One Day in Normandy, Part 6: Le Grand Bunker

After Juno, Henri was insistent that we see a bunker/museum called  Le Grand Bunker - Atlantic Wall Museum in Ouistreham. It was late in the afternoon and the rain started to pick up. We were all exhausted and chilly, but his enthusiasm was enough to convince us to go.

By the time we arrived, the museum was near closing. After we took a look at the tanks and stuff in the front, we entered into a gift shop, quickly bought our tickets, and pushed through a turnstile.

As we walked down a deserted hallway, a small sign in explained the bunker’s story.

The 52-foot (17 meter) concrete tower was on prime real estate surrounded by town buildings and housing just behind Sword Beach. It served as a command center for the German batteries on the Orne estuary.

On D-Day, a British shell hit the bunker and crippled its ability as a command center. The Germans inside, however, were able to stave off Allied commandos.

On June 9th, Bob Orrell, a lieutenant in the Royal Engineers, and three other men carried out orders to take the bunker.

Their main obstacle was a huge, armored door.

First, they tried to blast it open using six pounds of dynamite on the upper hinges. That didn’t work.

Next, they used a sledgehammer and a mine bar. That didn’t work either.

It eventually took ten pounds of explosives to break through the door.

As the men walked into the bunker, voice called down, in a flawless English accent, from one of the floors above, “It’s alright, Tommy, you can come up.”

“Bugger off, you come down!” answered Orrell

With nowhere to run, 51 German soldiers and two officers filed down and surrendered to Orrell and his three men.

The bunker is now laid out as it was on D-Day, but there is also a ton of information about the Atlantic Wall throughout the rooms.

Maybe it was the sound of the rain and the fact that we were the only people wandering through, but I found the bunker quite eerie.

I don’t think the mannequins helped.

That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it, of course. I loved it. If it hadn’t have been for Henri, we never would have come here.

My favorite part was stepping into the lookout/rangefinder room at the top of the tower and really realizing just how much they could see from there. It was nearly a perfect 360 degree panorama.

Just as we were able to reach to top of the bunker and take a good look around, we had to leave.

Back in the car, we three exhausted, yet satisfied, tourists thought the day was over.

But Henri had other plans. Henri always had other plans. Better plans.

And just like that, we were off to Honfleur for dinner.

As usual, it was a harrowing drive. We toured a roundabout at great speed for what felt like an hour as Henri tried to remember which exit to take. I imagine the Vomit Comet produces a similar effect on the ole stomach.

When we arrived, as soon as Henri put the car in park, he was off. This was, apparently, an important mission. A food mission. He stormed through the streets too fast for us to take any good pictures or see any real sites. But we got enough of a look to realize that this was a town that we wanted to see again.

We ate at a tiny, packed place on the harbor. Since we had an early flight the next morning, none of us were adventurous enough to eat anything too exciting.

Henri, on the other hand, ordered a huge seafood platter. I recognized mussels and shrimp. Everything else came in shells that were entirely new to me. I tried to figure out what they were and I filed most of them under: “I don’t know how I feel about putting that in my mouth but I might try it once.” He loved everything.

We were well into the evening when we got back to the car and started to make the long trek back to Paris. It was after 1 am when got back to the city.

The streets were very quiet. It felt like it was just us and the streetlights awake.

Henri, bolstered by a quick espresso stop earlier and his omnipresent zest for both adventure and talking, turned to us and asked, with genuine excitement, if we wanted him give us a tour of Paris.

"Right now?!?"

"Right now."

We sleepily declined. It would be a miracle if we got even two hours of sleep since we still had to pack and be ready to leave for the airport at 6 o'clock. He dropped us off at the hotel and we said our goodbyes.

Looking back now, I wish we had let him take us around. Who needs sleep when can speed through Paris with an eccentric French tour guide at dawn?

So that, in six parts, is the story of our day trip to Normandy. Henri actually stole the show. I think it's really the story of the time we let a kooky tour guide with a barely street legal car and a penchant for raw milk take us for an amazing ride through space and time.

I wouldn’t change any part of it for anything.

One Day in Normandy, Part 5: Juno Beach

Before going straight to Juno Beach, Henri thought we had enough time to make a stop at the medieval Château de Creully. We did not have enough time go to inside, but it was so nice to have a bit of a break from the intensity of the beaches. Château de Creully was originally built at the beginning of the 10th century. It expanded over centuries of use, mainly as a defensive fortress. During the Hundred Years War it frequently changed hands between the French and the English.

Starting on June 7, 1944, the BBC used one of the towers as a transmitter to report on the Battle of Normandy.

While the castle itself was quite beautiful, my favorite part was standing on the back terrace and looking out over the landscape. I’m not sure how much more fantastically pastoral you can get. Do you think the owner of this place would let me hang out, drink tea, and eat pastries at their place for a while?

We lingered around for a little and then made our way to Juno Beach in Courseulles-sur-Mer.

The beach was mostly deserted except for the four of us. By now it was late in the afternoon, the temperature was cooling and it was starting to sprinkle off and on, as if the grey clouds were taunting us.

Juno felt less dramatic than some of the other beaches we saw that day—there are no jagged cliffs jutting out or huge Mulberry harbors strewn across the sand.

But none of that diminished the experience. There were many signs and pictures explaining what happened that day and I was grateful to see them. I think they gave us a better understanding of the D-Day landings than all the other beaches combined (at least from what I saw/stumbled upon).

