Normandy, France

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Pointe du Hoc - Point du Hoc Brochure

The American Cemetery at Omaha Beach - Arromanches - Caen Museum

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Pointe du Hoc

Pointe du Hoc is a promontory with a 100 ft (30 m) cliff overlooking the English Channel on the coast of Normandy in northern France. During World War II it was the highest point between Utah Beach to the west and Omaha Beach to the east. The German army fortified the area with concrete casements and gun pits. On D-Day (6 June 1944) the United States Army Ranger Assault Group assaulted and captured Pointe du Hoc after scaling the cliffs.

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Bomb craters are still visible all over Pointe du Hoc


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Remains of German bunkers litter the area

 

 

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Partial view of Omaha Beach

















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German artillery position

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The Pointe du Hoc American Memorial is a monument at Pointe du Hoc . The monument was created by France erected in honor of the American Second Ranger batajon which was under the command of Lieutenant - Colonel  James E. Rudder.

The Pointe du Hoc American Memorial has a needle shape and is built on the site where once stood the shooting coaching post. The monument is protected by barbed wire, otherwise it is too dangerous to walk around the monument. The 12 hectare large Pointe du Hoc was in 1979 , including the monument over to the U.S. government.

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Utah Beach to the west of the monument

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The primary lookout bunker at the point of Pointe du Hoc

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Omaha Beach on the right of the monument

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Heading in to the primary German bunker

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A view from the German bunker

 

Point du Hoc Brochure

This is a brochure that I got at Point du Hoc showed that at 7:10 the USS Satterlee (DD-626),

had an important role in the DDay invasion. My dad was on that ship during DDay.

 

 

 

 

 

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The American Cemetery at Omaha Beach

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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We had our tour on June 2. You could see they were making arrangements for the 70th anniversary on June 6.

 

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An unknown soldier's grave

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Arromanches

 

Arromanches is remembered as a historic place of the Normandy landings and in particular as the place where an artificial port was installed. This artificial port allowed the disembarkation of 9,000 tons of material per day.

It was on the beach of Arromanches that, during the Invasion of Normandy immediately after D-Day, the Allies established an artificial temporary harbour to allow the unloading of heavy equipment without waiting for the conquest of deep water ports such as Le Havre or Cherbourg. The port was commissioned on 14 June 1944.

British built huge floating concrete caissons which, after being towed from England, then had to be assembled to form walls and piers forming and defining the artificial port called the Mulberry harbour. These comprised pontoons linked to the land by floating roadways. One of these ports was assembled at Arromanches and even today sections of the Mulberry Harbour still remain with huge concrete blocks sitting on the sand and more can be seen further out at sea.

Today, Arromanches is mainly a tourist town. Situated in a good location for visiting all of the battle sites and War Cemeteries, there is also a museum at Arromanches with information about Operation Overlord and in particular, the Mulberry harbours.