"Welcome to our Spiritual, Moral, Social & Cultural visit to Normandy"
2nd - 5th October 2008

See below for a brief history of main attractions and click on link for photos of the trip.

ROUEN - is the historical capital city of Normandy, in northwestern France on the River Seine, and currently the capital of the Haute-Normandie (Upper Normandy) region.  Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, Rouen was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages. It was one of the capitals of the Anglo-Norman dynasties, which ruled both England and large parts of modern France from the 11th century to the 15th century.

MONET’S GARDENS -  Claude Monet noticed the village of Giverny while looking out the window of a train he was riding and made up his mind to move there.  He rented a house and the area surrounding it.  In 1890 he had enough money to buy the house and land outright and set out to create the magnificent gardens he wanted to paint.  Some of his most famous paintings, such as his water lily and Japanese bridge paintings were of his garden in Giverny.  Monet lived in Giverny from 1883 until his death in 1926 and he and many members of his family are interred in the village cemetery.

CAEN - is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located 15 km (6 mi) inland from the English Channel.
Caen is known for its historical buildings built during the reign of William the Conqueror, who was buried here, and for the Battle for Caen—heavy fighting that took place in and around Caen during the Battle of Normandy in 1944, destroying much of the town.

D-DAY (06.06.1944) BEACHES – WAR MEMORIALS
Utah beach:  This was an American landing beach. The US 4th Infantry Division came ashore here at 6.30am on D-Day.  They were ordered to break out and split up.  Most of the troops would push north towards the important harbour at Cherbourg.  Small landing craft were launched from bigger ships several kilometres offshore.  This was a problem as 2m high waves meant some soldiers were injured or even drowned as they climbed down into the smaller boats.  Twenty three thousand troops were landed and 210 were killed, missing or wounded.
The waves and strong winds meant the first soldiers landed 2km to the south of their target.  This turned out to be a good thing as they found there were fewer German defences there - so the rest of the troops also came ashore at the "wrong" place.

Omaha beach: This was an American landing beach for the US 1st infantry division with the 116th regiment of the 29th division.  They were ordered to capture the coastal villages and then cut off the important road from Bayeux to Isigny.   This was the toughest place to land. The US soldiers had to fight hard to get ashore and 2,400 were killed or wounded.  There were problems even before the first soldier landed on the beach.
The German defences on the beach were supposed to have been damaged by an attack from bombers and warships, but these had missed their targets.  The defences were intact, so troops had to advance 600m up the beach under heavy fire from German machine guns positioned on a cliff.
Thirty amphibious tanks that would have helped protect the American troops nearly all sank because the waves were too big.  The conditions on the beach were recreated in the film Saving Private Ryan.
Despite all this by the end of the day 34,000 US troops had been landed here and the push inland had begun.

Gold beach: This was a British landing beach. The British 50th Infantry Division, and the 47th Royal Marine Commando, led the attack.  They were ordered to cut the important road from Caen to Bayeux and take over the small port of Arromanches. It was hoped they could link up with the US troops at Omaha Beach and the Canadians at Juno Beach.
There were 400 casualties as the beach was secured.  The landings took place from 7.25am onwards.  Landing craft dropped armoured vehicles onto the beach, some of these were damaged by land mines.  A naval bombardment in the morning weakened the German positions and the town of La Rivière was taken at 10am.  By the end of the day 25,000 troops had come ashore at Gold beach.

Juno beach:  This was a Canadian landing beach for the 3rd Canadian Division, joined by tanks from the British Hussars.   They were ordered to cut the road from Caen to Bayeux, link up with the British forces at Gold and Sword beaches and take an airport west of Caen.
The Canadian troops suffered a lot of casualties. There were 1,200 dead or wounded out of the 21,000 troops who landed at Juno on D-Day.  Casualty rates in the first hour were very high, with half of the first assault teams killed or wounded.   By the end of D-Day the Canadians had linked up with the British from Gold beach. They took the towns of Bernières and Saint-Aubin.  Some of the tanks managed to cut the Caen-Bayeux highway.

Sword beach:  This was a British landing beach for the 3rd Division together with French and British commandos.  They were ordered to capture the town of Caen which was at the centre of the local road network.  The commandos would move inland and meet up with the airborne Allied troops who had taken over important bridges a few miles in from the coast.
About 29,000 soldiers landed on the beach on D-Day and there were 630 casualties, dead or wounded.  They finished the day four miles short of the town of Caen but were successful in linking up with the airborne units.

BAYEUX  - is a commune in the Calvados department, in Normandy in northwestern France and is home of the Bayeux Tapestry, one of the oldest surviving complete tapestries in the world.
The area around Bayeux is called the Bessin which was a province of France until the French Revolution. The name of the town and its region come from the Celtic tribe of Bajocasses who inhabited the area. During the Second World War Bayeux was one of the first French towns to be liberated during the Battle of Normandy, and on 16 June 1944 General Charles de Gaulle made his first important speech on liberated French soil in Bayeux.
The buildings in Bayeux were virtually untouched during the Battle of Normandy as the German forces defending the town were pulled away to help defend Caen. The town hosts the largest British war cemetery in France from the Second World War.

Eurostar meeting point....
Under the clock	On our way	Inform Recruitment's Prize winner of the December case of wine - Lynn

PHOTO GALLERY: Page 1 - ROUEN Page 2 - MONET'S GARDENS Page 3 - CAEN

Page 4 - D-DAY BEACHES Page 5 - BAYEUX

 

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