Day 6 Paris to Bayeux 22 April 2018

Today is our first day exploring the history of D-Day 1944.  The D stands for Designated. We travelled to the Ranville cemetery, Pegasus Bridge and museum, where mainly British airborne troops landed to secure the eastern flank.

In the cemetery we did discover that if coins were placed on adjoining headstones that meant that they had been killed together. If headstones were abutted (pushed up against each other that he remains found were of those people but it may have been impossible to separate.  For example both of these unfortunate young men were killed when their tank was hit.

We went to have lunch at the first building liberated by the Allies in France.  It is still a café today and the owner who served us was the four year old daughter at the time. The omelettes and salads were delicious. Rod our tour guide explained how the three gliders landed in such precision and under such difficult conditions.

Here is the cafe next to the bridge where we had lunch, the first liberated French home. The family with their three daughters lived upstairs while the German guard lived below.

Here is our tour group, all looking skyward like the bust of Major Howard is except one who forgot to and Elizabeth who is taking the photo.

Here is cafe next to the bridge, the first liberated French home.

Here is our very experienced tour guide Rod explaining to Phil from Melbourne how the landing at Pegasus Bridge by glider, was exactly like the last time he used Tiger Airlines. Non-existent engines, a healthy supply of sick bags, as well as the pilots copping a lot of flak once they hit the ground.

I know it's important to keep your weapons clean, but is this overkill with the pressure hose? (Excuse the pun.)

We had a quick look at Sword (UK) and Juno (Canadian) invasion beaches.  This is an earlier Napoleonic watchtower.

Our tour guide took us up to one of the German strongpoints codenamed “Hillman”. It was a network of fortified positions, interconnected by tunnels.  

That would be me as a heavily armed meerkat, if indeed I had a machine-gun.

Here we met a local Frenchman whose father had the same rank, and served in the same unit as Charles De Gaulle in 1940.  He hates De Gaulle. His father fought to the end of the campaign and surrendered to the Germans whereas De Gaulle had scarpered off to England and promoted himself to General. We arrived after 8PM at the Novotel Bayeux. We then had a lovely, but rather late dinner in the hotel’s restaurant. It was a huge day.