D-Day Beaches
The June 6, 1944 landing of the allied forces on the Normandy beaches marks one of the biggest turning points in the history of the XXth century and, most notably, in the Second World War. A circuit of emblematic locations where people from all over the world congregate, allows us to go back in time to the famous D-Day and revive the landing of 5 000 boats, 12 000 planes and 156 000 soldiers. Among them, American, Canadian and English troops, as well as other forces from the rest of the allied countries: 'Forces françaises libres' ('Free French Forces') along with Polish, Belgian, Czech, Dutch and Norwegian soldiers.
The unavoidable departing site is the 'Mémorial de Caen', in the Calvados, also known as 'Musée de la Paix' ('Museum of the Peace'). A little further, two other locations are equally moving: first, the 'Pointe du Hoc', located at 'Colleville sur Mer' in the English Channel, a 30 meters height outpost that dominates the beach on the Normand side, between 'Omaha Beach' and 'Utah Beach'; secondly, the American Saint-Laurent cemetery, with 70 hectares that host the remains of 9 387 American soldiers, remarkably those of the the son of president Theodore Roosevelt.
Another must-see is the artificial harbour -a dyke of 230 reinforced concrete blocks- which the Allies built in Arromanches, most of it mounted over an anti-air battery. And, finally, the 'Centre Juno Beach', in the Calvados, a museum devoted to the role that Canadians had in the Second World War.
Recreate the 'longest day ever' with Pariscityvision.com in its D day Landing Beaches in Normandy tour