France 2023

Place du Vieux Marché

The Place du Vieux Marché is a small public square in the oldest portion of Rouen. As its name literally declares, it was historically a market square.

L'église Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc

This church was built in 1979 as part of the post-war reconstruction of Rouen and fills the center of the square. The unusual shape of the church and the adjacent market halls built along with it is intended to evoke both the ancient Christian theme of an overturned boat and the flames of Jean’s martyrdom. The church also features a set of thirteen large stained glass windows salvaged from the former Church of Saint Vincent which was destroyed during WWII.

Le Bouchet

This small garden to the north of the church marks the site of Jean d'Arc's martyrdom.

Le Gros-Horloge

The Gros Horloge is one of the oldest and largest surviving atronomical clocks still in existence, with a wrought iron clockwork movement dating back to 1389. Since approximately 1529, it has been installed in a Renaissance arch over the Rue du Gros-Horloge.

Cathédrale-Primatiale et Métropolitaine Notre-Dame de l'Assomption de Rouen

Rouen Cathedral was built from 1030 to 1880 as a reconstruction of the prior Romanesque cathedral in the new Gothic style, although it ultimately incorporated elements of early Gothic, late Flamboyant Gothic, and Renaissance styles. For a relatively brief period (1876 to 1880), the cast iron flechè which was built to replace the Renaissance era version (which was destroyed by lightning in 1822) made this the tallest building in the world. The four copper-clad turrets surrounding the flechè were added in 1880-1884, and were the last major change to the cathedral.

Four Dukes of Normandy are buried here in relatively modest tombs flanking the choir, including Rollo (the Viking chief to whom King Charles the Simple ceded Normandy) and Richard "Cœur de Lion" I.

Eglise Paroissiale Saint-Maclou

Constructed from 1435 to 1521 with extensive sponsorship from the rising merchant class of Rouen, this Catholic parish church is a superb example of the Flamboyant Gothic style. While literally eclipsed by the neighboring cathedral, its smaller size and unified construction enables a beautiful coherency of form and style.

Château de Moulineaux

Spotted in passing while driving out of the city on A13, the Château de Moulineaux is an 11th century castle, popularly called the Château de Robert le Diable after one of the best known early Dukes of Normandy (1027-1035). The castle was destroyed around 1203 by King John sans Terre during the Angevin conflicts, but King Philip II Augustus had it immediately rebuilt. It was destroyed again by the people of Roen during the Hundred Years Wars to deny its use to the invading English. The remains were partially reconstructed in 1903 by Lucien Lefort, a student of the famous Viollet-le-Duc, and were opened to the public in 2003.

Église Saint-Pierre

The Église Saint-Pierre is a Catholic church which was built from the early 13th century to the 16th century. It is often mistakenly called a cathedral due to its size and beauty, but Caen is in fact part of the Diocese of Bayeux and thus does not have a true cathedral. The spire of the church wwas destroyed in 1944 by a direct hit from the British battleship HMS Rodney, and rebuilt post-war.

Château de Caen

One of the largest medieval castles in Europe, the Château de Caen was built by William the Conquerer to anchor his newly consolidated power in Normandy prior to launching his successful invasion of England. The castle remained in active use as a fortification throughout the Hundred Years War and was maintained as a garrison after it became militarily obsolete; after the French Revolution, the keep tower was demolished as an anti-royal symbol. In their final configuration, the outer walls measure over 800 metres in length and enclose an area of approximately 5.5 hectares.

Porte Saint-Pierre

The castle has two entrances: the Porte Saint-Pierre on the south face (facing the town, and formerly known as the Porte sur la Ville) and the Porte des Champs on the east face (facing what were then open fields). Both entrances were reinforced by external barbicans when the castle was under English control during the late Hundred Years' War period.

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux

Bayeux Cathedral was built in the late 11th century.

