From Port-en-Bessin to Arromanches-les-Bains, high bluffs studded with gun emplacements rise sharply above the narrow beaches. For this reason the landings on Gold took place east of Arromanches, between Le Hamel and La Rivire. There, the bluffs give way to beaches. As you drive beyond Courseulles-sur-Mer, marking the center of Juno Beach, these hills in turn give way to the valleys of the Seulles and Orne rivers.
Once you reach the boundary between Juno and Sword beaches at St.-Aubin-sur-Mer, D 514 takes you through an almost continuous strip of seaside resorts to Ouistreham-Riva Bella. Through this section, summer traffic can be heavy and parking space difficult to find. Although the area around Benouville is less congested, parking near the Pegasus Bridge is limited.
Port-en-Bessin can be reached from the Bayeux traffic loop by driving some 9 kilometers along D 6.
This picturesque village was the objective of the 47th Royal Marine Commando, which landed east of Le Hamel. The 47th was hard hit coming ashore, losing four LCA's (with nine others damaged) on the run in. Unexpected resistance delayed its advance westward, and Port-en-Bessin was not liberated until the night of 7-8 June. Damage to the port was extensive; cargo would not begin to come ashore until 14 June.
A CD monument (1)¡ commemorating the landing stands on the jetty forming the outer breakwater. It is easily spotted from the shore because of the array of Allied flags flying above it. A well-preserved seventeenth-century defense tower, designed by the Marquis de Vauban, stands at the landward end of the jetty. Below it is a German blockhouse bearing a plaque to the 47th Royal Marine Commando.
The MusŽe des Epaves du DŽbarquement (material recovered from the sea bottom) is located just south of Port-en-Bessin on D 6. Open daily during the summer 1000-1900. Admission charge.
Longues Battery
Continue east on D 514 through the village of Commes to Longues-sur-Mer. In the town center, past the church and a small shopping center, turn seaward (north) at the sign marking the route to the battery. The sign faces east, so it is easy to miss. Follow the signs to the casemates and the command bunker on the cliff (2, 3).
Behind the cliffs overlooking the sea are the remains of a massive German battery consisting of four casemated 155-mm naval guns. They were controlled from a fortified bunker on the cliff's edge. Despite repeated bombing and its incomplete state, the battery's fire managed to straddle HMS Bulolo, the XXX Corps command ship, on D Day morning. The battery was promptly silenced by fire from HMS Ajax and the French cruiser George Leygues. The garrison surrendered on 7 June.
¥ Bold numbers are keyed to Map 10.
Follow the CD signs to an orientation table on the cliff top.
From the orientation table you can see the command post that directed the battery's fire. The table also indicates the relative position of the bombardment ships.
Return to D 514 and continue east to Arromanches (6 km).
Arromanches-les-Bains
Arromanches (4) was the site of the British Mulberry (Mulberry B), and today its remains dominate the seascape from this small port.
The artificial ports were the brainchild of Winston Churchill, who said he conceived the idea in 1917. Twenty-seven years later, two were actually constructedÑMulberry A at Omaha Beach (rendered unusable by the storm of 19-21 June) and Mulberry B at Arromanches. They were composed of several elementsÑfloating breakwaters (Gooseberries) forming an outer protective circle, concrete caissons (Phoenix) and derelict ships sunk to form the perimeter of the harbor, pierheads which could rise and fall with the tide, and floating metal piers connecting the pierheads to the shore. All elements were constructed in England and towed across the Channel beginning on D Day plus 1. Some 500,000 tons of supplies had been off-loaded through Mulberry B by the end of August, when siltation and the opening of Cherbourg and lesser ports put an end to its usefulness. Whether or not the Mulberries were essential links in the supply chain is debatable, but as Chester Wilmot has pointed out, the fact that they were to be built gave Neptune planners the assurance that, failing all else, forces ashore could be adequately supplied. That assurance was worth a great deal in early 1944.
As you enter Arromanches, follow the CD direction signs to the Exposition Permanente du DŽbarquement, which is housed in a modern building near the sea wall.
