Normandy

Even though we've visited Normandy in the past, the WWII history is so rich that we stopped again.  

Some of the bloodiest and hardest fighting that occurred in Europe happened in Carentan.  Carentan was essential as it connected the Omaha and Utah beachheads.  If you'd like to read more about the battle, then click here.

Monument to those who fought in the city

Click on the photo to enlarge and read it

Carentan has fashioned their flowers and foliage to depict the unit patches of the soldiers that fought there.

We followed this trail which allowed for chronological visits of sites.

 Local businesses capitalize on the city's history.

Views of the modern day city.

Monument to LTC Robert Cole, who lead a bayonet charge against the Germans; he was later awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions.  He was killed during Operation Market Garden three months after his charge.

Road leading into Carentan.  Marshes surround both sides, and the Douve river cuts through, too.

 Dead Man's Corner

This house served as the Germans' Command Point and Aid Station before being taken by American paratroopers.  It's located at the crossroads over a marsh and on a direct access road from Utah Beach to the city of Carentan.  It looks just as it did in 1944.

 Chateau de Bel Enault

This chateau was used as a German CP during the landings.  The 501st PIR Commander landed here during the jump into Normandy.

Brecourt Manor site

LT Dick Winters won the Distinguished Service Cross here.  With a handful of men, he took four German gun positions, an artillery battery, here.  The guns were zeroed in on the Utah beachhead and causeway and were inflicting mass casualties during the landings.  

The map of Brecourt Manor used by Winters is etched onto a monument at the site.

Not far from Brecourt Manor is a statue erected in honor of Winters.

We'd taken the kiddos to Omaha Beach but not Utah, so we stopped.  

The triangles indicate the names of Naval ships and their distances from shore.

Monument to the Navy

On the beach

Church of Our Lady in St Mere Elise

A paratrooper, John Steele, landed on the church's roof during the jump; a mannequin remains in his honor.  Steele hung from the church for two hours pretending to be dead before the Germans took him prisoner.  He became an honorary citizen of the town and continued to visit until his death in 1969.

Windows in the church pay their respects to the paratroopers.  St. Michael, patron saint of the paratroopers, is pictured in the central panel.

St. Mere Eglise was the first village to be liberated by the Americans.  Below is a marker, the first of its kind.  As American troops marched to the Ardennes and Bastogne, Patton ordered that a marker be erected every mile.  These can be found dotted all over Normandy, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

The American flag that was flown upon liberation is housed in the city's town hall.

We also stopped at a German cemetery.  This one is unique in that its the only one of its kind:  a mausoleum.  German soldiers were brought here from many battlefields.

In order to visit the vaults, one passes through a door.  The door is reminiscent of gates at a concentration camp and features wrought iron work that looks remarkably like menorahs.  

Stairs leading up to the mausoleum feature the names of the battlefields from which the soldiers' bodies were taken.  It's as though authorities wanted to dedicate the least amount of land possible to the German war dead.

A simple cross stands in the center of the mausoleum.

The dead are mourned.

The card featured a note from daughter to father.  Life is life.

Mont Saint Michel is visible from the hilltop.  It seems to be another snub as Mont Saint Michel has never been taken, though it was besieged, by a foreign force.