Last day of beaches and there were quite a few stops….

Last day of beaches….I am going to try and type from my notes and add photos…

Our last day to tour beaches included the English sector and the Atlantic wall, Longue-Sur-Mer, Arromanches, Gold Beach (British) and Juno Beach (Canadian) and Pegasus Bridge. I know. It’s a lot. 

I am going through my notes and will add some interesting facts to the photos. Hopefully this will be shorter to read than War and Peace, but no guarantees. Let’s go…

On the way to Longue-Sur-Mer, we learned about the Atlantic Wall. This was an extensive line of heavy defenses installed by the Germans along major ports and landing sights once the U.S. entered the war at the end of 1941. 300,000 people were “recruited” to do the work led by skilled German engineers. Sadly many companies made good money supplying materials to the Nazis. 

In Longue-Sur-Mer, which sits along a large stretch of open beach, we saw one of the examples of this Wall. Near the shore we visited the lookout bunker where scouts were heavily protected and could report via wired radios to the four guns situated far back in the brush. The launch capacity of these guns was impressive. 

From the command post, coordinates were to be radioed to the gunman. The ships coming in would be sitting ducks. Except for one problem. Local citizens, including children on their way to and from relatives houses and school had passed the guns and carefully counted steps and landmarks to aid the allies in finding where these were hidden. The information was passed to French Resistance workers who sent the details by carrier pigeons to the allies in England of where to drop bombs. 

Also, on D Day, when two English, two French and one American ship sailed into the harbor, the guns were firing blindly because the wires between the command center had been damaged by air bombers. Not a single ship was hit. I still cry imagining those little children, like our own grands, gathering information to bring home and pass along for this liberation. 

Our next stop was Arromanches and Gold Beach. This was the sight of the British landings.

This is where Churchill insisted artificial ports and harbors be installed. On New Years Eve of 1943, England sent a group of soldiers to do reconnaissance work, getting samples of sand and surveying the area in preparation for taking possession and creating this makeshift harbor for the Allies.

I can’t quite wrap my mind around it, but they made huge concrete blocks (I am talking the sizes of several story high buildings) in England. These were “sunken” and floated across the channel and then raised up. They also sunk various ships to create blocks in the waves so that the landings would be smooth on shore to deliver the necessary men and equipment to finish the liberation. 

This process was started one day after D Day. 2.5 million men eventually landed here because of the work of the men who engineered the artificial harbor. Millions of tons of supplies and equipment also came through this harbor.

The taking of the area to make these harbors came at yet another cost, and those lives are not forgotten in this community.

According to Winston Churchill, this port made possible the liberation of Europe as it gave the allied troops access to the main roads. 

We spent our lunch break here and enjoyed walking around the parks and reading the memorials. This bench says it all. 

Our next stop was Juno Beach. This had a higher percent of casualties. Since this beach was taken by the Canadians, we visited the Juno Beach Centre. This is managed by the Canadian government. Young Canadians can work for a year as interns. Our guide was a darling 22 year old volunteer. Emma graduated with a history degree and was knowledgable and proud of her country. She also had a great personality and quick humor. We enjoyed her as we learned about Canada’s contributions to the war.

Out of 11,000,000 residents in Canada during WW2, 1.000,000 joined the war. They were for the most part all volunteers. They had three objectives for their landing on Juno Beach – secure the beachhead, secure the highway and link up with those who landed on Gold and Sword beaches. 

Because of rough sea conditions and a 20 minute postponement to their landing, the defensive obstacles along the beach were covered by the tide. Many died as mines exploded during their advancement. The museum is both outside and inside.

Emma gave us such detailed information as she showed us through a bunker and around the grounds. She encouraged us to watch the film at the end of our tour and admitted she cries every time she see it. I was thankful for the warning and made sure my purse was well stocked. It was impacting. 

We also stopped at Sword Beach. This was a place of weak defense by the Germans. The French Resistance played a huge part in this. There were 200 groups with 16,000 members who fought behind the scenes by sabotaging railways and roads, telephones, gathering information and relaying to the allies, passing along misinformation to the Germans and other tasks that were done undercover. 

The last place we stopped was the Pegasus bridge area.

Here the Royal army used gliders to drop soldiers in with the goal of taking control of key bridges that would allow the allies to advance. These gliders were fascinating. With no engine, they were able to transport men and even tanks and trucks. Because the wings were empty, they could pack supplies in those as well. 

I have only given you a snapshot of the information we gleaned. I had no idea the length and breadth of the planning for this. Our guides continually emphasize that the actual event of D Day was three years in the planning. Remember the U. S. did not even enter the war until late 1941. The coordination of generals and leaders, the training and planning is mind-boggling. And so many things went wrong and yet, it succeeded. 

Our last day was a respite from all of this war information and yet our heads were still filled with much learning. I hope you will join me tomorrow for our stop at Mont St. Michel.  

Here is the link for the Juno Beach Centre https://www.junobeach.org

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