This museum, one of the best in Normandy, is open daily June, July, and August 0900-1830; mid-April through May and September through mid-October 0900-1130 and 1400-1830 (1730 during the winter months); closed the first three weeks in January. Admission charge.
From the museum, it is possible to drive to the top of the bluffs east of town, where there is a Sherman tank, and a short distance further a German radar station, topped by an orientation platform that provides an excellent view of the port and the remains of Mulberry B.
The bunkers visible from the cliff top were silenced by fire from HMS Belfast, which you can visit while in London.
Asnelles and Le Hamel
Continue along D 514 to Asnelles (2 km) where there is a monument to the 231 Infantry Brigade of the 50th British Division (5 ).Three sections of the road running off toward the beach are named after the Brigade's three regimentsÑ2d Devonshire, 1st Dorset, and 1st Hampshire. Continue down to the beach at Le Hamel and park near the huge blockhouse (6).
You are now at Le Hamel, on Jig sector, Gold Beach, which was assaulted by the 231st British Infantry Brigade (1st battalions of the Hampshire and Dorset regiments). The 1st Hampshire took the brunt of the fire from the 88-mm gun in this blockhouse. The attack was spearheaded by four Crabs which flailed their way through the minefields behind the beach. Three of the tanks were destroyed; the fourth made a wild charge through the village before it was knocked out. According to the plaque on the blockhouse, the Germans manning this 88-mm accounted for a total of six British tanks. Although several German strong points held out through the afternoon, the Hampshires quickly worked their way around Le Hamel and began their advance inland.
The 1st Dorsets, landing further east, out of range of the fire from Le Hamel, had an easier time of it. Their specialized armor (8th Armoured Brigade) quickly opened three beach exits, and by afternoon they were fighting units of the German 352d Division for control of the Arromanches ridge.
Mare-Fontaine Battery
Continue along D 514 toward La Rivire. Just before reaching the town, turn inland toward Ver-sur-Mer. Drive through the new subdivision on the dunes, through Ver itself, and turn east just south of town at the La Mare-Fontaine farm (the road runs just north of the huge stone barn). Drive along the road until it stops at the edge of a large field. The casemates can be seen standing in the center of the field (A).
This battery of 105 mm guns was overrun on D Day by the Green Howards, after having been first bombed, then shelled by HMS Belfast.
La Riviere
Return to D 514 and continue to La Rivire, which marks the eastern end of Gold Beach.
At the crossroads marked by a bistro, there is a monument (7 ) to the 2d Battalion of the Hertfordshire Regiment.
Graye-sur-Mer
From La Rivire, continue east along D 514 for 5 kilometers. Some 250 meters before you reach the bridge over the Seulles, there is a road running down to the beach marked by a CD direction sign. Drive toward the beach and park near the tank (8).
Here, Prime Minister Churchill, with Generals Jan Christian Smuts and Alan Brooke, landed on 12 June for a tour of the beachhead. Four days later, George VI also came ashore here. A CD monument commemorates these events, as well as the assault landing.
The tank is a Churchill AVRE, which lay buried in the sand until its recovery in 1976.
Courseulles-sur-Mer
Return to D 514 and drive across the Seulles bridge into the port of Courseulles. Follow the CD direction signs to the port area and park near the DD Sherman tank (9).
This Sherman, belonging to the 1st Canadian Hussars, is one of the five (out of nineteen) that foundered on the run in. It was recovered in 1971. Note the duplex-drive transmission (minus the screws) and the lip extending around the entire hull to which the canvas dam was attached. The DD's making it ashore provided vital fire support for Company A of the Regina Rifles, which encountered heavy fire both from German resistance nests in the harbor area and from artillery positioned further inland. Flanking the beach exit is a memorial plaque to the officers and men of the Regina Rifles who were casualties during the war. Nearby are plaques commemorating the 1st Canadian Scottish Regiment and De Gaulle's landing on 14 June.