Gallo-Roman City Wall

Directly adjacent to the cathedral is a 24 metre long segment of the original Gallo-Roman city wall, measuring 3.5 metres thick at the base and excavated to a depth of 3.5 metres.

Place de la Liberte

The Place de la Liberte is a small public square down a narrow alleyway tucked between Bayeux Cathedral and the adjoining shops. At its center stands a Liberty Tree which was planted in 1797 to consolidate a variety of such trees scattered around Bayeux when the government of the French Revolution adopted them as a symbol in 1792. Unfortunately, ongoing renovation of the Cathedral means the "Passage Flauchat" is currently blocked. I was able to catch a glimpse of the tree through the slats of the construction fence, but the gap isn't wide enough for my camera to capture anything.

Bayeaux Tapestry Museum

13 bis rue de Nesmond, 14400 Bayeux

Musée de la Bataille de Normandie

The Musée de la Bataille de Normandie is the second of the three major museums in Bayeux, focusing on the liberation of the Normandy region from German occcupation during WWII.

Tank Park

Museum Displays

Bayeux Deportation Memorial

16-26 D6, 1400 Bayeux (behind Place de la Liberte)

The inscription is an excerpt from the poem "La Rose et le Réséda" by Louis Aragon.

Marineküstenbatterie Longues-sur-Mer (Widerstandsnest 48)

Marineküstenbatterie (MKB) Longues-sur-Mer is a World War II coastal artillery battery which was built as part of the Kriegsmarine's Seeverteidigung coastal fortification program and then later transferred to the Heer's Atlantikwall coastal fortification program. Due to the bitter organizational rivalry between the branches of the Nazi military, these rival programs were completely seperate from each other and officially existed for completely different missions: the Marineküstenbatteries of the Seeverteidigung were to engage offshore warships while the Heeresküstenbatteries of the Atlantikwall were to engage troop landings on the beaches. Practically speaking, however, both programs used the same Regelbau system of standardized fortifications as the pre-war Siegfried Line in Germany, were constructed by the same forced labor levies under Organisation Todt, and are regarded by most historians as a single set of coastal defenses.

During the D-Day landings, the Longues-sur-Mer battery initially bombarded Omaha Beach to little effect, then switched targets and enaged the British naval forces covering the landings on Gold Beach. The headquarters ship HMS Bulolo was forced to retreat, but the Leander-class light cruiser HMS Ajax and Dido-class light cruiser HMS Argonaut engaged the battery in a two-hour artillery duel (from approximately 0620 to 0845) and succeeded in knocking out two of the guns with direct hits. After field repairs restored the guns to operation, the battery opened fire on Omaha Beach and was engaged by the French La Galissonnière-class light cruisers Georges Leygues and Montcalm and the American Wyoming class battleship USS Arkansas (BB-33). Their counterfire destroyed Casemate No. 4's gun and knocked out Casemates No. 1 and No. 3, leaving only Casemate No. 2 and an auxiliary 122mm field piece firing sporadically and ineffectively at both beaches for the rest of the battle.

Longues-sur-Mer was liberated the next day by "C" Company of the 2^nd Devonshire Regiment, with approximately 120 survivors of the 184-man German detachment surrendering without further resistance. A temporary airfield (Advanced Landing Ground B-11) with a single 1200-metre dirt runway was subsequently built adjacent to the captured battery, and was used by several different Spitfire fighter squadrons from 21 June to 4 September. During this period, the British placed a light anti-aircraft battery of two 40mm Bofors guns on top of Casemate No. 4 to defend the airfield from German air attacks. On 6 July, a fire broke out in the AA battery, detonating the ammunition stores, shattering the casemate and killing four British soldiers. Captain Mitchell of 358 Battery, 109 (Royal Sussex Regiment) Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment was awarded an OBE for saving the AA guns during this incident.

