The Longest Day

Today was a day full of modern history. Caen, as I’ve mentioned before, has become my home-base for exploring the D-Day Beaches. I started at the Memorial du Caen, which is actually their World War II museum. The whole day was a bit rushed, which sucks. I couldn’t get all the pictures I would have liked. But at least I got to see it all, which is better than I could have done from Bayeux.

And of course, they've got a plane crashing through the lobby.

 The museum was not quite as nice as I expected. There was a lot of posters and newspapers, but not a lot of interesting artifacts or other media. It was a nice building and a nice presentation at least. There was an interesting poster towards the end. It reminds me of all the 9/11 stuff.

Translation: Cowards! Never Forget!

 Speaking of 9/11 stuff, the museum also had an exhibition on political cartoons for some reason. I got to see some political cartoons from other countries criticizing the US for its reaction to 9/11 and the war in Iraq. It was not exactly a refreshing moment. After looking at those, I watched a video called Espérance, or “Hope.” Was the most depressing film I’ve ever seen with the intent to inspire hope for the future.

But this is hilarious.

 Finally, it was time to leave on my tour of the D-Day Beaches. I got stuck as the only American/ English speaking person in my tour group, so we did the whole thing in French. Actually, I preferred it that way, because I could not understand the tour guide when she spoke English. I’d guess she learned English in England, because she had a horrible half-French-half-British accent whenever she spoke in English. Anyway, the first stop was at Arromanches, where we could see the remains of the artificial harbor built by the allies.

Yep, it's some concrete in the water.

 The Allies chose to land on the beaches of Normandy and build their own ports because it was nearly impossible to seize a port from the Germans. So the Allies built hundreds of hollow concrete blocks and they towed them across La Manche (the English Channel). They sunk them to create a breakwater for a large harbor. They then brought in floating docks and pontoon bridges onto which they could unload their tanks, jeeps, rations, ammunition, and other supplies.

Other supplies... like a small village.

After Arromanches, we headed to Longues-sur-Mer, which contains a battery of Nazi artillery. It’s the only place in Normandy where the original artillery is still in place. This battery was situated between Gold Beach (where the British landed) and Omaha Beach. They could fire up to 13 miles, and caused quite a bit of havoc for both Gold and Omaha.

And they look pretty cool, too.

 From Longues-sur-Mer we went to the US Cemetery which overlooks Omaha Beach. 9,383 men lay buried there, as well as four women. The women were US Red Cross workers who died in a Jeep crash shortly after the battle of Normandy. The site has been given over to the US Government as a gift from France. Theodore Roosevelt Jr. is buried somewhere there, but I have no idea where.

The obligatory photo.

We headed down to Omaha Beach at Vierville-sur-Mer. I must say that Omaha Beach was quite a letdown. The beach is prolific in World War II lore, but in the modern day it’s really just a beach. To be fair, the Vierville-sur-Mer span of Omaha Beach was the least defended part, but it took a lot of work to spot the defenses.

Look closely for bunkers on the beach. Good luck finding the ones in the hills.

 The last stop was Pointe du Hoc. This plateau was assaulted by the US Rangers during the D-Day Invasion. The Rangers were appointed with the task of taking the most heavily fortified part of the Nazi defenses with the ultimate goal of neutralizing the heavy artillery that was stationed there. They scaled the cliff face using grappling hooks and fire ladders. About 200 of the 300 total Rangers were killed during the assault, and when they were finally victorious, the Rangers found that the artillery pieces had been moved by the Germans well before June 6.

Pointe du Hoc from Omaha Beach.

Inscription on the dagger.

 The Pointe du Hoc was also the most bombarded stretch of land during the D-Day Invasion. It was hit by about 10,000 tons of bombs, and still shows the damage today. The place is pock-marked with massive craters and destroyed bunkers, all of which have been left exactly as they were at the end of the battle (minus of course the weapons and the mangled bodies).

Those aren't natural hills...

 So I got to see a lot today. And then I came home to my hotel and it fell apart on me. There’s no longer a hotel WiFi signal, so I don’t know how I’m going to plan out tomorrow’s trip to Rouen. Also, my toilet backed up into the shower while I was trying to take a shower, which was pretty freaking disgusting. So somehow I’m going to make it to yet another town in the morning, and maybe you’ll hear from me soon?