Landing by sea, land and air
France had already been under German occupation for three years when the D-Day landings were planned. The objective was to achieve a breakthrough on the Western Front to allow the Allies to confront the German army and thus relieve the Soviet army, which was facing the Nazis alone. Although it was initially planned for the Pas-de-Calais coast, Normandy was finally chosen in order to take the German camp by surprise. In the greatest secrecy, under the code name "Operation Neptune", men trained in the English countryside. They were ready on June 5, 1944, to land on the beaches of Normandy. The 5th? Yes, that was the date that was chosen. But the terrible weather that day forced them to postpone the "D-Day" to June 6th. In the early morning, 156,000 soldiers from the United States, Canada, England and Australia landed on the five beaches of the Normandy coast: Juno, Sword, Omaha, Utah and Gold Beach. The landing took place in several key stages.
First, in the air. In order to guarantee the safety of the Allied soldiers who were to arrive on the beaches, paratroopers literally fell from the sky between midnight and one o'clock in the morning over the communes of Sainte-Mère-Eglise and Ranville. The 82nd and 101st American Airborne Divisions and the 6th British Airborne Division were responsible for this incredible event. The American soldier John Marvin Steele made history by hanging on the bell tower of the church of Sainte-Mère-Eglise. That same night of June 5-6, approximately 2,000 bombers dropped 8,000 tons of bombs and other explosive devices on the German artillery. In the early morning, before the soldiers set off for the Normandy beaches, the naval artillery took over. Then it was the Landing by sea. While the fighting on Utah Beach went "relatively well", Omaha paid a heavy human toll and was nicknamed "Bloody Omaha". Three days later, on June 8th, the beachheads of all the beaches joined forces. Operation "Overlord" could begin.
The Battle of Normandy
"Operation Overlord", code name for the Battle of Normandy, had a clear mission: to open a front in the West in order to liberate France and Europe from the German yoke. When tens of thousands of soldiers rushed to the Normandy beaches under the fire of German bullets, their mission was clear: to enlarge the bridgehead and seize Caen and the port of Cherbourg. The second objective was to liberate Brittany and the ports of the Atlantic coast on the one hand, and Le Havre on the other, in order to widen this new western front that would allow the Nazi troops to retreat.
Bayeux was the first city liberated by the Allied troops. British soldiers entered the city on June 7, 1944, and did not even have to face the German garrison, which surrendered without difficulty. On June 14, General de Gaulle landed in Bayeux to the acclaim of the population. A happy episode that contrasts with the bloody battles that tens of thousands of soldiers had to face from Caen to Cherbourg. The Allied troops had all the difficulties in the world to succeed in penetrating the prefecture of Calvados and in total nearly 6 weeks of confrontations were necessary to succeed in liberating this strategic place. Caen had an airport (Carpiquet), and it would be very useful for the airmen... in the meantime, a temporary airport was built near Carentan. Several bombings took place, but the 1st and 12th SS armoured divisions resisted. Finally, the Allied troops overcame the German defence and the Canadian troops entered the city on 9 July.
The harbour of Cherbourg was also a strategic choice. Its deep-water port attracted a lot of attention and it was the soldiers who landed on Utah Beach who had the difficult task of recovering the city from the Germans. On June 21, they succeeded in surrounding the capital of the Cotentin region from the south, surrounded by hills that sloped down to the sea. The assault was launched, and 5 days later, the allied troops entered Cherbourg. The joy was short-lived: the SS had completely ransacked the port, making it unusable. It was not until mid-August that it was operational again. This tactical site became the most active port in the world for several months.
The breakthrough of Avranches, named "Operation Cobra", on July 30th 1944 was a new step for the Allied troops. After the difficult "battle of the hedges", where the soldiers were trampling in the Normandy bocage and the Germans were taking advantage of their difficulties, this victory was welcome. With the opening of Avranches, the whole of Brittany could be liberated.
