D-Day Landings June 1944

One of the main reasons for coming to Normandy is to soak up some of the history that has shaped all of our lives. The D-Day landings was a real turning point in World War 2 and I suppose if it hadn't been so successful the world or at least Europe as we know it today may have been so very different.

We started our journey at Pegasus Bridge, which was named after the insignia worn on the Airborne troops uniform, which is just 1 mile inland. It is a very small bridge which crosses over a canal and then a little way along is another bridge crossing the River Orne. On 5^th/6^th June 1944 6 gliders, which had been towed by Halifax bombers from England landed in this area carrying up to 25 men as well as equipment in each glider. There were also paratroopers landing in the area as well. They were to secure the two bridges so that the area was safe for those who had landed on the beaches to move in land, to begin the liberation of France.

                                                                                                                                                       

The bridge crossing the canal now was built in 1994 when the old bridge was becoming dangerous.

This is the original bridge which stands in the museum

Three gliders crash landed at Pegasus bridge right next to the canal with no casualties and the pill box, where the Germans were guarding the area, was hit with grenades. 

The first person to cross the bridge was Piper Bill Millen and then the rest followed, apparently there were only two killed and 14 wounded at that time.

Rob played his pipes here which he found very moving.

On the side of the canal where the gliders came down are memorials commemorating the events of that day, their commander was Major John Howard who was in the first glider to land.

At the side of the bridge is a café which was there on that day, and is still run by the daughter of the owner at that time. The story goes that they were so pleased to see the soldiers that the owner dug up a hidden bottle of champagne to celebrate. The café became a first aid post within hours of D-Day.

Over the bridge is the Airborne Museum full of all interesting memorabilia of that day, including a replica of a glider and a bailey bridge.

Bailey Bridge

Replica of a glider

While we were there the bridge lifted up to allow two yachts to pass through which was interesting.

From the bridge we drove a couple of miles to Ranville, which apparently was the first village to be liberated, at 02.30 on 6^th June 1944.

The War Cemetery was started by the Royal Engineers of 591^st Parachute Squadron, at that time they put up wooden crosses but now it is a sea of white headstones. Today there are 2563 graves here including 323 Germans. On each headstone was engraved a different few words as well as their name, age, rank and unit except for a few with the inscription ‘known only to God’. I found it really emotional walking through the headstones and reading some of them, they were all so young which is so sad and this is just one cemetery of so many in this area.

A couple of days later we drove a bit further north to visit the area where the Americans landed. We started at a town called Ste Mere Eglise, the first town to be liberated, which apparently owes some of its fame to a parachutist called Jon Steele who was with the 82^nd Airborne Division. He was one of the 13000 or so parachutists who jumped from one of the 880 transport planes flying from England. He landed on the steeple of the church where he hung for a couple of hours before being captured by the Germans. He apparently managed to escape and rejoined his Division once more. 

There is an effigy of John Steele hanging from the steeple which is rather strange.

The inside of the church is quite ornate and one of the stained glass windows shows paratroopers surrounding the Virgin Mary.

The US Airborne museum is full of interesting information and artefacts, housed in a parachute shaped building. The newest addition which only opened this year is a complete re-enactment of the landing of the parachutists. It all seemed very real while we walked through the area. At one point we were stood as if in a plane looking down at the land below, with the sound of the wind and gunfire all around us. Once ‘on the ground’ we were with the soldiers again with ‘gunfire and bombs dropping’ and shouting and cries from the soldiers. Quite something to experience.

We drove to Utah beach then, the tide was out so there was this huge expanse of sand in front of us, it wasn't difficult to imagine 23000 men and 1700 vehicles coming across that great expanse of sand. The weather when they arrived that early morning was not good but everything was very calm on the day we arrived. There are various monuments and plaques around the area and remnants of bunkers as well, there is also a museum there but we didn't go into this one.