A Day in Normandy: Landing Beaches of WWII with Private Guide

We will take you for a guided tour of the Landing Beaches in Normandy including Arromanche where can be seen the remains of a Mulberry harbor. Built thanks to Churchill's vision within a few days after D-Day. This "temporary" port was used to disembark an army with all the men and supplies necessary to liberate Europe. It is one of the most extraordinary industrial and maritime achievement of the war. On the way to Omaha beach, visit the site of the powerful German battery at Longues-sur-mer. In spite of the heavy bombing on the night before, the German ‘pill boxes’ and their 150 mm guns were still operational on the morning of 6 June and they began firing at the allied battleships.

Continue with Omaha Beach and the moving Normandy American cemetery where 9385 Carrara marble crosses stand aligned. A memorial, inscribed with a map of the operations stands in the central alley and in the back, there is a museum.

The name ‘Omaha Beach’ which until 6 June 1944 existed only as an operational code name, has continued to jointly designate the beaches of three villages, Colleville, Saint-Laurent and Vierville, in memory of the soldiers of the 1st American division who landed there and suffered the heaviest casualties on D-Day. Drive and stop along the beach where your guide will show you some of the German bunkers and machine-gun nests.

One of the most impressive site in Normandy, is perhaps Pointe du Hoc where the 2nd battalions of specially trained Rangers under the command of colonel James Earl Rudder captured the position by assault at dawn on 6 June, scaling the cliffs with ropes and extendible ladders but not without heavy losses – 135 rangers out of 225, key action for the success of D-Day.

Option : See the Tapestry of Queen Mathilda in Bayeux, actually a 70 meters (230 feet) long work of embroidery retracing the epic of William the Conqueror's expedition to England in 1066 (battle of Hastings).

The work is the most accurate and lively document to survive from the Middle Ages and provides detailed information of the clothes, ships, arms and general lifestyle of the period.

Return to Paris.