Utah beach and lots and lots of bunkers...

So first of all this is Utah beach...as it may have looked if you were just landing. The US troops were actually a bit lucky with the bad weather on the beaches as they ended up being about 2000yds further east of their intended targets and further away from more of these bad boys.

The landings on the beaches went well - but immediately behind the beach is a very low lying area that the Germans had flooded. The only way off the beach was along a series of single lane roads surrounded by water. Ideal defensive conditions but overcome with the combination of individual initiative and raw courage that seemed to be demonstrated at key points throughout the invasion. Utah proved to be much less costly than the other US beach - Omaha.

You can get inside a lot of these fortifications - which I confess I did and felt about 12 years old.

But wait - it get's better! Inland are the batteries at Marcouff. They held out until June 12. There are two within a few k's of each other - Crisbecq and d'Azerville. Crisbecq still looks impressive from the outside.

The Crisbecq battery..which I did not go in...

 

And the d'Azeville battery...which I did! It's huge - well over 300m of tunnel connecting four casements. These were started back on 1942 and added to over the years. Two of them are even camouflaged to look like ruined Norman farmhouses. Highly recommend the tour - there is an extraordinary part where you can see where a huge shell from one of the US ships came straight though the opening, went through the back wall into another room, out the back and wall and ended up in ground...without exploding!





Plan for tomorrow is Omaha beach, also in the US sector. This is 'Saving Private Ryan' territory so should be another fascinating day.