Continuing their advances, the Allies succeeded in taking Falaise in August. The 5ᵉ and 7ᵉ German armies were encircled in the, now famous, Chambois pocket. Between the Orne and Calvados, this is where the last stage of the Battle of Normandy was played out. It was also the bloodiest of the battle, as Chambois was nicknamed "Death Row". From August 12 to 21, the fighting raged and the noose tightened around the German soldiers, who were now trapped. 6,000 SS soldiers were killed and 50,000 were taken prisoner. In the sweltering heat, it was such a mass grave and such a stench that the population was forced to flee. The American General Eisenhower spoke of this episode as "one of the greatest killings of the war" .
Despite bitter fighting and numerous human losses, the Battle of Normandy was won by the Allies after 100 days. These confrontations allowed the liberation of Alençon on August 12, Honfleur on August 25, and Rouen on August 30. Le Havre was the last city in Normandy to be liberated on September 12.
In order to achieve their objectives, the Allies had no other choice than to bomb all the military installations of the Nazi armies. And the region will always bear the scars. In the summer of 1944, some towns were almost wiped off the map. Saint-Lô, Falaise and Lisieux were more than 75% destroyed, Le Havre 80%, and Vire 95%! The civilian population also paid a heavy price. It is estimated that about 20,000 people lost their lives during the fighting. The number of Allied and German soldiers killed is estimated at 70,000.
Places of memory
Several memorial sites allow you to relive the incredible epic of D-Day and the ensuing Battle of Normandy.
In Arromanches, a museum is entirely dedicated to the D-Day. Built on the very site of the Allied artificial harbour, of which some remains remain, the museum retraces the major stages of the D-Day landings and recontextualizes how they unfolded. The first memorial site to open in 1954, its scenography features models, 3D animations and film. Another site well worth a visit is the circular Arromanches 360 cinema, which plunges you into the heart of the battle through never-before-seen archive footage.
Walk through history at the Pointe du Hoc site in Cricqueville-en-Bessin. This strategic site, fortified by German troops, is open to the public and offers an insight into the incredible epic of its capture by the Allies.
In Caen, the Memorial is a must-see site for discovering the full story of the Battle of Normandy and, more broadly, of the Second World War. Through extremely well-documented trails, rich in objects and archive images, immerse yourself in the horrors of this global conflict and the confrontations that have forever marked the history of Normandy. In addition to the military and strategic aspects, striking before-and-after photographs show the destruction of Normandy's towns and cities by the bombardments, as well as the daily lives of Normandy's civilians, for whom the arrival of the Allies was not all joy and relief. They too paid a heavy price for the liberation.
The American cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer is strewn with endless white crosses. In all, the site contains 9,387 graves of soldiers who fought far from home and died for freedom. It's an emotional place that pays tribute to their courage.
Between Chambois and Vimoutiers, the Coudehard-Montormel memorial stands on the exact spot where the bloody fighting of the last act of the Battle of Normandy took place. The scenographic space explains and describes what this fighting meant to the very outcome of the Second World War, particularly for General Montgomery, who defined the site as "the beginning of the end of the war".
There are also many museums in the Manche region, starting with the Airborne Museum in Sainte-Mère-Eglise, the Landing Museum in Utah-Beach and the Normandy Victory Museum in Carentan.
The British Memorial at Ver-sur-Mer was opened on June 6, 2021: the names of over 22,000 soldiers are engraved in stone.
80th anniversary of D-Day: Normandy remembers
80 years: although direct witnesses to the June 6th landings are now rare, the desire to celebrate and commemorate remains intact. Many here remember the celebrations of the 40th, 50th, 60th and 70th anniversaries. This new ten-year event should also go down in history. In addition to the official ceremonies, which will welcome a large number of heads of state, Normandy will be remembered for several months by numerous festivities: paratroop drops, setting the coast ablaze with synchronized fireworks, a giant picnic at Omaha-Beach and countless Liberation balls will punctuate this period, which will welcome hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world. Places of remembrance - including museums - will also be celebrating with a host of events. Finally, to make the most of the D-Day sites, Normandie Tourisme, the regional tourist office, has just launched the Explore Normandy Pass, a digital tool offering you discounts on your visits, enriched content and the chance to collect badges through fun activities. For more information, visit www.normandie-tourisme.fr.
