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Saturday 28th October 2017
Weather: Overcast but dry
Seas: Calm
We were up early this morning as we were taking a Ships Tour – Contentin Landing Beaches. The Allied Forces used the beaches in Normandy to mount their D-Day Landings – the beginning of the end of World War 2.
Room Service Coffee and Hot Chocolate was our back up and very welcomed as we got ready. We headed up to the buffet for breakfast before heading ashore to find out bus for the tour.
A 30 minute drive and we arrived in St Mere Eglise. This was the town the Airborne Division inadvertently parachuted into as they missed their landing zone. John Steele landed on the church roof and a model complete with ripped parachute adorns the church as a tribute to him and his fallen comrades.
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Inside the church, a stained glass window pays tribute to the soldiers.
Signs of what happened over 70 years ago can still be seen in the town. Bullet holes in walls along with metal rails that are nicked from being hit by bullets.
St Mere Eglise is also home to the Airborne Museum which marks the events that led up to 6th June and what happened on the day and their after. We were given 90 minutes to look around but this was no where near enough time to see everything.
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What we didn’t realise, is that Greenham, Welford and Aldermaston played a pivotal role in this mission. The gliders carrying the soldiers took off from these locations. I knew that vehicles were hidden on Bucklebury Common during the war, but hadn’t twigged that the planes used bases close to home as well.
They had gliders, model soldiers, Rupert (the model parachutists that were used to create a diversion away from the landing areas – far more basic than they appeared in The Longest Day!), models, photos, costumes and exhibits donated by the families of the locals and soldiers. It was really well laid out and all very interesting.
The second building we entered was particularly moving. In one part you found yourself in one of the planes carrying the parachutists. It’s dark, and you are surrounded by the lights and sounds these men would have heard that morning. You walk through the plane and out the other side. You are then stood on the glass floor with an aerial view of the towns you were flying over and models of the parachutists heading towards the ground. Over 24,000 British, Canadian and American troops were dropped into Normandy just after midnight and the first allied troops to set foot in German Occupied Territory.
A real shame we didn’t have more time to spend here but would really recommend this museum to anyone with an interest in WW2 history.
Next stop was Utah Beach – one of two beaches the American Soldiers landed at. The beach was huge and stretched for miles either side. It was so peaceful and so far removed from the horrors of 73 years ago.
The metal barricades (Czech Hedgehogs) constructed by the Germans to prevent landings had been removed but were dotted around the local area. They were much smaller that you expect (again, they looked bigger on the Longest Day!). A landing craft was located at the entrance to the beach. We were all surprised just how basic these vessels were but they were essential to the success of the operation.
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Statues and memorials along with mile markers were also visible. Alas, no time to visit the museum; you could probably spend a week in this area, and still not see everything there is to see.
Our final stop of the day was at the Azeville Gun Battery – this (like all the gun batteries) were set inland and not visible from the sea or coast. We had a quick photo stop at the Crisbecq Battery which was complete with gun so you could visualise just how large these guns were.
We then arrived at Azeville and spent 45 minutes on a self guided tour through the tunnels that connected all the gun batteries.
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The tour was really interesting for both adults and children and would recommend.
Back to Cherbourg and no time left to explore Cherbourg (although from talking to the rest of the family, there wasn’t an awful lot to see in the town).
Our final sailaway and with the balcony between Mums and our cabin opened up, all ten of us squeezed onto the balconies to bid goodbye to France … oh, and for the adults to finish off the bottles of Prosecco that hadn’t yet been drunk!
We’d all had a fantastic cruise (thanks Mum!) and spent some quality family time. We were lucky enough to visit some new places we hadn’t been to before – and an added bonus that there were a couple of new ports for Mum which nowadays doesn’t happen that often. We had been blessed with the weather – blue skies and sunshine in all the ports (whilst Cherbourg remained overcast all day, we had blue skies and sunshine a few miles down the coast!). Even Storm Brian failed to whip up the seas (much to Jon’s disappointment!). Just enough movement so you knew you were on a ship! Even the Bay of Biscay remained calm both ways.
