Originally Posted by
ChrisGeorge
Thanks for your input, Waterways and JMLE. I have not been there myself but am moved by the accounts of what occurred and the photographs of the cemeteries.
Chris
It is good trip down the coast. There are commemoration tanks and flag on each beach. US, UK , Canadian, Free French. The roads have names like Southampton Row. The British named them British names for the troops in the landings, so they could understand and the French kept many of the names. There is a museum at Arromanches. Arromanches was taken from the land side because of the high cliffs. The Free-French took the port of Ouistreham; the most extreme west.
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The first part of France liberated was around midnight on June 5th by the Oxford & Bucks who went in by glider. They took Pegasus Bridge across the Caen Canal which was well defended with guns implanted in the ground. The Germans knew the bridge was important. This prevented the Germans from pouring tanks into the beaches, which they never tried, and secured the bridges for allied tanks out from the beaches. Richard Todd played the commander in the film "The Longest Day". Todd was in reality was a part of the actual raid.
Pegasus Bridge
There is a little cafe, Caf? Gondree, next to the bridge, which was the first building liberated on the landings. The owner and his wife dug up wine and champers hidden in the garden from the Germans, and had a party with the troops. I was there 20 years ago and she was still alive, but very old. A lovely old dear who was visited each year by the same troops. The cafe was still basically original from WW2, except it had white plastic furniture outside.
I had a French girl friend at the time and she had never heard of it and was surprised and thought only the Americans came ashore. I reminded her most were British. She excitedly told everyone back in Paris about the little cafe.
The cafe is to the left of the bridge.
The cafe
One night in a one-to-one, the uncle told me what is was like going ashore. They see it from a totally personal perspective. The sound of the 15 inch shells overhead from the battleships behind, making a woo, woo, woo sound. Planes constantly overhead attacking or returning. Behind was like a city, full of ships of all types, as the horizon could not be seen. Approaching, zipping of bullets in the water and landing craft returning after delivering some men, the odd body floating in the water. The scramble to get up the beach amongst the knocked out tanks, many metal obstacles, bodies lined up, smell of cordite everywhere and the beach-master screaming at them to get off the beach. And then mustering and getting off ASAP, famished and wanting tea or coffee and wet from the waist down. Gunfire all around. Noise, noise, noise. Relief when in the fields beyond.
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