We went our separate ways today, Pat on a Tastes of Normandy day and I went to the British & Canadian D Day Beaches and two war cemeteries. A beautiful day which touched 30C.
Our travel through upper Normandy took us through much of France's foodbowl, with very big wheat farms (record harvest this year), corn (for animal feed), sugar beet, flax, dairying, very impressive horse studs and, apple orchards for the cider and calvados. We also passed very big transmission lines and heard that Normandy has two nuclear power plants supplying 70% of the country's electricity.
My first stop was at Ranville Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery. Ranville has some 2300 Commonwealth war dead from D Day and the fighting which followed (vast majority British). The yougest buried here was just 16 (having put his age up to enlist). Two Australians are buried here, Fl Lt's T. Anderson & Henry Lacy Smith, the latter having been shot down five days after D Day, on 11 June 1944. Smith's plane crashed into a river and his body was not discovered and recovered until 2010. He was finally buried here in 2011. 300 Germans are also buried in this beatifully maintained cemetery - one of 18 the Commonwealth War Graves Commission maintains in Normandy. Because of its commitment to the war in the Pacific, Australia had minimal D Day involvement - esentialy limited to the RAAF flying contingent.
We then moved onto what is now known as Pegasus Bridge. The bridge was over the Caen Canal and was targetted as the first and vital objective for D Day. It was taken in 10 minutes (the Germans having been convinced to move many troops toward Calais as the anticipated landing point). The 6th Airborne Division force that took Pegasus came in from England on massive towed "gliders" (28 fully equipped soldiers in each). Three landed within 150 metres of the bridge to forge the beginning of D Day. The original Pegasus Bridge is in a quite new British museum which we visited, together with a replica glider and an original fuselage.
On then to Arromanches one of the beaches where the British established articial pontoon harbours (many remnants remaing in the water) to facilitate post D Day landings. Lots of people on the beach and in the water as the end of summer holidays approach.
Then to Courselles-S-Mer (Juno Beach) where the Canadians landed in the early hours of D Day, suffering huge casualties due to the obstacles placed in the water by the Germans and the land based bunkers from which the Germans operated. Courselles-S-Mer is said to be the first town freed in the D Day campaign. It is now the site of a Canadian War Museum, staffed by young Canadians. It was quite surreal to see the town and its marina as a beach resort with many taking advantage of the summer sun.
Our last stop was Beny-Sur-Mer, Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery where more than 2000 (almost exclusively Canadian) are buried from the action on D Day and the early advance to Caen - eight sets of two brothers and one set of three.
Pat's Tastes of Normandy tour experienced all the agricultural and pastoral activity noted above and included a visit to Bayeux for its Gothic cathedral and the famous Bayeux tapestry which depicts the battles of William the Conqueror (known in many parts as William the Bastard). They then proceeded to Beuvron en Auge, said to be one of France's most beautiful villages, for sightseeing and a local lunch, including tastes of the three significant Normandy cheeses, including camembert. On then to the cider route road to Chateau de Brevil for tastings of cider and calvados, before the end of a 10 hour day.
It was a long day, it's a long post - and it will be a long read. Sorry!!!
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