Jump to content

Advice needed on Normandy trip


Peter Graham
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hi All. This coming Easter myself, my wife and my son are travelling to Normandy for the first time. We are staying for a week in Vierville sur-Mer, right on Dog Green sector of Omaha beach. I've been doing my research and I've got a handle on all the major museums, bunkers etc that we want to visit. The advice I need is from anyone who has first hand knowledge of the region and who may know of any interesting sites well off the beaten track. We are taking a car so we can travel. What I'm really interested in is any German fortifications or trench systems that are not regularly visited by tourists or out of the way locations where action may have taken place. Advice on any museums not worth going to would also be useful as would info on good bars and eating houses. Many thanks in advance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy
Hi All. This coming Easter myself, my wife and my son are travelling to Normandy for the first time. We are staying for a week in Vierville sur-Mer, right on Dog Green sector of Omaha beach. I've been doing my research and I've got a handle on all the major museums, bunkers etc that we want to visit. The advice I need is from anyone who has first hand knowledge of the region and who may know of any interesting sites well off the beaten track. We are taking a car so we can travel. What I'm really interested in is any German fortifications or trench systems that are not regularly visited by tourists or out of the way locations where action may have taken place. Advice on any museums not worth going to would also be useful as would info on good bars and eating houses. Many thanks in advance.

 

Hi Peter, take a look at this link where I have posted about thirty-five then and now images, I started adding these at christmas with the intention af adding further as and when locations and time allows. Most photo's are ones taken post D-Day by U.S. army signal corps photographers, it's harder to find any german images of their occupation of the bunkers and area's.

 

http://www.milweb.net/news.php?type=galler...&cat_id=349

 

Sorry to say that there is just too too much in Normandy to list for you to see. Just a quick idea for you is to drive the coast road from the Utah beach museum towards Quineville at the far end of Utah beach, spot all the bunkers left and right of the road and the ones hidden between house's :lol: :thumbsup: There's a militaria store in Quineville, plus a lesser known D-Day museum in an original German beach bunker system.

 

The average tourist goes to the museum and then straight back to Carentan or St Mere Eglise which are the hot-spots that everyone knows and goes. :crying: ;)

 

ken

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi there Peter,

 

I've done the Normandy invasion beaches and surrounding areas about three times now. First was with my parents when I was younger and we went to all the major attractions (I'll go into more detail shortly), the second time was a quick two/three day visit with my best friend and we stayed around the Sword beach and Utah beach areas, and the third visit was 2010 with my fiancee. It was on this last visit that we/I saw more and experienced more.

 

Since you're staying in the Omaha beach area, as you'll know you're kind of in the middle of things so getting to museums/exhibits etc. won't take much time at all. On the last visit we stayed a few miles from Pegasus bridge for the whole week and we continusly travelling back and forth each day (not that this was a bad thing as the coast road that runs along the beaches can be stunning), however in my old British Army Land Rover it was a bit of a chore driving from Pegasus bridge to Utah beach and back again on one of the last days.

 

In my opinion some of the highlights for me were The Museum of Normandy Wrecks, the 'new' Airborne Museum at Pegasus Bridge, the Merville Battery, the Longues-sur-Mer Battery and the Normandy American Cemetary and Memorial.

 

Of all the museums we went too there was only one that left me wanting, this was the Dead Man's Corner Museum. Don't get me wrong the museum was very good, however I seem to remember it being comparitively expensive for the amount you saw. I appreciate that the whole museum is located within a surviving farm house that played a very significant part during the Normandy campaign, but the price vs. experience value wasn't the best for me. On the plus side, there is a large fantastic (but again expensive) WWII re-enactors shop situated inside. If you've seen the Soldier of Fortune online store, imagine this in the basement of an old farmhouse and with friendly staff.

 

One thing I do remember is that France pretty much shuts down on a Sunday. Despite living in Belgium for three years and visiting France hundreds of times during then and since, I had totally forgotten this, so plan your Sundays wisely. Joe, my fiancee, and I were left stumped with what to do on our first Sunday as none of the shops were open, many restaurants didn't open till later (so we couldn't even eat over looking the beaches) and lots of museums/exhibits were shut...with one major exception - The Merville Battery. It is a fab museum and in this case, literaly a day saver. As mentioned by General Apathy if you get a chance, take a drive along some of the coastal roads and keep your eyes peeled for some of the old parts of the Atlantic Wall. Some are obvious and are now musuems, like the Museum of the Atlantic Wall, however some are tucked out of the way. I have to be honest, nothing felt 'off the beaten track', I guess as so many people head to Normandy now, most things/places that were off the beaten track, have now been discovered.

 

In Vierville-sur-Mer (as you may know) is the Musee D Day Omaha, a small museum crammed full of all manor of Normandy related goodies. As I say its a small museum but well worth a visit. I seem to recall it being quite cheap too and if memory serves me, its on the main coast road. Two of my grand uncles lated with the British forces on or shortly after D-Day and so walking on the beaches was of particular importance to me, however it was, as it sounds like it might be for you, all the fortifications, bunkers and such that really fired my imagination and I guess its because so many of them are still standing.

 

I know I'm forgetting lots of things, and I'll add more as I can remember them, but I do hope you have a great time while your there. Enjoy and be sure to post some pics when you get back.

 

Cheers and hope this is a little bit helpful,

 

Tom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

Hi Peter, as Tom states in post #3 ' we forget things ' you wanted to see German fortifications, well one that I really enjoy is the Grand Bunker at Ouistreham near Caen ( Portsmouth ferries to Ouistreham) it is a massive multi storey fire control bunker overlooking the harbour. It has rooms and displays of German, American and British items all within an original German bunker, and vehicles in the grounds outside..

 

Take a look at this link below and they have further links to other museums and sites in Normandy

 

http://www.musee-grand-bunker.com/englishversion.asp

 

ken ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Peter,

Can't add much more to what you have been told all ready I would just also add to this apart from the good advice you have been given all ready!You should invest in buying Maj Holts BattleField Guide Book to Normandy gives a lot of info on good places to visit and that for your reference can be bought @ Amazon.co.uk or / EBay.co.uk.

 

Regards: Tomás. :thumbsup:

post-11464-1326840286.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gentlemen, many thanks for your interesting and informative replies. They have been a great help. A site that no one has mentioned that gets good write ups is the Maisy Battery, uncovered a few years back. So much to see, so little time. :think:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Peter...be aware that it's a big area to cover from one end to the other. People who've never been before often have a notion of it being just a little crescent of sand backed by dunes. This is a common misconception. You could spend several days just exploring the US or British/Canadian sectors alone. If you try to see everything you'll see "nothing"...if that makes sense? If I were you I'd plan to visit a few specific sites and concentrate on those alone, otherwise you'll spend more time travelling between places than actually exploring them. Trust me...I've made several visits and still didn't get to see it all!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Be prepared to be a bit overwhelmed by the amount of cemeteries you run into. The one above Omaha is sobering enough, but even if you get on the back roads, you won't go past a church without servicemen buried there and small cemeteries filled with soldiers from whatever battle took place in the area. The road between Caen and Falaise has them too. When you start seeing the names and thinking that was someone's son, husband, brother etc, it can really get to you.

 

And I think this is a good thing as it puts all the 'glory' we attach to WW2 in perspective. The greatest collection any of us has, isn't worth one of those kids lives.

 

You will feel the history. You can count on that. If you get time, I really suggest hitting the back roads though. The museums are all very nice, but those moments where you run into a piece of WW2 in the middle of nowhere somehow feels more 'real' for lack of a better word.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...