I started off the day by heading to another gun battery, Longues-Sur-Mers. I was going to hit this place yesterday but I decided to delay as I wasn’t going to catch one of a handful of daily tours. Much to my dismay, when I arrived this morning for the 10:15am tour I was greeted by a temporary sign stating that there were no tours today with no reason given as to why. Oh well.
I had a walk around and there was one couple with a private tour guide so I tried to listen in a bit but the guide didn’t seem to have great information. She was mostly going on about how one mustn’t equate any war movies, Hollywood or not, to what war actually is like. Fair enough, but I would rather be learning about what we’re looking at if I’d hired her.
One of the guns had received a direct hit to its metal deflector shield. Amazing to see the thick, rusted steel peeled back like a gigantic can opener was unleashed on it.
One of the Longues-Sur-Mers guns:
Looking down the muzzle:
The hit gun:
After checking out the four gun emplacements, I wandered towards the ocean cliff to look at the observation post which was responsible for directing the artillery shells on enemy ships. It was an impressive two level concrete structure but I was amazed that the solid roof was held up by a mere four skinny metal bars...yikes. It was obvious that the post had been hit numerous times during D-Day but none of the hits made much more that a dent in the thick concrete.
The observation post:
Look at the little rods holding a hell of a lot of concrete above my head!
Nice coastline...but I wouldn't want to attack it!
Betty's younger brother, Bob, was parked next to us!
Okay, time for the next stop of the day...the Juno Beach Museum. There were five beaches that the Allies attacked on D-Day: two attacked by the Americans (Omaha & Utah), two by the Brits (Sword & Gold), and the last one was the responsibility of the Canadians, Juno Beach. Over the past few days, driving through various beachside towns, I’ve felt proud to see a number of Canadian flags flying (often along with the Union Jack and the Stars and Stripes). Now it’s time to find out a bit more detail about what the Canadian boys did here...
From the outside, the building was quite impressive, definitely in a whole different league that the ramshackle old hangar of the Omaha museum. Inside was equal in quality. It made me remember Louise (Garth’s friend in Pristina, Kosovo that I met back in August), “A museum should create a sense of mystery...leading the visitor through a variety of different multimedia experiences.” And this museum did just that. It began with a 270 degree film shown in a rectangular, slightly sloped room that was intended to make you feel as though you were on one of the landing craft...very cool. I ended up spending over 2 hours in the museum (whereas I lasted about 10 minutes in the Omaha museum). Afterwards I took a short stroll on the beach and tried to imagine what it would have been like on that morning of June 6th, 1944.
The Juno Beach Museum:
Inside the Canadian museum:
Juno Beach:
It was mid-afternoon at this point but there were still a couple more sites I hoped to see as I continued my way east along the coast. The next one was the Grand Bunker Museum. This was a reconstructed German headquarters on the same spot it stood during the war. It was disguised to look like a multilevel home but was in fact a thick concrete walled structure which directed the nearby gun batteries to protect the entrance to the river Orne.
Outside of the museum was an artillery gun, a V2 rocket and a landing craft that was actually used in D-Day and was in fact the one that Tom Hanks was filmed on for the movie of “Saving Private Ryan”. Inside the museum were five levels with various mocked up rooms and actually started with a couple of Canadian soldiers blowing up the main steel door. Canadian lieutenant Bob Orrell was sent with three other soldiers to flush out the building, the last stronghold in the area. After taking four hours to blow it open, the Germans immediately surrendered. Bob asked how many Germans were in the building and was a bit surprised to hear over 50! Not bad for four guys!
Outside the Grand Bunker:
Not my best Tom Hanks impression:
A strange German soldier in the bunker:
The lookout with the a wide, powerful range finder:
My final stop of the day was the Battery of Merville. It was a similar setup as the Longues-Sur-Mers battery I saw this morning (as you wouldn’t expect the Germans to reinvent the wheel with each new artillery emplacement), however inside the fortifications where the guns were once housed were mini-museum displays and in fact the main bunker had a simulation of what the initial attack would have been like for the Germans stationed there. It was extremely loud complete with smoke, flashing lights, German officers barking orders and shells exploding. I’m sure it still pales in comparison to what the real experience would have been like.
The Merville Battery (difficult to see but that's part of the point):
Outside they had a Dakota plane, which seemed a bit out of place seeing as it was an American workhorse that was critical in dropping paratroopers during the night before the D-Day landings. There were a few information signs talking about the plane and I was surprised to see a reference to Kosovo on one of them (having been there a month and a half ago). Turns out that this specific plane had been recovered from that region.
The Dakota:
Okay...I think I’m D-Dayed out! I continued driving along the coast and began to see what campgrounds my SatNav could find for me. I struck out the at the first few as they were closed but eventually found one which turned out to be a massive 600 site spot but there were hardly any people here at this time of the year. Fine with me. I drove into a town to get some take-out pizza as I didn’t trust that there was enough fuel in my campstove to eke out a meal. Tomorrow, off to Calais via Dieppe...only one more full day in France...
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