Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
▲
Battle of Normandy Memorial Museum (Musée Memorial de la Bataille de
Normandie)
This museum provides a manageable overview of WWII's Battle of Normandy. With its
many maps and timelines of the epic battle to liberate northern France, it's aimed at milit-
ary history buffs—others may suffer from information overload. Still, it's worthwhile, es-
pecially if you won't be visiting Caen's Memorial Museum. You'll get a good briefing on
the Atlantic Wall (the German fortifications stretching along the coast—useful before vis-
iting Longues-sur-Mer), learn why Normandy was selected as the landing site, understand
General Charles de Gaulle's contributions to the invasion, and realize the key role played
by aviation. You'll also appreciate the challenges faced by doctors, war correspondents,
and civil engineers (who had to clean up after the battles—the gargantuan bulldozer on
display looks useful).
Cost and Hours:
€7, combo-ticket with other Bayeux museums €12 or €15, daily
May-Sept 9:30-18:30, Oct-Dec and mid-Feb-April 10:00-12:30 & 14:00-18:00, closed
Jan-mid-Feb, on Bayeux's ring road, 20 minutes on foot from center on Boulevard Fabian
Ware, tel. 02 31 51 46 90,
www.normandiememoire.com
.
Film:
A 25-minute film gives a good summary of the Normandy invasion from start
to finish (shown in English May-Sept at 10:30, 12:00, 14:00, 15:30, and 17:00; Oct-April
at 10:30, 14:45, and 16:15).
Nearby:
A right out of the museum leads along a footpath to the
Monument to Re-
porters,
a grassy walkway lined with white roses and stone monuments listing, by year,
the names of reporters who have died in the line of duty from 1944 to today. Some years
havebeenkindertojournaliststhanothers.Thepathcontinuestothe
British Military Ce-
metery,
decorated with 4,144 simple gravestones marking the final resting places of these
fallen soldiers. The memorial's Latin inscription reads, “In 1944, the British came to free
the homeland of William the Conqueror.” Interestingly, this cemetery has soldiers' graves
from all countries involved in the battle of Normandy (even Germany) except the United
States, which requires its soldiers to be buried on US property—such as the American Ce-
metery at Omaha Beach.
Hotels are a good value here, and it's just a short hop from Bayeux to the D-Day beaches.
