A Review of Normandy Beach France

Posted by Bill Yates on July 31st, 2008 at 12:02pm

As the sun rose over Europe on June 6, 1944 hundreds of landing craft packed with thousands of American troops stormed towards the Normandy Coastline, specifically towards the beach codenamed Omaha Beach. The weather conditions on this momentous morning were miserable, visibility was down to about one hundred yards and a thick gray mist hung over the English Channel. Sand and smoke and noise obscured everyone’s view. No-one could see and hear a thing. The American Cemetery is undeniably impressive, a fitting backdrop for the thousands of visitors who come here each year, many in search of lost relatives.

Yet thousands of soldiers were killed as soon as they stepped onto the beach, or even into the water as they waded to shore. At the time, it was believed that, within hours, 2,000 men were cut down — “felled,” says one historian in the film, “like stalks of wheat by a sickle.”  But the casualty figures were closer to 5,000. And all of a sudden, the fog cleared up and unveiled thousands of boats: a superb and grandiose sight.  I shouted at my neighbor coming out of his house: “it’s D-Day, go see the sea, go admire it?. Despite enduring those many, many months of unbelievable hardships and harsh military discipline, many  were killed within minutes on the bloody sands of Omaha Beach, or mere days later in the entangling Normandy hedgerows. Others survived only to be killed within a few months, on the wintertime battlefields of Nazi Germany.

While firm beachheads began to be established on other Normandy Beaches, Omaha Beach proved to be a stubborn target, and at the end of the first day, little progress had been made. Ultimately, of course, forces were able to push through and overwhelm the experienced and highly trained German defense forces, but at a very high cost. Many companies offer bus tours of Normandy beaches.

There is an awesome hotel for staying near Normandy Beach in France.  And what this hotel lacks in elegance is overshadowed by the fact it is in the absolute best location to tour all of the Normandy beach/WW II attractions. The hotel has two sections, one older, one newer.  Some sort of aircraft (likely military related) crashing into the water off Normandy Beach. Again, there is limited evidence to support these findings so these are preliminary theories at best.

When these troops swept across the French countryside and into the forests of Belgium and Luxembourg they came not to take, but to return what had been wrongly seized. When our forces marched into Germany they came not to prey on a brave and defeated people, but to nurture the seeds of democracy among those who yearned to be free again. Used by the American troops during the D-Day landings of 1944, Omaha beach is located 6km west of the town of Arromanches. A museum dedicated to the D-day landings can be found in the adjacent village and you can visit the American war cemeteries where many soldiers now rest.

Tags: American Cemetery, Casualty Figures, Codenamed, D Day, German Defense, Landing Craft, Military Discipline, Nazi Germany, Normandy Beach France, Normandy Beaches, Normandy Coastline, Normandy France, Omaha Beach, Tours Of Normandy, Weather Conditions

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