Some three hundred yards east along the Avenue de la Combattante is a memorial to the Royal Winnipeg Rifles.
Bernires-sur-Mer
Continue east along D 514 to Bernires (3 km). Park near the CD monument in the town square (10).
You are now facing the Nan sector of Juno Beach, where the 8th Canadian Brigade (the Queen's Own Rifles and La Chaudire regiments) landed. The QOR was to have landed behind DD tanks, but the high seas breaking over the offshore reef meant that the tanks had to be brought into the beach well behind the infantry. As it was, the LCA's carrying the assault companies of the QOR were a half-hour late reaching the beach and some two hundred yards east of their designated landing area. The boats dropped their ramps among the beach obstacles. As many as one-fourth were damaged or sunk upon landing or when attempting to withdraw through the obstacle belt. One company of the QOR took sixty-five casualties crossing the hundred yards of sand to the sea wall. Nevertheless, aided by fire from a flak ship just off the beach, the Canadians quickly overran the German resistance nests. When the RŽgiment de la Chaudire landed fifteen minutes later, much of the earlier fire had been suppressed.
An armored car near the monument bears a plaque to the Queen's Own Rifles. About two hundred yards away, near the beach exit, are plaques to both regiments of the 8th Brigade.
St.-Aubin-sur-Mer
Continue eastward on D 514 to St.-Aubin (2 km). Drive to the beach road (D 814) and proceed along it.
St.-Aubin was the landing site of the 48th Royal Marine Commando (4th Special Service Brigade), whose job it was to secure the east flank of the Canadians landing on Juno Beach. After a costly fight the commandos captured a resistance nest in the town. The next morning they moved east to Langrune, where they joined with the 41st Commando. The 41st had landed behind the British on Queen sector of Sword Beach, then moved west to capture Lion-sur-Mer in the morning of the seventh and to make contact with the men of the 48th Commando.
Near a blockhouse on the sea wall is a memorial (11) to the North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment and the 48th Royal Marine Commando. Some one hundred yards further on, by the Syndicate d'Initiative, is a monument to the Fort Garry Horse.
Continue east on D 814 (the beach road) to Langrune (2 km) to find another memorial (12) to the 48th Royal Marine Commando.
Luc-sur-Mer
Continue east on the beach road to Luc (1.5 km). Drive past the casino and watch for a small park on the north side of the road.
The task of reducing the strong point at Le Petit-Enfer (near where you are parked) was assigned to the 46th Royal Marine Commando landing on 7 June. After taking the position, they moved inland to the village of La Delivrande.
About a half-mile east of the casino is a curious all-purpose stone monument (13) standing in a small square. One side bears inscriptions commemorating the raid by the 1st British Commando on 28 September 1941 and the liberation of Luc in June 1944. The opposite side carries an inscription commemorating French sailors and soldiers who died for their country.
Colleville-Montgomery Plage
Rejoin D 514 after leaving Luc. Continue east for six kilometers through Lion-sur-Mer (where the 41st Royal Marine Commando landed), past La Brche d'Hermanville (where there are three monuments to the 3d British Infantry Division), to the Colleville-Montgomery Plage crossroad (14).
A sign at the crossroads marks the site of a temporary British cemetery and commemorates the landing on 6 June. A marker opposite it commemorates Number 4 Commando and Commandant Philippe Kieffer, who commanded two Free French troops of the 10 Commando. The commandos landed just after the first assault wave and quickly moved inland. They then fought their way through Riva-Bella until they were stopped by concentrated fire from the casino and its adjoining summer house. Only after a DD tank was called up from the beach were the commandos able to silence the defenders.
OuistrehamÑRiva-Bella
Take the Avenue de Bruxelles toward the beach and continue east along the sea front until you reach a large dune with a steel turret on top (15). Park nearby.
The turret now serves as the base for a modernistic metal sculpture resembling a flame. As you climb the dune to the turret there are small stone markers inscribed with the names of French commandos who fell on D Day.
