Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Arromanches Connections
From Arromanches by Bus to: Bayeux (bus #74/#75, 3-5/day, none on Sun Sept-June,
30 minutes); Juno Beach (bus #74/#75, 20 minutes). The bus stop is near the main post
office, four long blocks above the sea (the stop for Bayeux is on the sea side of the street;
the stop for Juno Beach is on the post office side).
American D-Day Sites West of Arromanches
The American sector is divided between Omaha and Utah beaches. Omaha Beach starts a
fewmiles west ofArromanches andhasthemost important sites forvisitors, including the
American Cemetery and Pointe du Hoc (four miles west of Omaha). Utah Beach sites are
farther away (on the road to Cherbourg), and were also critical to the ultimate success of
the Normandy invasion. The American Airborne sector covers a broad area behind Utah
Beach and centers on Ste-Mère Eglise. You'll see memorials sprouting up all around the
countryside.
Omaha Beach D-Day Sites
Longues-sur-Mer Gun Battery
Four German casemates (three with guns intact)—built to guard against seaborne at-
tacks—hunker down at the end of a country road. The guns, 300 yards inland, were ar-
ranged in a semicircle to maximize the firing range east and west, and are the only ori-
ginal coastal artillery guns remaining in place in the D-Day region. (Much was scrapped
after the war, long before people thought of tourism.) This battery was a critical link in
Hitler's Atlantic Wall defense, which consisted of more than 15,000 structures stretching
from Norway to the Pyrenees. The guns could hit targets up to 12 miles away with relat-
ively fine accuracy if linked to good target information. The Allies had to take them out.
Enter the third bunker you pass. It took seven soldiers to manage each gun, which
could be loaded and fired six times per minute (the shells weighed 40 pounds). Judging
from the echoes you hear inside the bunker, I can only imagine the excruciating noise that
wasmadeeachtimethegunfired.Outside,climbabovethebunkerandfindthehooksthat
were used to secure camouflage netting, making it nigh-impossible for bombers to locate
them.
A lone observation bunker (look for the low-lying concrete bunker roof on the cliffs)
was designed to direct the firing; field telephones connected the bunker to the gun batter-
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