canadians would have to face some stiff opposition. There is the cemetery, museum and various memorials to commemorate the Canadian troops part in the Allied landings of June 1944.
Gold Beach
On 6th June 1944 just after 7.20am the British 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division spearheaded the British landing at Gold Beach. In poor weather conditions the assault troops overcame German resistance and secured the beachhead winning the only Victoria Cross awarded on D-Day. By the 7th June it was in full operational use landing all four Brigades of 50th Division with armour, vehicles and supplies.
Arromanches (Mulberry Artificial Harbour - Port Winston)
Liberated on 6th June 1944 by British tanks coming from Sainte-Come-de-Fresné, the town was chosen by the Allies for the construction of an artificial port, for the purposes of provisioning the landing troops, until a large port was captured. Once completed this construction was 5 miles long and could accommodate the largest of ships. On the 12th June more than 300,000 men, 54,000 vehicles and 104,000 tons of provisions were landed here. Over a period of 3 months 2.5 million soldiers, 500,000 vehicles and 4 million tons of equipment went through Port Winston, more than either Cherbourg or Le Havre. Arromanches houses the 360º museum and also the harbour museum. Several pontoons are still visible in the bay and are accessible at low tide.
Longues-sur-Mer
The best kept battery of the Atlantic Wall and is the only battery to house fully intact original German guns. 4 x 150mm guns with a range of 12 miles caused trouble to the Allied fleet as they fired from 63m high cliffs. The ships Ajax, Arkansas, Montcalm and Georges-Leygues finally silenced the battery and it was occupied on 7th June 1944 after surrender of the German garrison. The whole site is accessible including the OP (observation post 300m forward of the guns).