The MusŽe du Commando No. 4 is located in a building just across the street from the turret. Open 0900-1200 and 1400-1830, June to 15 September; open weekends during the winterÑhours may vary. Admission charge.
Further east along the OuistrehamÑRiva-Bella sea front are the following items of interest (16):
¥ Two modern stained glass windows in the medieval church in Quistreham that commemorate the landingsÑone dedicated to the 1st Special Service Brigade and the other to the memory of the 51st (Highland) Division.
¥ A fifty-foot high observation and fire control tower at the corner of the Avenue de la Plage and the Boulevard du 6 Juin that has been recently (1988) converted into The Atlantic Wall Museum. Open daily during the summer 0930-1900. Admission charge.
¥ Bunkers on the east jetty in Riva-Bella, one topped by a steel cupola said to have been brought from the Maginot Line.
¥ A CD monument in the center of a rond-point on D 514, south of Ouistreham, with a plaque attached to its base commemorating the Anglo-French 4 Commando.
¥ Concrete "dragon's teeth leading down to the beach from the Casino.
¥ Two plaques at No 47 Avenue Pasteur commemorating the deaths of French commandos nearby.
BŽnouville and Pegasus Bridge
To visit the Pegasus Bridge after touring Sword Beach, return to D 514 and proceed south out of Ouistreham-Riva Bella to Benouville (4 km). Turn east at the crossroads and drive 200 yards to the swivel bridge, now known as the Pegasus Bridge after the insignia of the 6th British Airborne Division, which spans the Orne Canal (17).
The task of capturing the bridges over both the Orne River and Canal fell to a select force drawn from the 2d Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, and the Royal Engineers, commanded by Major John Howard. The six gliders carrying this force were to land in the dark on the approaches to the bridges. In what was one of the great navigational feats of D Day morning, three of the gliders crash-landed (the most explicit term describing a glider's reunion with the earth) within fifty yards of the east end of the canal bridge. A lone German sentry who might have sounded the alarm did not do so because he assumed that an airplane had crashed nearby. His mistake was costly. While one of Howard's squads crossed the bridge in a rush, taking a single casualty, others overran nearby pillboxes and trenches before the surprised Germans could man their positions. Within minutes, the bridge and its defenses were in British hands.
The assault on the Orne River bridge went as smoothly, although one of the three gliders assigned to that operation missed the bridge area altogether, landing miles away in the flooded Dives valley. Only one of the remaining two gliders landed near the bridge. The twenty-odd men from that lone glider rushed the bridge despite the loss of surprise. Fortunately, the German guards did not know the odds; they scattered before the determined British charge.
Not only had the bridges been captured easily, but they were intact. Both structures had been wired for demolition, but the explosive charges had not been planted. Major Howard's men held their prizes throughout D Day while German pressure mounted. Around 1200 hours, some two and a half minutes after they were to have been reinforced, the beleaguered defenders were startled by the distant sound of bagpipes. The 6 Commando of the 1st Special Service Brigade, led by Brigadier Lord Lovat, had arrived with piper Bill Millin. The two forces joined ranks to the tune of "Blue Bonnets over the Border" and the crack of small-arms fire. Although the Orne bridges would not be truly secure until units of the 3d British Division arrived late in the afternoon, the skirl of Millin's pipes had assured the men of Howard's command that the seaborne invasion was in fact ashore.
The Pegasus Bridge site is especially rich in D Day memorabilia. In addition to the original bridge itself (complete with painted-over bullet marks and a bomb dent in the bridge counterweight), the following monuments, memorials, and artifacts are found nearby:
¥ A stone cross at the Bnouville crossroads commemorating the 7th Light Infantry Battalion of the Parachute Regiment.
¥ The CafŽ GondrŽe with its plaque proudly claiming it to
be the first house liberated in France.
¥ The MusŽe des Troupes AŽroportŽes. Open daily during July and August 0900-1900; closed mid-October to mid-March. Hours during the remainder of the year vary. Admission charge.
