Bayeux
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Bayeux and the Bayeux Tapestry
Lunch in Villedieu les Poeles.
After our walking tour of Mont St-Michel and its abbey at the top, we headed to Bayeux. Our first stop was for lunch in Villedieu les Poeles. We had lunch at the La cuisine de leonie restaurant. |
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Bayeux Tapestry and Bayeux Cathedral.
We arrived in Bayeux in the heart of Normandy to study and learn about the 1,000-year-old Bayeux Tapestry. The Bayeux Tapestry is a 70-yard-long embroidered work of art bringing to life William the Conqueror's victory over the Anglo-Saxons at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. pictures of the Bayeux Tapestry were not allowed. Bayeux is also known as the first major town secured by the Allies during Operation Overlord. Charles de Gaulle made two famous speeches in Bayeux. It is also home to the Bayeux Cathedral. |
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
D-Day Beaches and Related Sites
German Cemetery.
Today we spent a somber day with our local guide, Sylvain Kast, touring the various towns, beaches, and cemeteries of Normandy's Allied D-Day landings that took place by sea and air. Our first stop was at La Cambe, a German military war grave cemetery containing in excess of 21,000 German military personnel of World War II. It is maintained and managed by the German War Graves Commission. |
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Ste-Mere Eglise.
Next, we visited the town of Ste-Mere Eglise made famous by paratroopers on D-Day. The early landings of paratroopers, at about 0140 directly on the town, resulted in heavy casualties for the paratroopers. A well-known incident involved paratrooper John Steele, whose parachute caught on the spire of the town church. He hung there limply for two hours, pretending to be dead, before the Germans took him prisoner. Steele later escaped from the Germans and rejoined his division. Later that morning, about 0500, a force led by Lt. Colonel Edward C. Krause took the town with little resistance. |
Utah Beach.
We visited Utah Beach next. Utah, commonly known as Utah Beach, was the code name for one of the five sectors of theAllied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944 (D-Day), during World War II. The amphibious assault, primarily by the US 4th Infantry Division and 70th Tank Battalion, was supported by airborne landings of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Division. The 4th Infantry Division landed 21,000 troops on Utah at the cost of only 197 casualties. Airborne troops arriving by parachute and glider numbered an additional 14,000 men, with 2,500 casualties. |
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Omaha Beach and Pointe du Hoc.
Omaha Beach was our next D-Day site. Omaha Beach is a landing area in Normandy, northern France, used by Allied forces in the WWII D-Day invasion. The Americans suffered 2,400 casualties at Omaha on June 6, but by the end of the day they had landed 34,000 troops. |
American Cemetery and Memorial.
We visited the American Cemetery where nearly 10,000 Americans who gave their lives on the beaches below are memorialized with white markers. The cemetery is located on a bluff overlooking Omaha Beach. It covers 172 acres, and contains the remains of 9,387 American military dead, most of whom were killed during the invasion of Normandy and ensuing military operations in World War II. Included are graves of Army Air Corps crews shot down over France as early as 1942 and three American women. |
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This is our last night in Bayeux: tomorrow we head back to Paris again.