NORMANDY THREAD DAY 8: UTAH BEACH

Well it's the last day of the tour and we are exploring the westernmost landing beach Utah. This was one of the two American beaches and as you can see from the map the sea landing was intrinsic with the inland American airborne operation...

2. Before we get to the beach proper we'll make a couple of quick stops. There are literally hundreds of small memorials and plaques dotted around Normandy and we haven't time to stop at all of them on one trip. Our first stop is at the General Pratt memorial marking the...

3. spot where General Pratt, the first General to be killed in the Normandy campaign, along with four others when their glider crash-landed. We'll now move onto the Danish Memorial, only 1/2 mile from the beach, commemorating the 800 Danes who took part in the D-Day landings...

4. We now arrive at eastern end of Utah Beach

https://goo.gl/maps/icDAYPv1YSbCq7tU7

There's so much to explore here, the museum, the beach, German beach defences and memorials.

5. Utah Beach

6. Utah Beach

7. We'll now move westwards to another Utah Beach access point

https://goo.gl/maps/e9EuTK2jLqmBWu3M7

where there is a display of military vehicles and a monument marking the point of Frenchman General Leclerc's landing. The date given is the 6th June, but only the American forces landed on..

8. that day, Leclerc not landing until 1st August. On the beach there are the remains of a German bunkers to explore.

We're now leave the beach and head inland to the first of two German Batteries we'll explore, the final stops on our tour...

9. Crisbecq Battery

https://goo.gl/maps/DLgmE7cLmb2c6G248

This battery exchanged fire with the fleet off Utah sinking a destroyer and damaging others but most guns were destroyed by the return fire. The Battery held out from the ground assault until 12 June. As a result of the 75th...

10. anniversary of the D-Day landings in 2019, many sites have been spruced up, including this site that now has a new visitor centre. We'll now move onto our final visit on the tour...

11. Azeville Battery

https://goo.gl/maps/VWvNo2AUmjWbiEjz8

Azeville, Crisbecq and Merville Batteries are probably the finest and most informative German batteries to visit in the whole of Normandy. All three now have new visitor centres and it'll take a good couple of hours to explore...

12. the bunkers and tunnels of Azeville. The battery fired on Utah Beach as well as the warships in the Channel, hampering the American's advance. One particular thing to look out for is the shell hole in one of the casements, fired by USS Nevada. The shell went straight into...

13. the opening of one of the casements and penetrated the back wall. The shell did not explode by killed everyone in the room.

There's so much more to say on all the sites we have visited but our tour is now at an end. If you've been thinking about a trip to Normandy to see...

14. the beaches, visit the cemeteries and pay your respects to those who gave their lives so we are free today I urge you to do it. I did it with very little knowledge, I bought some books, read up, booked a ferry and hotel and that was about it. There are also the excellent...

15. Organised tours and professional tour guides who are fully of knowledge and insight. I know has I have often chatted with them on my visits. I'm planning to go back in 2021 for my fourth visit, there's so much more I want to see. I've been working on a map of the area, a...

16. bit of a work in progress, but I've marked all the spots we've visited on our virtual tour with a star, the other pins mark points of interest and as you can see there are many I've yet to visit. You can use this map with my complements. The link is...

17. as below... let me know if you cannot access:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ImO7DoW5fwy52JEaLwvbeA0zz-f8jPG2&usp=sharing

So thanks for the company, sorry for the odd typo, a pity you can't edit twitter posts. I'd like to leave you with a few of my favourite photos of my trips to Normandy. Au revoir, Paul