¥ A marker commemorating the linkup between the Ox and Bucks and the 6 Commando. At the 40th anniversary ceremony in 1984, Bill Millin was photographed next to this marker which depicts him with pipes ˆ la 1944. Millin is a yearly visitor to the Pegasus Bridge.
¥ A CD monument commemorating the assault.
¥ Three orientation tables marking the spots where the Horsa gliders came to rest. They are located on the southwest side of the bridge, below the canal bank.
¥ A German pillbox complete with the 50-mm anti-tank gun used by Howard's men to silence a sniper in BŽnouville.
¥ A Centaur version of the British Cruiser Mark VIII tank mounting a 95-mm gun. This tank belonged to the 5th Independent Battery, Royal Marine Armoured Support Regiment, which landed at La Brche d'Hermanville. Three such regiments were organized a few months before D Day to provide additional fire support for the first waves of infantry. This Centaur IV was recovered in 1975.
¥ A British cemetery in Ranville (some two kilometers from the Pegasus Bridge). Among the 2,563 graves is that of Lieutenant Den Brotheridge, who was killed in the attack on the bridge. The rond-point in front of the cemetery is named the Place General Sir Richard Gale, after the commander of the 6th British Airborne Division. A plaque directly opposite the cemetery commemorates the events of D Day in Ranville.
¥ Three memorials in AmfrŽville commemorating the 4 and 6 commandos and the 1st Special Service Brigade of which they were a part.
¥ A plaque marking a stop on the Pegasus Trail Battlefield Tour. These markers follow the route of the 6th Airborne Division.
Merville Battery
To visit the Merville Battery (18) from the Pegasus Bridge area, drive east from the bridge on D 514, cross the Orne River (this bridge is new), and continue north through Sallenelles. Turn right at the traffic light in Merville-Franceville and follow the CD direction signs to the battery, which is located just off D 223.
According to Allied intelligence, this battery contained four casemated 150-mm guns sighted so that they could fire on ships standing off Sword Beach. Neptune planners were obviously worried about the damage these guns might inflict on the invasion fleet. The task of neutralizing the Merville Battery was given to the seven-hundred-man 9th Battalion, 6th Airborne Division, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Terence Otway. The plan Otway and his men had been rehearsing for months was daring. Otway's main force would parachute in some distance from the battery, gather their special equipmentÑincluding flamethrowers, bangalore torpedoes, and anti-tank gunsÑthen assemble just outside the battery's defenses. This force, divided into eleven teams, would lay the bangalores under the perimeter wire, clear and mark the minefields, then take up covering positions to watch for the arrival of two tow planes with their gliders. On seeing Otway's signal (a star shell fired from a mortar), the glider pilots were to land inside the battery's perimeter. The garrison of some two hundred men would then be overrun by this combined assault from air and ground. Otway was to signal the fall of the battery with a flare before 0530, or ships of the bombardment force would take it under fire.
This carefully rehearsed plan began to unravel before the first paratrooper touched ground. Instead of dropping in their assigned drop zone, Otway's men were scattered over a fifty-mile corridor. Some sticks took days to rejoin their outfit; of others no trace was ever found. Otway could assemble only 150 of his men by the time the attack was to begin. Most of the special equipment carried in by two of the battalion's gliders was likewise lost, including the mortar signal rounds. The frustrated men on the ground could only look skyward as the two assault gliders swooped low across the battery, and then, receiving no signal, landed outside the battery's perimeter. Otway gave no sign of the dismay he must have felt at that moment, for no sooner had the gliders come down and while the defenders' attention was still on the skies, he ordered the wire blown and his assault teams to attack through the gaps. The fight was over in ten minutes. Although half of the British force was dead or wounded, the Merville Battery had been silenced. Ironically, the much feared 150-mm rifles turned out to be less formidable 75-mm guns.
The ComitŽ du DŽbarquement has placed an excellent information sign at the entrance to the battery. Casemate Number 1 now houses a small museum. Open June through September 1030-1230 and 1400-1730; closed Tuesdays. Admission charge.
You may return to Caen via D 514 to Benouville, then follow D 515 south into the city.