Today, MKB Longues-sur-Mer is the only Normandy fortification preserved with original guns in place, as they were not scrapped for salvage after the war. However, the site was not completely preserved: all four of the primary casemates and the command bunker are present, but only one of the M1902 guns, one mortar pit, four tobruks, and one of the small ammunition bunkers remain. It was designated as a historic monument in 2001.

Naval Guns

MKB Longues-sur-Mer's primary gun battery consists of four 150mm Torpedobootskanone C⁄36 naval cannons mounted in Type M272 casemates. These are the same model of cannon which were fitted to the Zerstörer 1936A "Narvik" and Zerstórer 1936A (Mobilmachung) classes of destroyers, as well as the light cruiser Emden after her 1942 refit. They are a Rheinmetall design, although some sources state that these particular guns were fabricated at the Skoda Works in occupied Czechoslovakia.

Fire Control Bunker

MKB Longues-sur-Mer's fire control was located in a Type M262A command bunker on the cliff face overlooking the English Channel, approximately 300 metres north of the gun casemates. It is a two-level structure with a semi-enclosed upper observation level above and the main rooms below.

Additional Guns And Fortifications

An ex-Soviet 122mm M1931 field artillery piece (German designation 12,2 cm Kanone 390⁄1) was emplaced to the east of the command post. Unfortunately, no trace of this gun or its firing position remain.

For defense, the battery had two ex-Soviet Putilov 76.2mm M1902⁄30 light field guns (German designation 7,62 cm Feldkanone 295⁄2 L⁄40) on the landward approach, and two ex-French Brandt 81mm Mle 27&freasl;31 mortars (German designation 8,14 cm Granatwerfer 278) in concrete pits, one seaward and one landward. These were supported by five Ringstadt machine gun nests (commonly called "tobruks"), a network of connecting trenches, and extensive minefields to the east and west. Finally, there was a small anti-aircraft battery of three 20mm Flugabwehrkanone 28 guns and a single searchlight.

Tour Vauban de Port-en-Bessin

Although referred as a Vauban tower, this 1694 fortification was actually designed by one of his students, Benjamin de Combes. It is also not really a tower, instead taking advantage of the natural cliffs in this location to anchor a fortified platform for four artillery piececs. Access to the tower is limited because it is private property and because of the natural instability of the cliffside, but the compact layout enables excellent photography without any need to trespass.

Widerstandsnest 60

Widerstandsnest 60 was the easternmost Atlantikwall fortification on Omaha Beach, positioned to cover "F1", the Cabourg Draw. This was the most lightly defended of the five draws, as it was only a dirt path which was judged to be too narrow and steep for vehicles. It was the first German position to fall on D-Day, as American troops scaled the bluffs to the east and then crossed through the minefield to take the nest from the side and rear. The elevated position of the fortification gave it clear fields of fire out to sea and the mortars could drop pre-sighted blind fire into the draw, but there was no line of sight down to the actual beach or to the eastern bluffs.

Widerstandsnest 60 did not include any full scale Regelbau bunkers, only two Vf.61a Ringstanden (aka "tobruks") for Belgian DBT 50mm Lance Grenades light infantry mortars (German designation 5cm Granatwerfer 201), one Panzerstellung tobruk with an APX tank turret (1x Puteaux SA 18 37mm semiautomatic gun + 1x 7.5mm Mle 1931 machine gun), and one or two additional Ringstanden for machine guns. Also present in non-fortified open emplacements were one Belgian 75mm TR Mle. 1905 field gun (German designation 7.5 cm FK 235) in an open emplacement and one 20mm FlaK 38 anti-aircraft autocannon.

In the modern day, a dirt footpath leads from a small road into the preserved trench line just inland of the cliff face. The two mortar tobruks on the western face are along this path, as are the overgrown remains of a small open gun position (most likely the FlaK 38). Along the southern edge of the field are one surviving machine gun tobruk and the Panzerstellung -- the actual turret is long gone, but it can be distinguished from the mortar and machine-gun positions by the larger size and lack of a central mounting post.

