The biggest German cemetery out of the six in Normandy and in fact the biggest of WW2 in France ! 21222 soldiers enlisted in the German army, with an average age of 18 1/2 years old, remain here and at least a quarter of them are unknown. It is interesting to note that this graveyard was the site of an American and a German military cemetery opened by the US army in July 1944. The G.I’s bodies were exhumed and transferred to the Colleville sur Mer cemetery or back to the United States. Somber and peaceful, this land invite every visitor to reflection.

My favorite ! A German gun battery, the Normandy’s most powerful, six long range 155 mm guns covering the approach and the beaches of Utah and Omaha, an abrupt 100 feet high cliff and 240 German soldiers or so defending it… and 30 minutes for 225 US army Rangers to deal with it ! A mad dash to the cliffs’s bottom, a desperate climb with rope ladders and grappling hooks under the German fire, then over the top of what became a lunar landscape… The place remains almost exactly as it was at the end of the battle ; a battle that ended at midday on the 8^th of June.

Finding yourself on Omaha has something surreal. It is one of the most beautiful beaches in the region. 4,5 miles of gold sand, flanked by cliffs where in between is a plateau giving a wonderful view towards the English Channel. The lowest tide goes back as far as 350 yards (out). Such a superb place contrasts so much with the horror that took place here on the 6^th of June. Omaha is the story of a landing where « everything that could go wrong, went wrong  » (Gal Omar Bradley, C in C 1^st US Army). Many strongpoints can be visited, most of them being still in very good conditions, and one can easily spend a full day discovering the four main exits (codenamed D-1, D3, E1, E3) and a smaller draw (F1).

The first little town liberated in France in WW2 by American forces. The place where American paratroopers were dropped right in the middle of a church square. While a short but intense firefight occured, a man called John Steele found himself completely stuck on the church steeple and will not be able to free himself. A famous scene in the movie the Longest day, played by Red Buttons. A couple of hours later, a large group of paratrooper will finish the job, and take control of the vital crossroad which is Sainte Mere Eglise, thus becoming the first liberated town from the enemy

Exit 2 – La grande Dune, the exact place where the 600 men of the 1^st assault group, 4^th US infantry division, stormed Utah beach at 6.35 AM. However, they were supposed to land 2000 yards further north, astride Exit 3. Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr, the highest rank officer to land with a 1^st wave of assault in Normandy, understood the mistake and decided shortly after to « start the war from here ». He bravely stood before his men, reorganising the units to their assigned objectives and acting as a « traffic cop » on the beach. This landing is the story of a complete success with almost all the objectives fulfilled and less than 1% of the men killed or wounded for this entire day.

This little bridge and its causeway emerging from the flooded fields was one of the only two passages to cross the marshland that would then enable the US forces to make the cut of the Cotentin peninsula, prior objective before the seizure of the port of Cherbourg. The batttle for La Fière will be the theater of a fierce clash that will last 3 days and involve hundreds of soldiers of the 82^nd and the 91^st German airforce infantry division. Outstanding actions will result of what was going to become one of the major battle of the Normandy campaign.