FRANCE - Europe by Eurail 2015: Touring Europe by Train - page 193

E-mail: [e-mail]
www.ville-caen.fr or the Normandy Tourism Board at www.normandie-tour-
isme.fr
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Hours: July-August: 0900-1900 Monday-Saturday, 1000-1300 and 1400-1700
Sunday; September-June: 0930-1300 and 1400-1800 Monday-Saturday
Seven decades have passed since one of the greatest battles in history took
place in Normandy. At dawn on June 6, 1944, American, British, and Canadian
forces, together with elements of the Free French, assailed the Normandy beaches
along a broad spectrum of the coastline at five preselected landing points, Utah,
Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. Preceded by the drop of three airborne divisions
during the predawn hours, between 0630 and 0730, 120,000 soldiers and about
20,000 vehicles were landed from the sea. The assault upon Adolf Hitler's “Fort-
ress Europe” had begun.
By the night of August 21, 76 days later, the Battle of Normandy was over. The
German Seventh Army had been encircled and forced to surrender. It had cost the
Germans 640,000 soldiers—killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. Allied losses were
tallied at 367,000 dead or wounded. American losses were set at 127,000 casual-
ties—31,000 of that number died in battle.