Widerstandsnest 62

Widerstandsnest 62 was the largest of the fourteen Atlantikwall fortifications on Omaha Beach (Wn 60 through Wn 73). It was located in the "Fox Green" sector but its main guns faced west to cover "E3", the Colleville Draw. The position consisted of two west-facing H669 casemates each housing a Belgian 75mm TR Mle. 1905 field gun (German designation 7.5 ccm FK 235), one east-facing H667 casemate housing a 50mm KWK L⁄42 tank cannon, one landward DBT 50mm Lance Grenades infantry mortar position (German designation 5cm Granatwerfer 201), and an AA position. It was manned by 27 German soldiers from 716. Infanterie-Division and 13 from 352.Infanterie-Division.

All three casemates, the mortar tobruk, and two of the machiine gun tobruks survive to this day, although only the two large H669s are easily visible along the well-maintained main path; an overhead view on Google Maps shows the smaller H667 is partially buried in the hillside to the east, along with several smaller features. Placed on top of one of the casemates is a memorial to the 5^th Engineer Special Brigade, the Army amphibious engineering unit responsible for managing the landings on the eastern portion of Omaha Beach.

Normandy American Cemetery

The American Cemetery in Colleville is the final resting place of some 9,386 fallen American soldiers. It is one of 26 permanent American burial grounds on foreign soil which is managed through the federal American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), dedicated in 1956.

507 A-B1

507 A-B1 is a preserved five-truss section of Mulberry "A", one of the two British-designed floating harbor anchorages built to bring in supplies after the D-Day landings. Both of the nearly completed mulberries were wrecked by a violent storm which hit on 19 June. The damage to Mulberry "A" at Omaha was judged irreperable and further assembly of the mulberry ceased, with most of the surviving sections moved to help repair Mulberry "B" at Gold Beach. The destruction of the mulberry actually became an advantage for the Americans at Omaha, as they were able to bring in greater volumes of supplies by dispensing with the floating harbor concept entirely and bringing Landing Ship Tanks (LSTs) directly onto the beach.

Nearby are two memorial steles: one to the 6^th Engineer Special Brigade, which was the Army amphibious engineering unit responsible for managing the landings on the western portion of Omaha Beach, and the other to the 29^th Infantry Division.

Widerstandsnest 72

Widerstandsnest 72 was part of a cluster of four German fortifications placed to cover exit "D1", the critical Vierville-sur-Mer Draw with its paved road. The position consisted of an east-facing H677 casemate housing a 88mm PaK 43 frasl; 41 tank cannon, a second casemate with double embrasures (east and west) for a 50mm KWK L⁄42 tank cannon, a small SK casemate with multiple machine guns, and a Panzerstellung with APX turret. The H677 was cleverly constructed inside the basement of the defunct Eden-Bellevue hotel for concealment.

In the modern day, the H677 casemate has been partially restored and the National Guard Monument built atop it, while the adjacent double casemate has been converted into a waterfront storage shed for fishing equipment. Nearby is an additional plaque marking the landing of the 58rd Armored Field Artillery Battalion.

Widerstandsnest 73 (Villa Gambier)

Widerstandsnest 73 was another fortification in the cluster covering the Vierville-sur-Mer Draw. It consisted of a single casemate housing a Belgian 75mm TR Mle. 1905 field gun (German designation 7.5 ccm FK 235) and two 80mm Granatwerfer 34 infantry mortar positions.

73's casemate is very visible up the hill to the west of 72 and slightly "into" the draw. It is considerably smaller and thinner walled than the H669 casemates at WN 62 which held the same model of gun; given contemporary reports that this position was dug in around an abandoned house (the "Villa Gambier"), it is likely an improvised position rather than a "proper" Regelbau fortification. The two mortar tobruks are within the nearby campground area at the top of the hill, with an almost completely overgrown spotting bunker fenced off at the cliff edge.