On D-Day it was the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division and 2nd Armoured Brigade’s missions to establish a bridgehead on Juno, contact the British 3rd Infantry Division on Sword, and join with the British 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division at Gold. From there, they were to capture the Carpiquet airfield and the Caen-Bayeux railway.

Battling a delayed start, rough seas, strong winds, and a barrage from the Germans, the Canadians successfully took Juno and began to move inland. They captured Carpiquet about a month later.

The 3rd Canadian Division sustained 340 casualties, 574 wounded, and 47 taken prisoner.

Here's a Canadian newsreel reporting on the Canadian involvement in D-Day.

After spending some time wandering around, we decided to take a quick look at the Juno Beach Centre. We did not have enough time to actually go through the exhibits, though. This was a theme of the day: not quite being able to see everything we wanted to see.

Juno Beach Centre

I fell in love with the monument, a bronze sculpture entitled “Remembrance and Renewal.” I later learned that the artist, Colin Gibson, is from the tiny (no stop lights!) town I used to live in. Small world.

I also loved seeing this inukshuk. If you haven’t seen one before, it is set of stones laid out in an iconic humanoid shape that serves as a landmark, place marker, or communication tool. The Inuit originally used them in Northern Canada and the Arctic for navigation, safe routes, hunting spots, memorials, etc. They have since spread throughout Canada and I’ve seen them a lot in people’s yards or on their mantles. You might have seen one or two during the 2010 Winter Olympics.

It was all a beautiful reminder of remembrance and home.

We all wanted to stay longer and actually see the museum, but Henri was insistent that we had to leave because we might miss the bunker. I was starting to get a little tired of the rushing and was wondering what was so great about this bunker museum anyway.

When we finally got there, however, Henri was right—as usual—and the bunker ended up being an ideal way to end the day. It was a highlight of the trip. But you will have to wait, because that’s for the next post.

One Day in Normandy, Part 4: Gold Beach

After Pointe du Hoc, Henri took us on another speedy drive through Normandy’s villages and countryside toward Sword Beach. The weather was starting to turn grey and rain threatened, but it didn’t seem to take away anything from the ride. Normandy wore the weather well. What I think makes this area special is how much of it still retains that pastoral, romantic feel despite the World War II influence. It’s the green pastures, the tall, grey stone walls, the narrow roads, the castles and beautiful manors that seemingly appear out of nowhere or around a corner. When things start to feel too heavy, it’s nice to find comfort in the beauty of the land.

We also passed by this Colleville-sur-Mer's church. It was destroyed during the war and then completely rebuilt afterwards by the town.

By the time we pulled into the parking lot at Arromanches-les-Bains and Gold Beach, I was really hungry. It was way past my lunch time and I tend to become a little grumpy when I don’t eat. Ok, I become a bit of a monster. Since the town is so close to the beach, I demanded that we eat.

We decided walk around Arromanches and picked a small restaurant/bar to see if they had anything to eat at such a late hour. Luckily, Henri sweet-talked them into serving us some ham and cheese baguettes to go.

We ate and then walked around Gold Beach with its Mulberry “B” harbor.

There is a museum, the D-Day Museum Arromanches that, unfortunately, we did not have time to go into, but I read it is definitely worth a visit. The website is also great for learning more about the landings. They even have some webcams.

Gold Beach stretches 5 miles. On D-Day, it was the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division’s goal to establish a beachhead, deploy the Mulberry harbor, cut off the road to Caen at Bayeux, and meet up with both the Americans and Canadians.

While bombardments earlier in the day destroyed much of the German firepower, high tides submerged explosives and other barriers on the beach. The effect of the tide kept the engineers from dismantling mines and other blocks which, thus, resulted in the decision not to launch the amphibious vehicles before the troops.

The monument states:

Here at Arromanches, from June 6 1944, close behind the assault troops, a great floating harbour code-named 'Mulberry B' was assembled and operated by men of the Royal Engineers (Transportation) under the command of Brigadier A.E.M. Walter CBE, Royal Engineers.

The concept of a floating harbour, inspired personally by Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain, stimulated the design and construction of the Mulberry Harbours by engineering companies large and small throughout the United Kingdom. After marshalling in mid-channel by the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy, 'Mulberry B' was towed to this Normandy beach.

Having survived the Great Storm of 19 to 23 June, 'Mulberry B' remained the major supply port to the Allied Armies until the port of Antwerp was re-opened on 28 November 1944 thus far exceeding its planned life.

Without 'Mulberry B,' the liberation of Europe would not have been possible. The deeds of those who created, launched, and planted 'Mulberry B' remain unsurpassed in the annals of British Military Engineering.

This monument commemorates the participation throughout the European Theatre of Operations, of Beach, Port, Railway, Inland Water Transport and Movement Control units of the Royal Engineers.

Despite the setbacks, the operation was largely successful. A total of 25,000 men landed with 400 casualties. The 50th Infantry Division established control six miles inland and linked up with Juno Beach, which happened to be our next stop.

As somewhat of a tangent, while searching for some good Gold Beach videos to put up, I found these two videos from Sword Beach vets. The two men in them, Peter and Len, are wonderful. The videos are just too beautiful and important not to see and share.

A little end note: Please excuse the late post, I won some kind of terrible lottery and acquired strep and a cold at the same time. Needless to say, I’ve been out of commission for a couple of days. Half of my face is still leaking, but I am starting to feel better. I have two more Normandy posts to go: Juno and a bunker museum.