Pointe du Hoc Ranger Monument

The Pointe du Hoc Ranger Monument is a memorial museum operated by the American Battle Monuments Commission on the site of Heeresküstenbatterie Pointe du Hoc (Widerstandsnest ⁄ Stutzkpunkt 75).

In the modern day, Pointe du Hoc remains massively cratered by the pre-attack bombarment of the battleship USS Texas (BB-35) and her accompanying destroyers USS Satterlee (DD-626), USS Ellyson (DD-454), and HMS Talybont (L18). While the German troops stationed here survived in their protected bunkers, many of the open gun positions are shattered by direct hits, even without having volatile ammunition stored at the time. During my visit, the site was under renovation so guests were restricted to a shorter temporary path rather than the normal self-guided walking tour.

Main Gun Battery

The offensive artillery of HKB Pointe du Hoc was a battery of six Renault 155mm Grande Puissance Filloux heavy field guns (German designation 15,5 cm Kanone 418), originally placed in open emplacements with three H134 ammunition bunkers nearby. At the time of the D-Day battle, the Germans were in the process of replacing the open positions with Regelbau H679 casemates; two such casemates were near completion and two more in progress.

Fire Control Bunker

Fire control for both HKB Pointe du Hoc and the neighboring HKB Azeville was centralized in this H636 observation and command bunker. The dagger-shaped granite Ranger Monument was built on top of the bunker by the French government.

Additional Fortifications

HKB Pointe du Hoc's defensive fortifications included two L409A flak bunkers fitted with 20mm anti-aircraft autocannons and several tobruks. There were also the typical Regelbau H502, H621 and H622 barracks bunkers.

Monument to Danish Sailors

A small monument by the side of the D913 road to Utah Beach in honor of approximately 800 Danish sailors who participated in the Utah Beach landings.

Musée du Débarquement Utah Beach

The Musée du débarquement Utah Beach is located directly on the south end of the Utah Beach landing zone, built over Widerstandsnest 5 at the intersection of the coast highway and D913 leading inland to Sainte-Marie-du-Mont.

Monuments

A large number of monuments relatiing to Utah Beach are clustered in the vicinity of the Musée du Débarquement Utah Beach.

This monument was erected by the
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
In humble tribute to its sons
Who lost their lives
In the liberation of these beaches
June 6 1944

Widerstandsnest 5

Widerstandsnest 5 was placed at the intersection of the coast highway and D913 leading inland to Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, designated as "Causeway 2" in Allied batttle plans. The position consisted of a Regelbau H667 casemate with 5 cm KwK 39 anti-tank gun, two more 5 cm KwK 39 anti-tank guns in open emplacements, a 47mm APX anti-tank gun, an 80mm mortar tobruk, a 50mm mortar tobruk, and a Panzerstellung with FT turret.

Surviving elements of WN 5 include the landward 80mm tobruk (in front of the museum building), the 50mm mortar tobruk (inside the museum, unearthed in perfect condition during its 1993 expansion), the FT turret Panzerstellung (incorporated into a museum display), one of the open 50mm gun pits, and the H667 casemate.

Widerstandsnest 8 (La Redoute d’Audouville)

This fortification lies at the strategic intersection of the D421 road running along the coast and D67 leading inland to Audouville, designated as "Causeway 3".

A Regelbau 622 bunker sits just off the east shoulder of the D421 highway, with a Vf61a mortar tobruk directly paralleling it on the west shoulder. The heavily overgrown area behind the tobruk is a former French coastal redoubt which was refortified by the Germans. Slightly further north there is a Regelbau H612 casemate for a French 47mm APX SA Mle 1937 anti-tank gun (German designation PaK 181). The position is also attributed a 77mm Feldkanone 96 neuer Art field howitzer, two KwK L⁄42 anti-tank guns in open emplacements, and several tobruks, which are not visible from the road but can be found on Google Maps satellite imagery and older online photos of the area.

Monument du Débarquement Saint-Martin-de-Varreville

The Monument du Débarquement is a local monument commemorating both the D-Day landings on 6 June and the landing of the 2^eme Division Blind&eaacute;e under General LeClerc on 1 August. This was the most successful military unit of the Free French and its arrival alongside General Patton's 3rd United States Army marked the return of French military presence to the soil of occupied France. From here, a series of commemorative bollards mark the progress of the 2e Division across France all the way to the liberation of Paris and then on to Strasbourg.

The monument is locaated just south of Widerstandsnest 10, which controlled Causeway #4.

Widerstandsnest (Stutzpunkt) 12

Widerstandsnest 12 was one of the fortifications designated as a Stutzpunkt ("support point"), i.e. a more heavily reinforced fortification which served as a designated fall-back point for the neighboring widerstandsnests. Located slightly north of the intended landing zone and well past the actual one, this fortification was taken by troops of the 22nd Infantry Regiment on 7-8 June 1944 as they swept north and inland.

The H667 casemate had a south-facing 5 cm KwK L⁄42 gun and was supported by a pair of Panzerstellung tobruks with APX turrets built into the anti-tank wall which runs alongside the road. A larger H612 casemate is visible across a field nearby; this held a 88mm anti-tank gun, and was supported by two more tobruks.

Marineküstenbatterie Marcouf

Also known as Battery Crisbecq, MKB Marcouf was the largest and most powerful coastal gun battery in the Normandy region, second only to the harbor fortresses at Cherbourg and Le Havre. The battery was intended to have four R683 casemates for Skoda 21 cm Kanone 39 ⁄ 40 naval guns, although ultimately only two casemates were completed, with the third casemate incomplete and the fourth not yet started. There were also six open AA emplacements, two L410A flak command bunkers, and a very large number of machine-guns in tobruks and trenches.

MKB Marcouf is one of the best-maintained and operated of the Atlantkwall sites, as most of the battery has been excavated and restored since the establishment of the museum in 2004. Two of the three main casemates lie outside the fenced area, but this is clearly intentional due to the heavily damaged state of these structures. The only significant shortfalls are that the site map erroneously labels the six open emplacements as being for 155mm field guns as opposed to the 75mm Canon de 75 Mle 1897 in high-angle antiaircraft mountings indicated the German plans, and the guns actually installed in the emplacements are a random mix of available WWII artillery pieces.

Heeresküstenartillerie Azeville

HKB Azeville was one of the earliest German fortifications in France, with construction beginning in 1941 and thus predating the Atlantic Wall proper. The artillery battery here consists of two H650 and two H671 type casemates, all housing Schneider 105mm Mle 1913 guns (which the Germans designated as "10.5 cm K 331"). Two of the casemates additionally had 37mm FlaK guns as anti-aircraft mountings on top. The Azeville battery was de facto an adjunct of MKB Crisbeq, as its position did not allow for spotting and correcting fire.

Tour Vauban de la Hougue

This tower and its island counterpart were built in 1694 during the Nine Years' War (1688–1697), in response to France's naval defeat in the Battle of La Hogue in 1692. The tower covering the harbor is 20 metres high and 16 metres in diameter, with walls tapering from 4 metres thick at the base to 2 metres thick at the summit. Internally, three stories are accessed via a semi-external spiral staircase housed in its own turret on the northwest face. The top is crenellated for six cannons.

It turns out that this tower isn't as talked about as its counterpart because it is still an active French military installation; while it is maintained in good order and has been open to visitors in the past, the base is currently closed. However, at low tide there are walking paths along both sides of the ~500 meter long penninsula which permit closer observation of the tower.

Tour Vauban de Tatihou

The Vauban watchtower on Tatihou Island is 26 meters high and 27 meters in diameter with walls 3.6 metres thick. The top is crenellated for six cannons, of larger size than those in the landward tower. Despite being the more remote location, this is the more tourist-friendly tower as it is accessible several times a day via an amphibious ferry.